Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas PPV bout to be distributed by Top Rank, not HBO

Manny Pacquiao will make his return to the boxing ring after his extremely brief retirement on Nov. 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas against WBO welterweight titleholder Jessie Vargas. The fight will be a pay-per-view event, but Pacquiao will not be fighting on an HBO presentation this time, as Top Rank boss Bob Arum has decided to do the pay-per-view production himself. Arum told ******.com that he hopes to change the "status quo" of pay-per-view productions with this move. "Just like most human beings, you go and accept the status quo," Arum said to ******.com. "And so for years we've had this plan of having HBO distribute and it was convenient. Now, because of their position that we we're too close to the Ward-Kovalev fight (on Nov. 19), we suddenly realized -- who the hell needs them?" Arum noted that by bypassing HBO and negotiating directly with the TV companies, he can save the 7.5 percent charge that usually goes to HBO's production arm from the fight sales. "The distributor charges 7.5 percent and actually enters into three contracts with Direct TV, Dish and with in-Demand," said Arum. "We do those contracts ourselves. In other words, they negotiate them but we do them ourselves, so why would we pay 7.5 percent to anybody if we can get all of the publicity and the promotion from others by supplying it to networks that have a much bigger audience then say an HBO." Without HBO, there will not be a 24/7 series on the fight in the same format, but Arum is looking to take a different route to supplement the promotion of the fight by selling programming to networks like CBS, NBC and ABC. "In other words, it's like a '24/7' but I think it's going to be much more innovative," Arum said. "We're going to do major pieces that have never been seen before. We're going to take cameras right into the Senate, see them considering bills. I think it's going to be fascinating." As for the commentating team, it's unknown right now who will be on the fight call, but it will not be the normal voices we've grown accustomed to on past Pacquiao fights as Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman and the HBO will not be ringside. Arum says he's in contact with "major names" but has not worked out any official deals yet. The decision to self-promote the pay-per-view is an interesting decision, and one that makes business sense on the surface. However, there's a reason HBO and Showtime are the two dominant houses of boxing television and it's because they have the best in the business producing, commentating and shooting the action. If Top Rank can find a way to put on a similar level of production, it could certainly shake up the boxing pay-per-view landscape in the future. http://www.cbssports.com/boxing/news/manny-pacquiao-jessie-vargas-ppv-bout-to-be-distributed-by-top-rank-not-hbo/

Comments (9)

I might buy this fight. Not sure. Still a better fight than Golovkin-Brook and Canelo-Khan, which I refused to buy.

9y ago

VERSION1_V1

9y ago

j0zef

For some reason Bob Arum doesnt seem to me like the type of person that takes losses. I think its safe to say Bob Arum knows the drawing power of his fighters and wont risk losing $ if he knows that beforehand. I think a loss to Arum is he didnt make as much $ as he had hoped or wanted, I seriously doubt Bob Arum puts fights on to pay for it all himself with no upside. I think people underestimate Arums business sense. I have nothing but outmost respect for Arum, but he seemed very straightforward when it came to last Pac PPV. And the most important thing is that when I run the base numbers through a spreadsheet, it supports his claim that he lost money last time and it was a disaster. You don't need to know all the financials, and you can guesstimate the costs to come up with a big picture of how the PPV did approximately. People loved saying that Crawford's PPV and Golovkin's PPV were financial disasters and big fails, etc etc. But what they don't realize is that Crawford PPV purses were ~3m total, Golovkin PPV purses were ~4m total, while Pac-Bradley purses were $26M. That's a HUGE difference. Just run those base numbers through and you get: Crawford ~60k (no known figure) @ $60 = 3.6m GGG ~150k @ $60 = 9m Pac/Bradley4 ~450k (from link above) @ $70 = 31m. Arum expected about 700k buys (link). In general, networks take approx 50% of the TV revenue. 700k @ $70 = $49m. That's the number that makes sense. If they generate $49m from TV, another ~5-6m gate and some ad revenue, that works out enough to cover the purses (26m) and network fees. I'm very interested in seeing what Pac stands to gain from this fight. I'm expecting something like 10m Pac and 2-3m Vargas.

9y ago

Boxfan83

This may end up screwing Arum big time. The last fight vs. Bradley didn't sell well and was a financial disaster - Arum's words, not mine. Going away from HBO may cut down their sales to a 100k. Pac is still gonna command a huge paycheck.. it sounds and smells like a financial disaster again. For some reason Bob Arum doesnt seem to me like the type of person that takes losses. I think its safe to say Bob Arum knows the drawing power of his fighters and wont risk losing $ if he knows that beforehand. I think a loss to Arum is he didnt make as much $ as he had hoped or wanted, I seriously doubt Bob Arum puts fights on to pay for it all himself with no upside. I think people underestimate Arums business sense.

9y ago

BreWall

HBO probably won't even care because they're not making any money off of these PPVs. I won't be surprised if I learned TR has been co-distributing their latest PPVs. I also see TR making some changes like having their own round by round commentators, Christina Poncher interviewing Arum after a fight, etc.

9y ago

Boxfan83

Dont get me wrong it sucks having to buy a PPV but IDK why these promoters didnt think of doing independent PPV's more often. I think HBO's boxing has done well but I dont think many if any have cared or payed attention to whos the PPV distributor. In years past at least for me its been about who is fighting. I hope Bob does the Tecate rebate like he used to do :boxing:

9y ago

Eastcoast

If TR is still on the line to cover Manny's guarantee, this could be absolutely disastrous for TR. I'm guessing maybe 200k buys.

9y ago

j0zef

9y ago

mathed

Arum said screw HBO, he don't need you.

9y ago