Eddie Hearn's Big Dilemma

Fox app will be free tho, I'm assumimg. I'm guessing at some point they will charge a monthly fee. They will need a lot of content but they do have the NFL and college fball/bball which is huge.

http://fightnights.com/2018/09/05/4122/premier-boxing-champions-fox-sports-ink-lucrative-four-year-pact I guess this is a start but I'm expecting FOX to expand their digital platform in 2019. Fox app will be free tho, I'm assumimg.

Per the PBC press release, all PBC on FOX Sports events and programming will be streamed live on the FOX Sports app, available in English or Spanish through the FOX, FS1 or FOX Deportes feeds. FOX Sports will offer a platform inside the app to allow viewers to stream the PPV events. In addition, boxing and the PBC will be prominently featured across the FOX Sports website, apps and social platforms. http://fightnights.com/2018/09/05/4122/premier-boxing-champions-fox-sports-ink-lucrative-four-year-pact I guess this is a start but I'm expecting FOX to expand their digital platform in 2019.

Well, the PBC definitely needed a deal like this one. SHO alone wasn't going to cut it. Regardless of the amount of good cards they put on, they simply can't keep everyone active. Haymon got another platform with just as much of a budget which is very impressive. When Schaefer started having his prospects sign with Haymon, that was a sign a deal was on the horizon. He knew more dates would open up to showcase his fighters. Good stuff. Yeah it was great on pbc part. But now that boxing is back on tv it has to produce ratings and stars that will keep networks interested enough for it to survive past pbc and top ranks contracts. It has to produce consistency and if im a pbc hater (which my record shows im not) boxing will start to be compared to UFC a lot. seeing as how they both were on FOX.

Well said I believe I was one of the people on this sight who has been saying for a while that pbc wouldn't die....cant wait for everyones next issue with their platform Well, the PBC definitely needed a deal like this one. SHO alone wasn't going to cut it. Regardless of the amount of good cards they put on, they simply can't keep everyone active. Haymon got another platform with just as much of a budget which is very impressive. When Schaefer started having his prospects sign with Haymon, that was a sign a deal was on the horizon. He knew more dates would open up to showcase his fighters. Good stuff.

Now, only thing missing with all these predictions is the digital platform that FOX should be starting in 2019. Check the thread date and my posts. Not bad. Well said I believe I was one of the people on this sight who has been saying for a while that pbc wouldn't die....cant wait for everyones next issue with their platform

It doesn't say in Haymon fighters contracts that they can't sign with a promoter without advising him, but a lot of them are clearly loyal soldiers. Haymon can't satisfy everyone, especially some of the B-siders so maybe they make the move as the money is too much to pass up. But Hearn immediately went after the top guns. Well, that's not going to fly. SHO will up their offers and Haymon still has more money left than folks think. I guess the fighters benefit the most with Hearn trying to pry them away as they will end up with better deals. Mayweather made over $500 million in his two fights vs Pacman/McGregor, are folks really that stupid and don't think Haymon got at least 10-15% of that? That alone got him 50-75 million (before taxes). And no doubt SHO made some good money off those fights that allows them to increase their budgets. My sense is Haymon is trying hard to get a deal done with FOX as they start their digital platform soon. They see the landscape and know they will need some content after losing out on the UFC (did gain Smackdown), and Haymon has more quality fighters overall than any other promoter/manager/advisor. If Haymon locks that deal up to go along with what he has with SHO, then Hearn is going to have even a harder time with DAZN. Hey no one said it was easy and Hearn is a smart guy, so lets see what he comes up with. Now, only thing missing with all these predictions is the digital platform that FOX should be starting in 2019. Check the thread date and my posts. Not bad.

Well, looks like Hearn upped his offer even more to Mikey just recently. Lets see if he takes it. I'm guessing he won't since he will then lose out on the Spence fight. But this is one of the PPV type of fights on DAZN he was referring to. Would be solid to only have to pay $10 bucks for it. Doesn't look like Spence is interested in that though. If DAZN does take off and Hearn builds a big time US stable, I'm guessing it will be a crop of fighters that are prospects or still amateurs. By then DAZN may be bigger and the money will be too good to pass up. But for prime fighters it just severely limits their stardom fighting on a start up streaming service.

Now with the news of Mikey vs Spence being on SHO PPV end of the year, fair to say Mikey will not be joining Hearn. Well, at least not yet. Hearn wants to put on a huge show in November, and I think that is why he is pushing so hard to throw Chisora or Whyte against Wilder. But Wilder isn't fighting on DAZN against either of those two. Andrade is fighting BJS in October so he's out of the picture. Realistically, which big name fighter can he sign by now to November to put on that PPV worthy card he wants to put on? Keith Thurman? Though he will fight a tune up so that's not going to be it. How about Whyte vs Miller? Or he is just waiting it out for Joshua in April of '19 if the Wilder fight falls through? Wildcard but maybe a Degale vs Eubank type of match up? Hurd vs Brook? I don't know but it will be interesting. Dana White and Hearn have gone HARD after Mikey Garcia, but they may just want to take a step back there. Garcia is a hard guy to figure out and he likely won't want to sign a long-term deal with anyone.

Also want to add how much harder it is to get the boxing media to be on your side like it is in the UK. That's another dilemma for him. He said some joke like there are more people in here than Wilder's last fight....And you heard pin drops. Those reporters were looking like W-T-F are you talking about?

So I know I sort of touched on this in another thread, but wanted to put it all in one. Late May as we all know he was part of the big DAZN reveal and there was a lot of talk of how he was going to take over the US market since he had a war chest of money with about $125 million per year. Immediately he targeted all the big Haymon guys and felt he could pry them away just as he was able to do so with Jacobs and Khan. Hearn said his phone had been blowing up like crazy since the announcement and he was going to reveal some big signings by the end of June. Well, fast forward a month and it hasn't gone like he thought it would. Why? Because he tried to just snatch fighters away from Haymon and that was never going to work. A guy like Mikey Garcia is a straight businessman with no loyalty, so he may eventually make the move, but guys like Broner, Charlo bros, Spence, Wilder, etc aren't going anywhere. Haymon helps them outside the ring just as much inside it. Spence always talks about how Haymon from day one talked about investing his money and how to thrive after boxing. He has these guys make their own promotional companies to write off the expenses while being able to make some money off the gate as well as selling their own merchandise. Hearn nor any other promoter is letting that happen. I guess Joshua does have his own promotional company? So he may be one of the few that this applies to in the UK. What he should have done is work with Haymon and have him put some of his guys on DAZN until it became a solid household streaming service in the states and then hope he could sign fighters two years down the line. ESPN+ which is WELL more known and has rights to other American sports that DAZN does not has like 200,000 subscribers. And it is promoted like crazy over ESPN and reasonably priced at $5 dollars per month. DAZN on the other hand is going to be doubled or tripled that price featuring bunch of niche sports. NFL and NBA digital rights are locked up until I believe 2020 and 2021. I heard they may get the English Premiere League rights, but that is not going to cut it. Futbol or soccer in the states isn't as big as the NBA or NFL or the MLB. So fighters for the near future are going to be fighting in front of a limited audience. Hearn said his goal was for the American audience to stop paying $99.99 for PPVs and put those fights on DAZN. The problem with that statement is we don't pay that much, only for Mayweather/Pacquiao and Mayweather/McGregor. And the only fighter on PPV right now is Canelo with GGG being on it depending on the opponent. THAT'S IT! No one else is on PPV. All the other best fighters are fighting on HBO/SHO/ESPN. So from the start Hearn had a flawed plan. He said he wants about four PPV-esque shows per year. Well, are you going to get Canelo or GGG to fight on DAZN? If not, then it's not going to happen. But you could put on four great fights on DAZN....That is if you had guys like Wilder/Spence/Thurman/Garcia/etc. Heck, Thurman/Garcia and Thurman/Porter two really good match ups were on network television on CBS! This takes me to what I have been saying for a while during the Wilder/Joshua negotiations. His plan was to never have Joshua/Wilder take place in 2018 because he simply couldn't put that type of fight on DAZN...YET. DAZN debuts in September and you can't put the biggest or second biggest fight in the world on a streaming service that has been running for only a month or two. He needed time to promote DAZN so it always made sense to make that fight in 2019. This would give DAZN six or seven months to get their name out and in meantime he could put Joshua on DAZN in September and hope it attracts some subscribers. The problem though? Joshua does good afternoon numbers on SHO, but nothing special. He's not a household name in the states yet to the point the American audience is dying to see him to the point they will pay 12-15 bucks to do so. This is why he was hoping to get some big name American fighters locked up to get some good press for DAZN. And what do you know, right after he told Wilder's team that the fight wasn't going to happen next, he offers Wilder $5 million to fight on DAZN. And Wilder swiftly turned it down knowing what Hearn was doing here. He wanted Wilder to take the fight on DAZN against Breazeale and then say look, your fight with Joshua will also take place on DAZN. Wilder wants some PPV money out of it and Espinoza even said the fight taking place in the UK doesn't necessarily mean it can't be on PPV in the states. It will be interesting to see what type of numbers it does, but if it does even like 300,000 buys, that's $21 million off PPV (10.5-11 after cable distributors get their share). DAZN isn't going to be putting up THAT type of money. Hearn ended up screwing himself here big time IMO. Why? Because that $15 million flat fee that Wilder accepted for it to happen in 2018? No chance he agrees to that in April. Because now all the heat is on for that fight to happen next. It can't drag on any longer. Wilder gets a bit more negotiation pull that he didn't originally have. His team would be doing a big disservice to him if they don't take some sort of percentage upside or don't end up with at least $25 million this time around. And no chance it takes place on DAZN as Hearn wanted. Wilder's side will want it on SHO PPV where they could make additional 5-6 million on it. In conclusion, Hearn was not able to sign the big name fighters he needed to start out his venture with a bang and now people will be disappointed when he reveals the signings in mid-July. Not only was the announcement delayed a few weeks, but there won't be any superstar names announced which he desperately needed to gain some traction in the US market with his platform. And he will have to give Wilder much more the second time around. It is super early for Hearn, but fair to say he will have to tweak his vision for his six year option to be picked up. Right now he should try to sign as many good solid fighters as he can and then work with big time promoters/advisors and put their cards on his network. Build the name brand first and then go for the jugular. Time will tell, but Fast Car has a big dilemma in the his new venture and I got my popcorn ready to see how it all unfolds! Good luck my good sir! Don't like quoting myself, but just had to do it here. That post was made on June 29th. Fast forward to July 17th, and people are disappointed with the initial reveal of the signed fighters. Pretty much dead one. Will have to quote it again for the next Wilder/Joshua negotiations to see if I nailed that part as well. Pretty sure I will.

pretty sure we've been told all the fights that are on DAZN will be on regular Sky subscription. That's what I figured. So yeah, Hearn vs Warren purse bid for Andrade/BJS. Someone will have to overpay for that fight, and Hearn has more to spend, but Warren may covet BJS more than Hearn covets Andrade. Though looking at his initial stable, Andrade is his top guy in terms of Matchroom USA. At least until he signs other guys or brings Jacobs there.

It will be shown on DAZN here in the states, not sure if it will be on SKY in the UK though. But IIRC, the American DAZN shows will be on SKY. Could be wrong though. pretty sure we've been told all the fights that are on DAZN will be on regular Sky subscription.

It explains why took so long for Hearn to throw away the 50 million. He wanted to have Joshua fighting Miller to make Dazn fly and then fight Wilder to make it really work. But the only excuse they had was to say they didn't want the fight on the US. Now the Miller fight is impossible. Joshua asking 50 million really hurt Hearn's plans

I don't think Wilder's Team cares if it's on SHO. Or they would have said that, when Hearn said it could be on DAZN for US TV, Shelly Finkle or Wilder didn't object. I don't believe a smart man like Hearn could just believe he just walks in and take the best fighters from Haymon and SHO. DAZN/Hearn have signed Thurman and close to getting Mikey Garcia, so it's a start Is it official that he signed Thurman? I just heard rumors on here but nothing concrete. I do know Jermell Charlo said he is flying out to NYC, so is he along with his brother part of the reveal show tomorrow. They would certainly be good gets for Hearn.

Well ever since he became the WBC Champion it's quite clear he will only be fighting on Showtime. So it makes no sense, unless SHO think Wilder will get knocked out by Joshua Not true. After he became the champ, he fought on FOX and NBC. He became the champ on January of 2015, he fought Duhaupas on NBC, and both Arreola/Washington on FOX.

Well ever since he became the WBC Champion it's quite clear he will only be fighting on Showtime. So it makes no sense, unless SHO think Wilder will get knocked out by Joshua He’s been on FOX and CBS since he won the title.

I can see that too. I just don't understand why Showtime doesn't tie down Wilder to a Contract ? He is the American Fighter they are the American Network. Back the American, they have no affinity with Joshua anymore. Haymon doesn't have his fighters sign network deals. If Wilder was strictly SHO, he wouldn't have been able to fight on FOX and NBC.

Let me give you a summary of what Eddie Hearn is doing in the US- Attempting to put Showtime Boxing out of buisness. All the fighters he is after are Showtime Televised Fighters. Canelo and GGG are tied up to HBO until they are retired. I know what he attempted to do. And there is a reason from all the guys he mentioned, he signed exactly none of them. His big unrevealing wasn't supposed to be guys like Beterbiev/Hooker/Andrade, it was supposed to be Broner/Mikey/Spence/Wilder/etc. That's a big part of my post. He had the wrong initial strategy and just thought he could take fighters away from Haymon/SHO by offering them a lot of money. Hearn has said Wilder's team doesn't care if it is on DAZN. But I guarantee you that won't be the case if the fight takes place in April. Wilder's side will want it on SHO, or a much bigger guarantee. Just getcha popcorn ready, it's going to be a hell of a ride.

I don’t get the point of this DAZN app for boxing. I don’t see anyone going to fight on there that isn’t being promoted by Hearn already. And isn’t it going to be like $20 a month? At least ESPN+ is only $5 a month & has some fighters on it that people actually want to watch.