Former NFL linebacker Shawne Merriman is looking to tackle the TV business.
Merriman’s mixed martial arts outfit, Lights Out Xtreme Fighting, on Friday will debut a new data and analytics package designed to make the sport more interesting for viewers and more attractive to sponsors.
And in a couple of months, Merriman said he plans to launch Lights Out Sports, a free, ad-supported TV (FAST) streaming app with 20 or so channels.
“Just like I was a game changer on the field, I want to be a game changer in what I’m doing now,” Merriman told Broadcasting+Cable.
Merriman played for the San Diego Chargers from 2005 through 2010, then spent two seasons with the Buffalo Bills before retiring in 2012. After his football career ended, Merriman got into the TV business, working for the NFL, Fox Sports and ESPN. He started Lights Out Xtreme Fighting in 2019.
Merriman got in touch with DD Sports, the company that puts sensors in basketballs to create the realtime ShotTracker analytics used by coaches and broadcasters.
Together they developed a Tech glove with a ShotTracker sensor in the wrist that will measure the power and frequency of punches. A camera system will track where the fighters are in the ring.
The glove will get its first test Friday night (February 16), when a Lights Out card streams on the Fubo Sports network. Lights Out events have been on Fubo Sports, a free channel on numerous OTT platforms (Roku, Tubi, Plex, smart-TV sets) and available on the paid Fubo app, since 2021.
“We’ve got some beta-testing to do,” Merriman said of the new glove tech. “We want to see how much information we can get the first time out.”
“MMA and combat sports, including Shawne Merriman’s Lights Out Xtreme Fighting, are a fan-favorite among our Fubo Sports audience," Pamela Duckworth, head of Fubo Studios, told B+C. "We continue to program action-packed events like these that viewers tune in for.”
Merriman is hoping to put some data on the screen for viewers. If that doesn’t work at first, the data will go to the fight announcers, who will share them with the audience.
Among the things the data will show are how fast and how hard punches are hitting and if fighters are getting tired and throwing punches with less steam. (The fighters don’t wear anything on their feet, so it’s harder to gauge kicks.)
The data will also let viewers figure out how good a chin a fighter has — or how well they can take a punch.
Merrriman expects the analytics to make fights more fun to watch, make fans and fighters smarter about the sport and help settle bets.
Speaking of betting, with sports betting legal in much of the country, the analytics could be valuable to gamblers and encourage wagering, which generates ratings and revenue.
Lights Out will use social media to measure how fans are reacting to the new statistics.
The data could also create opportunities for sponsors. For example, the hardest punch of the night could be sponsored by a headache remedy. Or showing how tired a fighter is could be presented by a mattress maker.
Lights Out serves as sort of a farm system for bigger MMA leagues and Merriman said he’d talk to outfits like UFC about licensing the technology.
“We have to get the data accurate before we go to them and say, ‘this works and this is how it can work.’ When we get this accurate enough, I think it'll be a game changer for everybody,” he said.
Merriman said having the kind of analytics available in sports today would have helped him in his playing days. “If I knew a left or right tackle was getting tired in the second quarter, that would go into my game plan,“ he said. ”I would 100% say we’ll kind of beat him up a bit in the first quarter, but in the second quarter, I’m going to turn it on. The more information you have the better.”
Merriman said that soon Fubo won’t be the only platform showing Lights Out Xtreme Fighting. “They’re good partners, but we’re about to have distribution all over the world,” he said.
Merriman is creating Lights Out Sports, a free, ad-supported televison (FAST) platform with 20 to 25 channels.
In terms of distribution, Merriman said he had deals with some TV makers and phone companies.
“We believe that we can get a million plus people on the platform pretty quick,” he said.
Lights Out is working with audio giant iHeartRadio to help monetize the video content. iHeartRadio will have a channel on the platform and sponsors Friday’s fights on Fubo.
One of the features of Lights Out Sports will be special cameras that fans can control. “We want to make this as interactive as possible," Merriman said. “That camera can be sponsored by a partner. When you start to offer them something no one else has, it’s a little more appealing to them.”
Boxing Runs in the Family
Merriman grew up in Maryland and he had professional boxers in his family. Fox Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer saw Merriman in the gym one day and noticed his boxing skills. Glazer suggested learning MMA could make him a better football player.
Soon after, he was a in a gym with Glazer and legendary MMA champ Randy Couture. Couture showed Merriman how to use his hands and his leverage to move a bigger, stronger opponent.
These days Merriman on Fridays spar with his fighters. But at 40, he said, he’s too old to get into the ring for real, or behave like former WWE head Vince McMahon.
“I love it to stay in shape and for the discipline,“ he said. ”I like the regimen part of it. But time passes. I've I beaten myself up enough playing football.”
Merriman has been bankrolling Lights Out himself. He said that rather than pitch a concept, he prefers to get a business up and running before seeking investors. And once Lights Out Sports is up and running, he will be open to adding a strategic partner.
“There’s a lot of money out there, especially for something like this we’re building,” he said. “We want the right partner that’s going to drive us to the next level, right? I’m the first to admit I have weak spots because I haven’t done this before.”
It’s tough for some athletes to find their second act.
“Being known for being great in something else is important to me; more than money,” Merriman said. “All that stuff is going to come. But when you can do something that’s groundbreaking, that changes how people view an athlete making this transition to business — it’s not just Shawne is doing pretty well, but he’s rattled an entire industry.”
Merriman says he’s dedicated to Lights Out. “Three meals, an hour and 15 minutes in the gym, six hours of sleep and this. That’s my schedule,” he said. “Hopefully the money will follow like it did in sports.”
