Haymon has the money and is b a l l sy but does not have the formula for success.....I fear a huge loss and lawsuits as a result.
Putting boxing on regular tv for anyone to watch doesn't work? But hijacking boxing and turning it into a niche sport is ok, right?
The ratings Saturday were upwards of 2 million households. They had the largest share of men 18-49, until the heavyweight fight ended and that terrible Aaron Martinez fight came on, then everyone switched to the LeBron James-Chicago Bulls game. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2016/01/24/tv-ratings-saturday-jan-23-2016/
What is really disappointing is the so-called boxing writers like Fat Dan not taking on the scam undertaken by the gang at PBC.Even they can't wrap their heads around this street hustle and seem intimidated by Haymon fearing either racist comments or law suits. In my opinion they are just as guilty as PBC for allowing this farce to continue.
And that that's actually one of their bigger numbers shows how serious the situation actually is. How in Zeus' name is that in any way a good viewing number when you have these expenses? You actually believe the different advertisers pay millions to have their commercials shown for a "upwards of 2 million households" audience, when they can advertise for much less on much better viewed channels? :blood And take look at those advertisers. A couple of sketchy pharmaceutical companies that sell snake oil kinda "performance" medication (maybe it's actual rebranded viagra) and about as sketchy insurance companies with their ads. I'm not an American, but I'm pretty sure they're not the biggest companies out there, wich means they can't spend a whole lot of their budget on advertising either. 2 million viewers isn't a big number for a world title fight on free tv. Maybe in a small country it is, but not when you actually reach only about 1.5% of your countries population. And pretty sure with those numbers they don't value every one of those families they actually reach to be worth a couple of dollars future profit
It's funny how people's perceptions change. I remember a few years ago (like four years ago) when 300,000 homes buying a PPV in the U.S. was considered a solid, respectable showing. I remember a few years ago (like two years ago) when 800,000 people tuning in to a fight on Showtime or HBO in the U.S. was considered EXCELLENT numbers ... through the roof numbers. Now, when MILLIONS (not one million, but two million, or three million) tune in ... people say, "Well, it's not as many as that other one." Haymon's throwing all these fights on all these channels and seeing what works and what doesn't. Going head-to-head against an NFL playoff game clearly doesn't work (as the Wilder fight proved). Fights in March and April seem to draw a lot in the U.S., because there isn't much competition from other sports. (You just have to avoid the NCAA Basketball tournament in mid March). Nobody watches April major league baseball much anymore. Boxing used to be a big sport. Now it's a niche sport. Competing against the NFL and the NBA head-to-head is a losing proposition. Picking the proper weekends to show fights on free TV, finding which sports you can piggy-back off of is important. Haymon considered this a two-year trial run. March will be the start of year two. We'll see how it goes. Regardless, millions of people who weren't watching boxing a couple years ago are now. Maybe not as many as the bigger sports, but millions more are. At the end of year two, we'll see which networks he remains on and which he doesn't. But I wouldn't sniff when more than two million people watch a boxing card, wherever it's shown.
I get that this is great for Americans in general, but the main concern is that this way of doing it might eventually ruin it for many years to come. Don't just look at today, look at the big picture. This method is one of losing millions upon millions with the hope of cornering the market and making profit in the long run. Well, it sure looks like it isn't working up till now, and the problems with working with other promoters and networks doesn't really help things either. What if this fails, wich it looks it's gonna? You think there will be another taking up that glove so to speak?