How good of a boxing promoter was he in his day? We all know that overall he is one of the best promoters you will get (Darts, Boxing, Fishing - he's made them all work big time). But what memorable shows & fights did he put on, and how do they compare to Eddie's success? Is Eddie way ahead in terms of revenue he's brought in/bigger profile fights etc than his old man or not?
Don't forget snooker. He helped make that game have the star status it had in the 80's and early 90's. In addition he was Steve Davis' manager, which helped give him the capital to go on to all the other things. Oh, and he is a big share holder in the PDC along with the likes of Phil Taylor, Bristow and all. He was also Chairman at Leyton Orient, and gave them modest success and helped modernise the ground in his time there.
It all went downhill for Barry in boxing after the Eubank world tour debacle. The darts does exceptionally well however and I was hoping his son would listen to him as regards to terrestrial TV deals.
He's still pulling the strings in boxing now. Just behind the scenes. Interestingly Eddie is taking a backwards step and promoting frank smith to do some of his work so maybe now Eddie will become the background guy
You still need to the fighters and to put on good shows. The Network helps but Sky will ditch you if you don't produce the goods.
Yeah, he took Darts to a new stratosphere, IMHO. How come it's on terrestrial and not Sky nowadays? Agreed about Snooker. Fair play to Barry, he was earning money when you could do some really big things with it.
The darts is still on sky. and fta. Its that popular. Lots on itv 4 and the one tournament on bbc and yet enough to keep sky happy too.
Just like his son Hearn is clearly a big sports fan and oozes enthusiasm. Yes he wants to make wodgers of cash but he's very good at what he does.
Darts has become huge under Hearn's guidance. I read somewhere it is the second most watched sport on Sky after football. The money involved in major darts tournaments now is stratospheric.
BBC only have the rights to that one tournament, it's not a major tournament either and top players aren't really that bothered about it. Sky exclusively show all majors throughout the year.
Basically that particular tournament was a 'crossover' and started I believe last year and is meant to include the best players from the BDO and the best from the PDC. However after the first year they basically realised none of the BDO players were good enough to compete and/or they didn't have the crowd pulling 'star appeal', so this year it appeared to be all PDC players.