By Ryan Burton
BoxingScene.com recently spoke to Dan Diamond, Vice President of NCM Fathom, the company that brings pay per view boxing to movie theaters across the United States. When Floyd Mayweather fought Juan Manuel Marquez last September it was the first time boxing had been seen on the big screen in over twenty years. "We had been talking for quite some time with Golden Boy and the great thing about it is based on the wide variety of events we had been doing for quite some time we really felt very strongly about it. We are very fortunate that we have a strong partnership with Golden Boy."
Diamond elaborated further, "Our focus totally has been to bring boxing back to the local communities across the country. Boxing used to be available in movie theaters years ago and we have sat down and crafted a strategy that we feel very good about. It is working with these fights and is getting fans back in movie theaters."
When pressed about specific attendance numbers for the Mayweather-Marquez fight Diamond said, "We don't release our specific attendance numbers but I can tell you we had lots of sellouts. We were honestly surprised at how excited fans were to see fights in theaters. We know in some instances they had to turn fans away at the door because they were soldout. We were optimistic and the numbers exceeded our expectations."
NCM Fathom followed up the success of the Mayweather-Marquez fight with the Mayweather-Mosley clash that also proved to be a box office hit. Diamond is confident that Marquez-Diaz 2 will continue the pattern. "With the Mayweather fights we had a huge positive response. Fans were cheering like they were ringside watching the fight. This fight is a little bit different in that it is a Hispanic and Hispanic American fight fan market. The great thing about this fight is that it has its own unique feel to it. It is going to be quite a rematch. These are two great fighters. "
This scribe thought that the target audience to view a fight in a movie theater would be a fan or a pair of fans that didn't want to plunk down the $55 or $65 it takes to watch a pay per view these days. What I didn't think was that the traditional group of 10-20 friends who get together and pitch in towards the fight, food, beer etc. would be on their target list as well. Diamond said they are indeed looking for those large groups of fans so they can provide them with a unique experience. "What we have seen is that this works for everybody. The great thing about the theaters is that we are looking for fight fans. A lot of the fans that have attended have access to pay per view but they didn't want to take their family to a sports bar. They wanted to be around other fight fans. For example it is a way I can go and sit down with my son and talk about some of the greatest fights that I have seen and do it in front of the big screen."
Diamond went on to say that just having the fight in theatres helps brings more attention to the fight in general at the local level. He feels that it helps drive pay per view numbers up as well. "At the end of the day the awareness it brings to the fight increases the pay per view numbers and the interest in the sport. It helps increase pay per view orders and brings people into sports bar and restaurants to watch closed circuit showings. It helps the events out quite a bit in many different ways."
When asked if he had thought about showing pay per view fights that weren't promoted by Golden Boy, the Vice President had this to say, "At this point in time we are primarily focused on Golden Boy fights. Obviously the fight everyone is anticipating is Mayweather-Pacquiao at some point. We are all anxious to see that. We would love to put that on the big screen. We would talk to anybody but they (Golden Boy) have been great partners with us and we are looking to make fights with Golden Boy the best they can be."
Diamond said you really need to see a fight in theaters to understand the experience. It isn't something that a fan can really grasp until they have sat down and watched a fight on the big screen. "Once you see a fight in a theatre you really get it. The punches on a forty foot screen and the sweat flying off these guys is incredible. When the punches land it is pretty amazing. There are only so many ringside seats and not all fans can jump on a plane and go to Vegas. This really is the next best thing to being ringside. It is as close to being there as you can get."
Fans interested in finding theaters near them or learning more about NCM Fathom can visit
or fathomevents.com
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