http://www.britishboxing.net/news_4298-Brtish-boxing-can-no-longer-justify-PPV-offerings.html Good read from this forum's own Terry D I believe. Doubt many would disagree with his points on PPV or the alphabet titles. Apologies if this has been posted before.
Boxing can't afford to be on PPV. Plus only a couple of hundred thousand or a few thousand Is a low number considering how big the country Is. And people already pay their subscription to Sky or Virgin. The boxers and promoters are way overpaid too and rely on ppv revenues so people need to not be fooled Into buying PPVS either. Sure boxers need money but when they're at a high enough income, people shouldn't buy Into their bull**** plus even If their poor It's not like their going to be on the streets like In the old days. Alot of them are becoming like footballers but boxing doesn't have footballs popularity. Lack of decent Tv coverage Is one of the reasons why my Interest In the sport has dwindled, Uk coverage sucks. Then you have shitty matchmaking on both sides of the pond, lack of fights a year and unprofessionalism of alot of them.
Its only had a detrimental affect, I believe PPV is one of the main reasons boxing's now a lot less popular and has become marginalised. Only thing I might disagree is Max is the boxers being over paid, maybe at the very top level yes but at say British level and lower a lot of boxers have to work normal jobs, struggle for sponsorhsip etc. Everything else though I agree with.
Glad you made these points Max. They are overpaid but justify it with jargon like 'market forces' and other BS.The fact is the fans are being totally ripped off.Like you say its not like they will be destitute is it?This certainly applies to Footballers. You get Frank Warren saying 'the only viable way to promote and pay Amir Khan is via PPV'...:huhOK so what would happen if no promoter was willing to do it and/or no fan willing to buy it? Would Khan retire?I doubt it,so were being fed BS.
I know either HBO or Showtime did market research that showed its not worth them investing in a decent undercard. Apparently when most people make the decision whether the buy a PPV the main event all what matters to them, the undercard is a bit of a non-issue. Obviously that doesn't help the serious boxing fans who do want to see competitive, high quality undercards.
I remember reading the original piece and once I read the whole piece thinking I'm the same (a mug lol). You are right though, i'm never going to be happy with pay-per-view but I understand boxing's a business and will usually (reluctantly) pay for bills IF they are worth the money, a good undercard, good match ups etc. These days they're not, and thats the problem. Great point about the inter-promotional fights too, i'm sick of seeing carbon copy shows with one sided fights. Anyone theres my rant too :good
Thats interesting that. Its a sad fact that a lot of promoters seem to aim at the casual fans. Hence why a lot of shows are full of alphabet "world" titles. Your casual sporst fan will believe Nicky Cook Vs Stephen Foster Jnr is a between 2 of the best in the world (no disrespect to the both who I rate as decent boxers)
I would pay for Froch-Taylor if it had a decent undercard and I did pay for Pac-DLH, but I don't pay for Sports Network's latest WBO title fight that doesn't even happen in the end.
Good point about the undercard fights,most of them are terrible and it really makes you ask why you are paying for a show.I spend a lot of time in Germany and although they do have subscription sports channels you still get good boxing shows on free tv.Abraham is one example he normally turns up on rtl,if he were British you can bet he would be sky ppv.
Fair play. Do you think Abraham being on free Tv in Germany has helped his status over there? Its just another example really how the true fans of something (as in football fans also) are taken for granted and promoters etc chase the casual fans money and just expect the hardcore fans to grin and take it.
It certainly has,he is very popular especially in Berlin and when he fought Miranda they all stayed up late for the fight(and watched it free)
PPV is the cause of all that is bad in boxing. Money hungry promoters, tv companies and a minority of fighters are squeezing the life blood out of our once great sport. They constantly feed us over hyped top of the bills (for any PPV it surely cannot be the Amir Khans of this world) and below par undercards. Yet they continue to do it because we, the fans, continue to pay. We pay because we love the sport so much that we simply cannot miss a televised card if one is on offer. The only way we are going to see the end of PPV is if we ALL boycott it. It will need more than just the good people who post here on ESB as well. It would need something much much bigger to make a dent and I personally don't see how it would be possible logistically. Maybe if we copied some of the stunts that 'Justice for Fathers' did like putting a banner up on Big Ben or The Houses of Parliament it would make a difference!!? We could be 'Justice for Fight Fans'.. On seconds thoughts... I am sad to say I will probably keep paying for the big fights as some of them are worth the money, especially if I have a few fellow fans round my house for some beer and merriment. But as for the shitty PPV's FW puts on I am no longer going to pay out of principle. :good Anyone know who the next PPV is going to be?
I've never paid for a PPV since they tried to feed us Khan v Presscott for 15 quid on top of the already expensive SKY package. I watched the fight on a stream and the quality was fine. I was very satisfied to hear they only made 20% of what they needed to make it worthwhile. I shall continue to watch streams for the forseeable future (unless its on setanta which I subscribe to coz its worth the money imo) Amir Khan is no where near a PPV fighter and I cancelled my whole SKY Package because of him. There are always plenty of streams about and if the worst comes to the worst the fights can usually be downloaded a couple of hours after the card has been shown.