Has Eddie made a mistake

If the DAZN thing doesn’t work out he’ll be welcomed back by Sky with open arms in a few years.

Their current push with getting fights like Eubank v Williams on free TV and being shown on every Sky channel with a gap in their Saturday night schedule won’t last for long and viewing figures will drop.

 

Do you lot not think that Hearn knows all this though? I don't think it's ego that has prompted this move, he's not dumb. Perhaps he's risking short term losses hoping for long term gain. Or maybe it's just purely driven by budget.

 

Its his attempt at being bigger than sky...

His ego is in for a shock.

 

I don't post too much but I have commented several times on this topic over the last 18 months. The success of Matchroom boxing UK was only in part due to Hearn. He's obviously contributed but none of it would be possible without the vehicles of Sky and the reach of their platform and subscription base. In the run-up to any PPV they have Sky sports news, dedicated programming on SS main event every night, adverts during the most important show (Premier league etc). Never mind the social media aspects etc. They are also various opportunities
for Hearn to get his mug on the box and tell everyone what a fantastic job he is doing.

None of that exists with DAZN. Coupled with the fact he doesn't have the 'exclusive' Sky Sports PPV functionality he always boasted about. In fact the billion pound budget seems a thing of the past and his fights are increasingly buried away, Ryder - Jacobs was more akin to a trade fight than something of national interest. Hearn himself is becoming more sidelined without the Sky hype train to allow him to access to tbe millions.

Admittedly I'm no fan of the Hearns. Eddie is arrogant and a bully. Saying that promoters are far easier to dislike than like. My major issue with him is how he brings along a fighter, pushing world ranking belts and eliminators against series of overmatched and over the hill fighters. All the while we miss out of series of great domestic fights which are largely ignored. This method works in the UK because fans attach more importance to 'World' honors. However, has proven less successful in US as their fans care about the fight/fighter rather than the belt. Hearn himself was flabbergasted by lack of interest for series of Tewin Famer fights in Philly.

A one trick pony maybe not but he isn't the all conquering promoter many thought him to be. Without the Sky weaponry he appears to be like many who went before him.

 

It might. It might not.

If you'd looked at Netflix 10 years ago you wouldn't have said it dominates entertainment - and it still doesn't. But it's now an idiom, just as sites called themselves "the Google of {particular thing}", any site offering all-you-can-eat streaming is now "the Netflix of stuff".

And it's clearly pleased its investors. I wouldn't be remotely surprised if Matchroom is riding the coat-tails going for a sale or an IPO which will net the Hearn family hundreds of millions, and let Eddie choose when / whether to get out as he's always hinted at. It's gone from Barry's model of steady growth and investing in sports he personally knew and enjoyed, to rapid growth at all costs - and that usually demands an exit at some stage.

DAZN is the same - billionaires don't waste their money and Blavatnik clearly believes there's something worth underwriting for now; we'll see how far that actually goes and how soon he taps the market for help. If he doesn't go to market in the next 18-24 months then I'd say DAZN won't work out and he'll cut his losses with a fire sale by then. At that point we'll know if Eddie was right too.

 

People have such a short sighted mentalitily when talking about DAZN. They are here for a long time and are having success in some territory already. Its only a matter of time before they get top rights over here.

As boxing fans its not going to be great again as this niche sport will take a backseat and PPV will become frequent on DAZN

 

My dads a boxing fan but in his 60’s now and I doubt he even knows what a smart TV is never mind how to download a streaming app onto it. He doesn’t have social media and finds out about fights through either Sky Sports News or whilst he’s watching footy.

I went round to his last Saturday and asked who he thought would win tonight’s fight (meaning Jacobs v Ryder) and his response was ‘who’s on?’. He was buzzing for Eubank Williams though and will be watching Khan/Brook and Taylor/Catterall.

 

It would be PPV on DAZN though Mitch.

 

In his own mind he hasn't made a mistake as DAZN have given him a massive war chest he is continuing to put on pony mismatchs on every card and being able to create his own narrative with his own production he is also able to bank more money than he could from Sky.
But it will be interesting to see what happens when AJ gets stretched by Usyk and Whyte get leveled by Fury he has lost both his big money guys.
He will be left with Benn who let's be honest won't ever pick up a legitimate belt at WW with Crawford Spence Ortiz and Boots on the scene.
He has also mocked and rubbed up every other promoter the wrong way so none are willing to work with him.
All in all things are looking very bleak for the 4-0 ice man from Billericay.

 

You are seriously underestimating BT/Discovery, Amazon and worst then that, just writing off sky so easily. The idea that DAZN UK are gonna come in and get all the top rights is absurd. How long do DAZN UK get a free pass for? Are we just gonna ignore every month that passes by and we still see no new announcements of any new UK sports rights.

Other markets have shown DAZN win major rights but also have failed to win or lost major rights they had. I accept they will of course finally get some rights in the UK if they are actually still around in two years but I genuinely don't have absolute confidence DAZN UK will be still operating here. Until I see DAZN UK start filling the platform with non boxing content my view is not gonna change.

It's all good people saying they are here for the long term but the same was said when the Disney backed ESPN stepped into the UK market. Nobody predicted ESPN would walk away from the UK sports market and then out of nowhere they decided to not compete in this tough market anymore.

DAZN UK have to start showing us they are here for the long term with some actual content.

Also please remember that DAZN UK already tried to win the Champions League UK rights and were beaten by BT Sport and there bid was even lower than the joint Sky/ITV bid.

This is very true. If DAZN UK fails then he will be back with sky instantly.

Matchroom will be fine no matter what happens with the future of DAZN UK.

 

I havent underestimated or wrote of anybody. Also never said they would get all the top rights. You added those twists in.

DAZN are here to stay and will be very competitive over the next decade.

 

Great post.

 

This is very true. If DAZN UK fails then he will be back with sky instantly.

Fair point. Where we disagree at the moment is the long term future of DAZN UK and that's cool.

I do think Eddie will be shocked when he sees the PPV numbers for Khan vs Brook. It's gonna be a reminder what the power sky sports can bring with it's promotion of fights.

Jacobs vs Ryder would have been promoted as a real big fight if on sky sports and the difference between what we saw on DAZN compared to sky would have been leagues apart.

Problem is that the budget Eddie was getting from sky for Saturday night non PPV fights wasn't enough for hearn to make a fight like this on sky sports.

I can see why hearn took the bigger offer from DAZN if it means he can put on these kind of fights. It's not easy turning down huge offers like he must have got from DAZN UK. Downside is matchroom lose the level of promotion sky brings.

 

The comparison with espn is flawed as DAZN have there other regions to which one can look at as a trend..

Other regions would have had the same issues where they would have had to wait for certain rights then winning and losing as they went along.

I don't see why the UK is seen as anything different and you can only get rights which are sent to tender. The premier league rights didn't go to tender so they will need to wait it out and if they only need 200k subscribers to break even then thats more than manageable.

I've said before if DAZN USA is still operational when they have no major sports rights and its the most competitive market that keeping a UK operation is a given.

BT looking to sell there sports business was because of the ridiculous amount of money they were spending on the CL and its lack of return in subscriptions. If they would have paid what BT paid they would be suffering the same way. The fact that Sky/ITV were splitting the costs yet BT still paid more tells you just how ridiculous the amount they paid was.

A bigger question really is can you grow a successful sports subscription business when every few years the rights go to the highest bidder?

For a short period things could be looking good but then in another cycle the rights could go to another network.

 

He’s banking on it lasting 10x longer than Setanta.

I don’t know anyone other than one person who knows what DAZN is, and he’s a diehard boxing fan