So I got a copy of the complaint, which includes the right of first refusal provision in dispute (it also contains the Zuffa/Bellator offer, which I will dissect in a separate thread if anyone is interested)...
The pertinent provisions of this right of first refusal read as follows:
In the event Bellator and Alvarez are unable to reach an agreement during a 90 day good faith, exclusive negotiation period (which I believe Bellator waived)...."Fighter may negotiate with other promotional entities, subject to Promotor's right to match the terms of any agreement offered to Fighter by such other promotional entity. Promoter's right to match shall begin at the end of the [negotiation period] and last for 1 year. Fighter shall provide Promoter with prompt written notice of any such offer...such notice shall constitute an exclusive, irrevocable offer to contract with Promoter on the same terms and conditions..."
Ok, so a few important things here. First, Bellator is required to match the "terms" of the third party offer, which likely means the actual words (which they did), and not the value or overall compensation of the third party offer. This is good for Bellator obviously since matching value for value with the UFC would be impossible. This would explain Alvarez's lobster/mcdonald's comparison. Although they did match the terms (ie dinner), they didnt match the value (lobster v. mcdonalds).
In addition, after the fighter has an offer it likes and shows it to Bellator, the fighter must offer the same terms to Bellator, meaning, Eddie only gets one bite of the apple. Zuffa kind of screwed up by not offering better terms that would make it difficult for Bellator to match. They can't now go back to the drawing board and make a new offer because Eddie is obligated to offer these terms to Bellator.
That being said, this provision could have been drafted much more favorably to Bellator by its attorneys.Instead of requiring Bellator to match the terms, they could have required Bellator to match the material, guaranteed, monetary terms of the third party offer. By requiring Bellator to match the terms generally, you could think of all kinds of ways to tweak the third party offer which would make it virtually impossible for Bellator to match. I imagine Bellator will be rewording its standard contracts in light of these events....
And on an interesting side note, Bellator did indicate in the complaint that it intended for Eddie's next bout to be PPV, so it looks like Bellator will be on PPV sooner rather than later.