Sky sign deal with Top Rank

Discussion in 'British Boxing Forum' started by Scissors, Jun 8, 2021.



  1. Donald Donaldson

    Donald Donaldson Member Full Member

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    I think one of the key questions is does SKY's deal with Top Rank allow them to still independently put on other/additional shows in the UK with different promoters or are they exclusively linked to top rank and nobody else?

    If they have the freedom to work with 2-3 other people as and when it suits and are basically open to all promoters willing to finance UK shows then that puts them at a big advantage over anything DAZN could do.

    They've got the existing subscribed base and a much bigger platform in the UK. If they also have the freedom to more or less pick and choose who they work with, they may have the best of both world in a sense.
     
  2. Jurgen

    Jurgen Pay Per Pudding Advisor banned Full Member

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    That is is mate, Eh Day needs people to go out of their way to watch and listen on different websites.

    Sky Sports exposure makes a huge difference to the profile of professional sports teams and individuals
     
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  3. Puroresu_Fan

    Puroresu_Fan Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Surely BT had first option here.

    They wanted no part of boxing in the US in the early hours?

    Very interesting how this effects any Warren fighter that fights on a US top rank show. I guess it makes no difference to Warren as it will still be on tv list surprised BT wouldn't want TR as it couldn't be too expensive.

    I wouldn't look too much into the option for PPV's.

    Sky will only do a ppv for fights they believe will do decent numbers. Maybe Crawford vs Taylor at a stretch but I wouldn't expect anything else on ppv.

    Arum could make some fights which he believes should be ppv but Sky won't just throw anything on ppv in the early hours as they will not do any buys.
     
  4. chrisfinch

    chrisfinch Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Why would BT have had first option on a Top Rank deal? A few TR fighters have fought on Warren BT cards (Frampton, Taylor, Conlan) but that always struck me as a Warren/Top Rank thing rather than BT.

    The only power Warren has over Fury is he deals with the UK TV rights, so it’s not even like BT have a deal with Top Rank for that.

    If Sky are willing to sign a pretty long term deal for fights that are notoriously difficult to sell to UK channels on an ad hoc basis, Top Rank are gonna bite their hand off.
     
  5. Skyver

    Skyver Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Hopefully someone doesn't matter who tries to keep the wbss going.that has been the best thing to happen in years imo with Taylor,inoue,usyk becoming legit p4per's off the back of it.
     
  6. Puroresu_Fan

    Puroresu_Fan Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    For some reason I thought top rank had a previous deal with BT
     
  7. rezzer

    rezzer Active Member Full Member

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    For months and months various posters on here have said that BT have a deal with Top Rank. I don’t think BT have ever showed a US Top Rank card that hasn’t had a British fighter on it. Sometimes not even with a British fighter on it eg Josh Taylor. They bit Sky’s hand off. Warrens so called association with Top Rank was irrelevant.
     
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  8. ButeTheBeast

    ButeTheBeast Well-Known Member Full Member

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    BT have no interest in early morning boxing fights, unless it's Fury. They have the UFC rights and that takes up most Sunday mornings. The UFC ratings are probably a lot better than most fights.

    It will be interesting to see where Fury vs Wilder 3 ends up, I can see Sky going big again. Not sure BT Sport will have the funds to keep Fury off Sky this time. BT also have the McGregor PPV a few weeks before.
     
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  9. Scissors

    Scissors Posts are sponsored by Matchroom Full Member

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    I do agree about Sky and the exposure they bring, however... people underestimate Hearn, he’s fairly young, modern thinking and got a young team around him. There’s few platforms that give you more exposure than Sky and Hearn has already dialled in to them. For the Canelo - Saunders fight I noticed he was everywhere on social media and so where adverts for DAZN. LADBible and stuff like that were paid to advertise DAZN and the actual fight. You’re talking over 15million followers for LAD and Sport bible then how easy it is for one of the followers to click send and it’s forwarded to a group in an instant. It’s arguably a bigger reach than Sky Sports news. It will be interesting to see if they keep up this method of marketing as it’s definitely a good option and can easily rival SKY’s exposure and beyond in my opinion.
     
  10. Trafford

    Trafford Boxing Addict Full Member

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    They may but without fixed dates the other promoters they work with in the UK will have a very limited stable to offer Sky.

    If you are a young fighter and for instance you have Matchroom who have atleast 16 uk dates a year or close to 50 globally giving you the chance to fight 4/5 times a year or you have a promoter who hopefully gets his show picked up by Sky 2/3 times a year but no guarantee. Due to the uncertainty the promoter working with Sky is always going to play second fiddle in signing decent named fighters.
     
  11. ZiggerZagger

    ZiggerZagger Active Member Full Member

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    These will of course most likely land on Sky box office , as Adam Smith confirmed in his latest IFL interview that their PPV model is very much alive and kicking.
     
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  12. nurological

    nurological Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Spot on. This is a completely new venture so he will be approaching it differentley. Reach on social media these days is pretty much unrivalled and growing all the time. Very interesting to see how this unfolds.
     
  13. Skyver

    Skyver Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Agree with everything you say here scissors.but purely on the boxing side of things I think dazn/matchroom/Hearn are really up against it now.top rank and pbc will do everything in their power to stifle them.we just saw what happened with the fury v wilder 3 farce..old Bob took pleasure in punking Eddie.it's personal with arum now.
    yep I'm starting to think the same.you can have all the money in the world but when other entities will actively conspire against you because you pee'd in their cornflakes it's going to be difficult.hope I'm wrong though.
     
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  14. Gatekeeper

    Gatekeeper Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Excellent points and that's another huge factor that Eddie will have going against him - When EH was on Sky he had everything his own way on the biggest and best sports broadcaster in the UK with a 24/7 news channel pumping out propaganda, no real competition either.
    But with DAZN he is on a largely unknown streaming streaming service and with Top Rank on Sky he's going to have real, experienced competition who will go out of their way to draw attention away from his shows.

    Going to be interesting and best case scenario is the competition will make Eddie, Top Rank and Frank all up their game
     
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  15. Skyver

    Skyver Well-Known Member Full Member

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    I like Hearn btw think he's been great for boxing( I know you won't probs agree haha) but he's really ruffled to many feathers over the pond.dazn have no chance of becoming the premier boxing outfit in America or Britain imo.
     
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