1) Pays their fighters way more than their fights will ever make 2) Charges the customers basically nothing 3) Expopriates 100s of millions of dollars from venture capitalists “If you’re a guy and you don’t move the needle and you demand X amount of money, we’re going to tell you no thanks,” Markowski told Sean Nam. “We’re not a money tree that needs to be plucked out by their fighters and their representatives. That message is one that needs to land.” This is their senior VP basically pleading with guys like Derev and Jacobs to stop extorting them. Fighters have so much power in the post-Haymon post-PBC landscape. It's great.
It's not dissimilar than PBC bilking hedge fund investors so Al could pay himself a fortune. It's easy to offer a boatload of cash when its other people's money you're spending. And it's natural to have to overspend to gain a foothold initially. Unfortunately, that can distort the market and make it that much harder for new entrants to make a lasting impact in the sport.
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/will-dazn-ever-be-available-in-uk.637363/ I linked some DAZN info in that thread. Doesn't tell the full picture but this isn't a company looking to stop being aggressive in the market place which is sports rights. I would say if boxing and MMA are not producing the goods then they could drop those sports but they are not exiting the sports streaming business. In non US territories they are picking up the major sports like soccer which drives subs. In America they need get a major US sport.
But the major difference is DAZN's business is not reliant on how its boxing performs. They are a worldwide business showing growth in other territories so they are not reliant on boxing in America. Its a different model to PBC.
Compared to a cable package or 4 PPVs a year? Dollar for dollar, DAZN is cheap. Pay himself a fortune? Haymon prob takes a smaller revenue split than anybody else in a similar position elsewhere. His meager managerial cuts are well documented. Anything is sustainable if you can continue to fundraise and attract investors. I think the question is what happens when they stop "overpaying". Most of their talent isn't contractually obligated to fight for them. We've seen Haymon's fighters stick with PBC without longterm contracts. I wonder if their stable will do the same.
Getting a major US sport will be very very tough. The big 4 networks (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC) plus ESPN have monster money and will not give up NFL, NBA, or big time college football. There may be opportunity to sneak in to NHL and small market MLB however. DAZN is not relying at all on profiting on boxing in America. They just want people to become familiar with their name, and will do so while taking a loss happily. They are big picture, have much larger ambition to let a few 10's of millions in losses affect their end game.
But they're competing with US business as far as boxing goes. FOX and ESPN aren't losing money on their boxing deals. DAZN is. They have other options to survive, the question is if they'll keep this huge boxing push if it continues to bleed so heavily. I'm not sure how well a loss leading model is when your talent can just leave the minute you decide you want to pay them less to recoup your investment.
Boxing will be their loss leader. Soccer and other fan friendly sports will help them recover the losses.
Boxing and mma was circumstances. They wanted to launch in America but there was no other sports avaliable. Clearly they are prepared to wait it out and accept the US division will lose money until they can move for a major sport.
