What happened to the PBC is finished rumours?

Bad hedge funds get invested into all the time. Why is that, because people don't know they've invested in a dud or worse a ponzi scheme. While it might seem silly that Waddle and Reed to invest that much it happens, people are willing to put in more investment to protect their initial investment because they get spun a sales pitch that they need this to ensure the big returns they were originally promised.

 

You have to remember he wasn't just paying for fighters purses. He was paying for the air time as well and that's where a lot of the money went in the early years of PBC. They had to pay Showtime and NBC to air their fights and give their cards a platform to showcase the brand. This was the whole idea behind PBC get boxing back on free TV on NBC expose boxing to a wider market grow the sport in the US and then build on from that foundation to the point where networks would pay for PBC content.

Plus he would of been paying for the whole production for the card, NBC and Showtime weren't producing all this content, hiring commentary teams, camera men, lighting crews, stage designers, graphics for the the broadcast etc. All that would of added up quickly to the cost for PBC.

Plus Haymon has a huge stable of fighters, that's a lot of people to pay. According to the list on boxrec there's 168 boxers that have been signed with him at some point that they know of.

 

I dont know much, and i doubt anyone really does.
What i know is Haymon has a great relationship with SHO, and has had one for over 4 years now. So his "deal"
with them is no shocker. (what is shocking was the rumored budget SHO has. 50 mil is twice what is said to be HBO's)

I also know that Fox is the only network that bought into PBC's product.

What PBC came out with at first, was amazing. They had some great shows on various platforms but soon enough they retreated back to SHO. The best guys on PBC´s roster are now on SHO. So it's clear that something went wrong.
But things are looking up again.

I dont know what the money was, is or if any was lost. But i do know they had a rough batch for a while.

I just hope they have the biggest guys at the biggest available stage. Boxing needs that and as a fan i want to see us shine on the biggest available platforms.
(SHO rarely cracks 1mil live, and that is just pure shite)


And on the subject of "why would they give him money, if he can't manage it?" It seems logical but it has happened through out history and continues to happen on a year by year basis.
Some are just good at building relationships.

 

No they are not dummies but they are not investing in PBC like Waddle and Reed they are simply buying options to showcase the cards PBC produces, that's very different from sinking money into the financial success of PBC. Even if PBC fails and goes bankrupt it doesn't mean Showtime and FOX lose all their investment because they haven't invested anything all they've done is back Haymon to keep producing cards for them to air and even if that doesn't happen Showtime and FOX just do a deal with someone else.

 

Let´s say Hyamon is still backed by the supposed 900mil hedge fund money, and he is actually loosing it!
Well that has little to do with Espinoza. Espinoza needs ratings. And so far Haymon has delivered him a great roster and somewhat decent ratings. (it seems Espinoza is happy with the ratings)
Espinoza doesn't care if Haymon is loosing money, he is focused on making SHO happy. (Imo, they should not be happy if their current budget really is 50mil)

Swindlers get investment all the time. It is what it is.

 

Supposedly just paid Spence 3.5m for Ocampo.
It's not all rainbows and sunshine.
Some will be overpaid for BS fights.

 

Yes it's a lot of money and it does show some faith in Haymon and PBC that it will keep producing cards, but should PBC go out of business tomorrow what have Showtime lost? It's not like they gave him the 300 mill upfront like Waddle and Reed. They have given him a budget and he just has to spend within that and Showtime and FOX will pay for it. It's a very different arrangement but one that still shows Showtime and FOX have faith in Haymon and PBC.

No doubt he will be paying his boxers well, he makes money from their purses so if he wants to be paid well he needs to pay them well. But boxing in the US is seeing some big shifts as ESPN and DAZN are making big investments into boxing. Haymon for the last few years had the deepest pockets which is why he's had as much success as he's had so far, but will he remain on top now ESPN with Top Rank and DAZN with Hearn have deeper pockets? Plus Amazon have been branching into sports if Amazon move into boxing then ESPN, PBC and even DAZN may find that there's a new bigger shark in the boxing ocean they can't compete with.

It's interesting times in US boxing we've seen some big shifts in the landscape this past year and I think this is only the beginning.

 

Hopefully.
But we have seen this balancing act too many times already.
Spence had a career defining moment when he stopped Brook. A star was born. But a year later here we are. Still waiting for the next big fight to materialize.

There is little consistency. Thurman fought Guerrero, Porter and Garcia in a brilliant run. But he did so fighting once a year.
They all seem to fight one big fight a year. Rest is either spent on the sidelines or taking stay busy fights.

 

Hopefully fox will be demanding a certain quality of fight.