Bit of a storm in a teacup brewing over here in Ireland between Hearn & GAA/Croke Park. Croke Park charging €400k to host a Katie Taylor fight and according to them Hearn is looking them to stump up the bill for policing/security. Not sure what the usual procedure is for stadium events, I would have thought that would be a cost charged to the promoter
It’s not that. They want him to pay the usual hire fee, then not standard security they want extra security on top of standard at a cost of close to £500k. Plus licences fees, additional insurances, event costs. All in just to host the event at croke park it’s essentially not far off a million quid. If the event is cancelled etc a large chunk of the costs go down the drain. They then have marketing and undercard costs on top. plus both girls are rumoured tonne getting $1.5m each. Part of it is also the principle. If you agree to pay the costs any time you go back even with a lesser fight the fees will only go up from there. The additional security costs for a fight at Wembley are circa £150k. As Ireland have the rugby on they aren’t fussed about assisting this event in May. They would likely be more accommodating later in the year but that means holding the fight off for another 3/4 months. my guess is they do this at 3 arena as it’s already a done deal. They then get Taylor vs. Baumgardner at Croke Park in September
So taking this at face value you're suggesting a large chunk of AJ's regular PPV base (let's be miserly and say 750k, with big-fight casuals making up the remainder) are DAZN subscribers? By that do you mean active or dormant ones? I've been willing to defend DAZN's economics in the UK but if they have anywhere near 500,000 a month then it's doing much better than people on here think.
It would be remiss not to mention how sacred Croke Park is to the Irish, especially when there are big matches in their traditional sports due there around the same time. But in the end rugby union was played there, despite decades of opposition because frankly it paid well and improved their image. Boxing is not exactly top of the list in Ireland thanks to the Kinahans but a Taylor fight would go a long way towards repairing that and the money will talk at a quiet time of the year.
Maybe Eddie the idiot will now realise that Katie Taylor and women's boxing in general does not move the needle in terms of revenue. Him banging on about Katie Taylor being a world mega star does not reconcile with the fact that he can't make the numbers work for this stadium fight in Ireland. I'm glad he's also being mocked on Twitter now regarding how he's got his begging bowl out now for the Katie fight despite him having a reported wealth of around 75m.
And by the way you've answered that I assume you mean fluctuating levels of active subs. Fair enough, hats off to them if so. A well marketed AJ fight could double that. Despite what people have said on here, the majority don't care if they need to watch something on an "app" and most TV will be delivered that way soon enough anyway.
You must always remember to praise those who deserve praise and Matchroom Boxing deserves great praise for yesterday's event. I just went on DAZN UK this morning and watched the whole event - 7 and a half hours in total - and it was a really good start to 2023 for Matchroom Boxing. A surprisingly good main event and several solid tests on the undercard.
I was thinking about this too - I hadn't subscribed prior to this event but might time a re-sub for Wood-Lara and watch some of last night on demand before it disappears. Timing that right might get me to the AJ fight then we'll if I keep it going!
Did seem a decent card. Would say for UK sub still no UK cards for the 1st 6 weeks of the year and the first being a US one isn't brilliant. If I ever resub it won't I doubt be based on US content
Let’s wait and see. Hearn meeting boots Ennis and another big name this week with a view to signing. If he pulls that and berlanga off with Canelo in place his American stable is in a very good place. 6/8 cards being announced this week.
In the same month you Wil get AJ and Canelo, plus Garcia vs Tank. What more do you possibly want? All for less than a quarter of Skys output.
