How to make PPV Boxing work in the UK??

Who decides a certain fighter is PPV standard in the first place. IF I am honest I havnt bought a PPV since Haye v Valuez fight none have been up to the standard and the fighters involved I didnt think were PPV standard. Sky are right by what they are doing. Having PPV fights all the time will kill boxing to the normal working class men. Could you imagine paying a PPV fee to watch Saturday fights on Sky its a no go. Fighters have to know that in this time there is no real PPV sellers in the UK apart from Haye. People dont have the extra money like they had when Hatton was headlining PPVs time and time again and Naz those days are long gone for fight fans who are now struggling as there wages have been hit and whatever extra money is used for more important things than a **** boxing card or a sub standard PPV. The prices for the over seas fights must be dropping all the time if Premier are getting them that says a lot to me and they seem to be able to cover there costs on a fraction of the subs fees that Sky get. Sky are paying millions and millions on football rights and even Rugby rights but let the boxing fans pay for any standard of PPV imagine if they put the Champions League or FA Cup final on PPV there would be uproar over it.

 

You've answered your own question.

Its on ppv BECAUSE its a niche sport. You can't make money off it without making the television viewers pay for it. Advertisers aren't interested, promoters don't run enough big events to survive on the gate alone, and tv companies won't pay the big money in rights fees they would for football et al. There's always been a need to add something extra to the business model - closed circuit, subscription channels, pay per view just because there's a hole in the revenue that needs to be filled!

 

Those top rank shows are doing tiny numbers of buys and are simply run to keep the wheels spinning for various fighters. They are not generating revenue - certainly nothing like enough to justify Sky giving up content for Sky SPorts. You can argue this point bud but its been proven time and time again - the link between price and number of buys is not strong enough to make it worthwhile to cut the cost of a pay per view.

And its not about pressure, its about Sky taking the responsibility for the sport that comes with their dominant power. Do what HBO did in the golden era - appoint a boxing guy as Head of Boxing and let them take the lead in matchmaking for televised fights. That also links into the need to scrap the failed weekly fight night model.

 

Yeah lets petition Sky to take boxing off our screens

 

Boxing has been a PPV sport decades. The only way you can generate the money needed to fund the mega fights is PPV.

For the UK the model should always be identify the 'star'. Sky and the promoter then push this star on regular sky sports. slowly but surely increase the level of competition and if they get past that lead to the 'big' fight on PPV. The way Ricky Hatton was built up is the blueprint.

As for cut price PPV's that just will not work. All that does is cheapen the product on offer and sends a message to viewers that the event isnt really that good as its cheaper than usual.

Sky have to be the driving force. They really need to have a major input into fights being made.

That would just upset the subscribers asking them to pay to watch stuff on another channel when they previously getting all this stuff before.

Sky do not need any other sports channels. 4 + ESPN is more than enough.

 

Easy. The combined greed of promoters, fighters and TV companies. In all the other sports you mentioned, the broadcaster and organising body agree a deal for a set amount of matches for a certain price and everybody is happy. Not in boxing, because all three parties (or at the very least, the promoters) know there is a market to make a bit more cash. And it's us, the fans that lose out.

Look at Fat Mick. Two years ago he was in a position that every british promoter would love-a set amount of dates on terrestrial (well,ITV4 at least) television. Yet when Carl Froch is in a world title fight in the middle of the night, instead of putting it on ITV1, he tries to shaft everybody by hiding him away on a PPV stream that one man and his dog paid for. ITV would have showed that fight for nothing-they did for Khan v Malignaggi, or you offer it to Sky Sports a pittance, and in the long term you get a big name PPV fighter. But still, nobody knows who Froch is.

That sums up the greed of PPV boxing.

 

Boxing and Pro-Wrestling was on closed circuit before pay per view was invented. Its not greed its just the reality of the situation in terms of the money that can be earned.

 

Flippancy aside; it is a way to make the sport better. Quality over quantity...

If you are a fan, you can show your support by still going to local shows, and it needs to be remembered there is virtually a bill on every day of the year.

 

Quite! Sky could build to one or quality events a month that people actually care about enough to go out of their way to watch rather than burn fans out with crappy event after crappy event each week.

 

Aint got the time, nor inclination to think about how it would work but I would love it if there was a Boxing Channel.

Pay a fixed amount per month and get everything.

 

Ditto.

 

I loved the Mag 7 format too. Having a lot of good fights but no big name is fine by me. But I'd be surprised if a lot of the more casual fans that would be likely to buy a Haye or Hatton PPV, maybe even Khan in a decent fight would think the same.

Any figures on how that did?

 

Some great posts in here guys

As much as i loved the Mag 7 i dont think it is a viable option for PPV it always needs a headliner or a name even if in a non competitive fight to sell it. I think that has been reflected by the use of Klitschko and Khan for the Degale Smith fight.

People have asked why is boxing on ppv and I will tell you the answer. Boxing is a unique sport where a match can often only ever happen once and there is no guarantee of rematches. Man U Liverpool, Barca Real, Nadal Federer, Tiger McCilroy, Hamilton Vettel all will square off a number of different times during their careers or history and they are scheduled to do so. Yes if you miss it you might miss an important race or match etc but you will probably have the opportunity to see that contest again at some point.

In boxing there will be only one Mayweather Pac fight it will only happen once in the entire history of the sport. It is such a big event that people are willing to pay to witness that event knowing they dont get another chance to see two people square off in such a way ever again. They might see the fighter again but its not necessarily the same.

The problem comes when these fights stop becoming "events" and i dont mean in the magicman91 way i mean something that people really want to see because they want to see the outcome and they wont get the opportunity to see it again and seeing replays isnt the same as seeing it live.

Harrison Haye whatever you think of it as a mismatch was an event that the people want to see because they are both fighters that are well known to the public. Khan McCloskey is one well known fighter against an unknown in temrs of the general public's eyes and its just a "regular" title fight and its nothing special in the grand scheme of things and the PPV numbers will reflect that. There is nothing to capture the publics imagination

A fighter can become PPV but only if he proves himself as somebody worth watching because he WILL bring excitement so in effect your money is safe. Tyson was ferocious people are buying into the mystique they are buying into the fact that they want to see this monster demolish this other bloke with ease.

In short less PPV's for the sake of it and focus on doing the worthy PPV make the events happen build the events because when you do it right Haye Valuev Hatton Mayweather it pays off big time. When you do it wrong all you do is alienate the fans and casual fans wonder why they are paying to watch Amir Khan beat this Irish bloke there was nothing special about that.