How beneficial was postponing the rematch from a business perspective?

There has always been piracy. Before it was cable descramblers, now it's illegal streams. I don't know which hurt PPV worse, but piracy or not, it's looking like this fight is going to break a million buys. I'm not going to judge those who pirate. For me personally, the fight is $69.99 in HD on my cable system. A few buddies come over and chip in $20 each, I buy a few snacks for everyone, and everybody has a great time and only spent $20 each. No worries about a stream cutting out. No worries about the video or audio quality being poor. I can also record the PPV in HD on my DVR and rewatch it in a few years if I want. Streams become more tempting for smaller fights where I don't have a ton of people hitting me up asking if I'm ordering the fight. But for a big fight, where finding people to split it takes no effort at all, it's definitely worth it to order it. You had to pay good money for Cable Descramblers and illegal satellite. Now its completely free if you understand how the free Kodi application and its various addons work. Even if you don't there is somebody who does that will out in on a firestick, Roku, or Rasberry Pi for you for cheap. This isn't even getting into all the various websites online that link to illegal streams.

If there wasn't easy ways for people to watch it illegally it would easily do over 1.5 million. If they are smart they will have invested good money into shutting those live feeds down as fast as they can. There has always been piracy. Before it was cable descramblers, now it's illegal streams. I don't know which hurt PPV worse, but piracy or not, it's looking like this fight is going to break a million buys. I'm not going to judge those who pirate. For me personally, the fight is $69.99 in HD on my cable system. A few buddies come over and chip in $20 each, I buy a few snacks for everyone, and everybody has a great time and only spent $20 each. No worries about a stream cutting out. No worries about the video or audio quality being poor. I can also record the PPV in HD on my DVR and rewatch it in a few years if I want. Streams become more tempting for smaller fights where I don't have a ton of people hitting me up asking if I'm ordering the fight. But for a big fight, where finding people to split it takes no effort at all, it's definitely worth it to order it.

Postponing the rematch was extremely beneficial. Had the fight been a Showtime PPV last year, it would have maybe done 500k US buys. But it's not just the postponement, it's also having FOX + ESPN instead of Showtime. It's looking like we're going to have the first million selling heavyweight PPV in 18 years. Arum says he's convinced it can do two million. If it does, it'll be the first heavyweight fight in history to break two million. No matter how you slice it, Fury made an extremely wise business decision signing with Top Rank. If there wasn't easy ways for people to watch it illegally it would easily do over 1.5 million. If they are smart they will have invested good money into shutting those live feeds down as fast as they can.

Anticipation builds hype sadly.

I know you boys love talking about the business side of boxing so lets hear it. How many PPVs would the rematch have sold if it had been immediate as originally thought, as opposed to the rematch over a year later? Fury has been more exposed to the american audience and Wilder has continued to score explosive knockouts to build the hype. Postponing the rematch was extremely beneficial. Had the fight been a Showtime PPV last year, it would have maybe done 500k US buys. But it's not just the postponement, it's also having FOX + ESPN instead of Showtime. It's looking like we're going to have the first million selling heavyweight PPV in 18 years. Arum says he's convinced it can do two million. If it does, it'll be the first heavyweight fight in history to break two million. No matter how you slice it, Fury made an extremely wise business decision signing with Top Rank.

I know you boys love talking about the business side of boxing so lets hear it. How many PPVs would the rematch have sold if it had been immediate as originally thought, as opposed to the rematch over a year later? Fury has been more exposed to the american audience and Wilder has continued to score explosive knockouts to build the hype. Woth espn and fox it probably doubled if not tripled the buys