What is the impact of the recession in america going to be on boxing? If, as predicted, all the major western european and north american economies are heading towards recession, I think HBO and Showtime will be forced to reduce the prices of PPV's and show more free to air fights. People are going to have less money to spend on such luxuries if we hit a rough patch int he economy. Sky Sports and Setanta in the UK will have to lower their subscription fee's to avoid losing customers, and they'll be competing against the BBC which is immune to market forces and has a massive yearly fixed income from the taxpayer. Surely, if the US economy were stronger, this fight Hopkins - Calzaghe card would be $50 or so in the US? They used to charge that kind of money for **** like Hasim Rahman - Monte Barrett a few years ago. And that Planet Hollywood arena can barely sell the tickets, for one of the most prestige events in boxing. You also have to consider the impact of the internet on this too. It is much easier, with Sopcast and Youtube etc, to watch fights a day or two after the PPV is broadcast and not have to pay anything. In times of hardship I can see more people relying on this than paying out a lot of money for a HBO PPV. Boxing ought to find alternative sources of revenue, because PPV is not going to be very lucrative during a recession, especially considering the product is heavily pirated on the internet. It should diversify, and look into things like cross-promoting MMA/UFC PPVs and title fights together, showing more free-to-air fights to give exposure to young fighters and establish fanbases. Look at Ricky Hatton, he markets himself as an extension of the Manchester City franchise, and he gets 30,000 fans to every fight he has, anywhere in the world. From a business point of view this is extremely clever and has introduced thousands of mainly football fans into going to watch live boxing. If those things could be done in the next few years, it might help boxing weather the storm and would improve the position of the fans who keep the sport going.
