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Golden Boy's Deal with Fox Sports a Disappointment After Massive UFC-Fox Deal
Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions has announced a new television deal with the Fox Sports Media Group. While it means more boxing on TV for fight fans, the deal itself comes as a huge disappointment when compared to the massive deal reached between the UFC and FOX in 2011.
Golden Boy's deal will primarily revolve around airing live cards on Fox Deportes, along with fights on regional Fox Sports channels, and Fuel TV.
Compare that to the UFC's reported $100 million annual deal with Fox, including at least four cards per year on the main Fox network, a reality series and additional fight cards on FX, and fights and other programming on Fuel.
There is no comparison.
While it may not be entirely fair to stack up an entity like the UFC which is basically a monopoly in its sport, mixed martial arts, to a single promoter like Golden Boy in the complicated, muddy waters of boxing, it's a disheartening blow nevertheless.
In March, Oscar De La Hoya made an announcement on Twitter of a pending "major" announcement which would "shake the boxing industry in a major way". Immediately, speculation turned to a deal to bring boxing back to network television.
This, of course, falls terribly short.
Deals like this one are needed for boxing to help close the gap between the very tiny upper group of Pay-Per-View attractions like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao and all of the other thousands of professional pugs looking to make ends meet. If America's social fabric is torn between the 99% and the 1%, then the world of boxing is split between the 99.9999% against the .0001%.
Still, it's not exactly groundbreaking material, and it's downright laughable compared to the UFC's agreement with the very same media group.
The deal between Main Events and the NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) is for fewer fights, but offers more exposure to English-speaking, mainstream American fight fans. And perhaps there's a way to capitalize on that down the road by getting fights on NBC.
Golden Boy is blocked on Fox by the UFC and got such a paltry deal in comparison that the ability to rise any higher seems unlikely.
Now, the ball is in rival Top Rank's court. Recently, they were able to negotiate major exposure on CBS through a deal to air a Pacquiao fight on Showtime. Their ability to hash out an ongoing relationship for fights on those platforms is boxing's best chance to be on network TV at any point in the near future, and nothing would make Bob Arum happier than beating De La Hoya to the punch there.
Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions has announced a new television deal with the Fox Sports Media Group. While it means more boxing on TV for fight fans, the deal itself comes as a huge disappointment when compared to the massive deal reached between the UFC and FOX in 2011.
Golden Boy's deal will primarily revolve around airing live cards on Fox Deportes, along with fights on regional Fox Sports channels, and Fuel TV.
Compare that to the UFC's reported $100 million annual deal with Fox, including at least four cards per year on the main Fox network, a reality series and additional fight cards on FX, and fights and other programming on Fuel.
There is no comparison.
While it may not be entirely fair to stack up an entity like the UFC which is basically a monopoly in its sport, mixed martial arts, to a single promoter like Golden Boy in the complicated, muddy waters of boxing, it's a disheartening blow nevertheless.
In March, Oscar De La Hoya made an announcement on Twitter of a pending "major" announcement which would "shake the boxing industry in a major way". Immediately, speculation turned to a deal to bring boxing back to network television.
This, of course, falls terribly short.
Deals like this one are needed for boxing to help close the gap between the very tiny upper group of Pay-Per-View attractions like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao and all of the other thousands of professional pugs looking to make ends meet. If America's social fabric is torn between the 99% and the 1%, then the world of boxing is split between the 99.9999% against the .0001%.
Still, it's not exactly groundbreaking material, and it's downright laughable compared to the UFC's agreement with the very same media group.
The deal between Main Events and the NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) is for fewer fights, but offers more exposure to English-speaking, mainstream American fight fans. And perhaps there's a way to capitalize on that down the road by getting fights on NBC.
Golden Boy is blocked on Fox by the UFC and got such a paltry deal in comparison that the ability to rise any higher seems unlikely.
Now, the ball is in rival Top Rank's court. Recently, they were able to negotiate major exposure on CBS through a deal to air a Pacquiao fight on Showtime. Their ability to hash out an ongoing relationship for fights on those platforms is boxing's best chance to be on network TV at any point in the near future, and nothing would make Bob Arum happier than beating De La Hoya to the punch there.
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