How to make PPV Boxing work in the UK??

i'm sure some do.

but i think the majority look for a fee sufficient to set themselves up for later life and also to compensate for the risk to their longterm health.

 

i dont think there needs to be anything inbetween.

sky should stop handing out exclusive contracts and set dates. they should allocate dates to the promoters proposing the best shows.

they could also earmark prospects as their next ppv stars and ensure they are given the exposure to reach that level - no fighter is going to become a marquee fighter without the promoter and broadcaster working together to build up their name

 

I think Joe Public had little clue who Haye was when he was fighting Barrett. It was only when he fought Valuev and got the Sky treatment he became a big name, I think they did 'microwave' him... but an exciting heavyweight like Haye is the exception.

 

Subscription services such as Sky and HBO are going to get slaughtered as disposable incomes in the west decline. Boxing is already off the rader for most ordinary people. Haye is nowhere near as famous as Bruno. The way forward is get most top fights on network TV but put the really big ones out as PPV.


Boxing has a history of doing well when the ecomony is doing badly (1930's, 1970's) but it requires the mass media to get behind it and that won't happen as long as the wider public cannot actually see fights. Newspapers and journalists that are not on the Murdoch payroll hardly even cover boxing, I think having the worlds most exciting heavyweight on our shores is shielding us from reality. If Khan-McCloskey and Ricky Burns and Groves-Degale were on ITV the sport would benefit hugely.

 

See, this is a dangerous attitude. If fans just stopped paying for these ridiculous “premium” fights, we wouldn’t have an issue with PPV.

The only times PPV should ever be used are:

* the fight is so huge and so unique that it justifies the cost (Mayweather-Hatton)
* the fight is so small and niche that the audience are willing to pay (some of Premier Sports’ cards)
* the bill is incredible value (Magnificent 7)

Fights like Khan-Mcloskey have no place on PPV. They have no intrinsic value within the division the fighters are in, and they alienate the casual audience who might watch Khan normally. They don’t know the opponent and they’re expected to pay £15 to watch the fight?

I’d actually say that if the industry takes this attitude, they will end up losing more money to signal theft. Eventually they will dilute the audience so significantly that the hardcore will be a tiny number whose combined buying power will offer zero profit.

We, as fans, need to take a stand over it. The answer is not to wail on forums and complain on Twitter, it’s much simpler: just don’t buy the fight.

It’s a real shame that boxing fell off ITV. It was starting to build some interest among the casuals again. Without easier access to a wide audience, the sport will never escape its increasingly niche platform.

Promoters should use the internet, sell their fights on streaming platforms for reduced prices, make their archives available for a fixed monthly fee – whatever it takes to give people access. Think long-term health over short-term profit.

Don’t try and fix something that’s broken inherently. Look for a more stable way of making money while not shafting your fans.

 

out of interest (probably been explained somewhere but cant be arsed looking), how do they make so much more money in the states? they arent on PPV there, and wont attract the same gate, so i assume HBO / Showtime are just paying out more. is this only feasible due to these networks having a greater number of subscribers?

 

It was great value for money I think. I just don're see why UK fans have to pay to see these guys.

Froch is a special case. Should have been on tv, so has no option. I'd invested in his progress so was glad to pay. Khan would have no US profile without the millions who saw him on itv. Your point about degale and gavin is right. They are going to suffer from so little exposure.

In fact, the khan fight got more coverage over sky pulling out than groves and degale have had. That days something very sad.

 

Froch and Khan should fight in America if that is where the market is for them which it is at the moment and its annoying for British fans but thats the truth. lets face it Eubank didnt go over to America because the market was here and that why Benn went and came back again because at the time they COULD get the big bucks and the exposure here.

At the moment we cant do that and Benn and Eubank weren't PPV fighters really they were built up but they were essentially the same level as a Khan or Froch but they had the exposure. They were only worthy PPV fighters if they were in a big EVENT fight.

 

Boxing didn't use to be a niche sport.

Hagler Vs Leonard was repeated Sunday mornig if my copy of the fight is anything to go by.

I know many that recalled staying up for Tyson fights. The classic is that you'd stay up all night and it'd be over within a round or two

Thing is, the sport needs to sort itself out. That's why it doesn't do big business for free, let alone PPV. Advertising is far more prominent than it was in the 80s/90s; can you imagine the revenue ITV would make just off the back of that if there were two genuine household names squaring off at 10 o'clock on a Saturday night?!?

But the general public just don't really care anymore. You could hype someone to **** and spend loads of money shoving them down someones throats, but it wouldn't work if you were trying to make a Curler seem something worth staying up for, and Boxing is not a massive sport anymore either.

It's the sport that needs to change. Then TV would come back.

It has to be PPV now, because boxers are demanding a lot of money, but they're aren't a lot if people demanding boxing. Even in the 90s, Boxing would make the back page.

Last fight that had that effects over here was Floyd-Hatton, which even surpassed Haye-Valuev in terms of general excitement. Back in the day, you didn't need a Brotish fighter to sell it to British fans from what I can gather, boxing was one of THE big sports (if not the biggest in the time of Ali-Frazier etc etc)

Maybe an older poster can enlighten me as to whether or not I've gauged it correcty? Or whether the above is nostalgic pish :good

 

I think you hit the nail on the head there basically boxers still expect the same size purse in a sport that cant support those kind of levels healthily. As a result the sport has decided that instead of trying to maximise the efforts to increase the sports popularity they are trying to maximise their efforts in exhorting cash from those that will follow it.

That can't be sustained either because eventually that support will dry up and then where do they have to go? The more I think about it the more i worry about it if im being honest. Its very hard to encourage boxers to take less because ultimately it will benefit ALL boxers in the long term.