Comments Thread For: Warren On Fury-Whyte Undercard Backlash: 'We Only Have a Certain Amount of Money To Play With'

[harry-greb]

Frank never shuts up about the fans, but then puts on this rubbish

[gluvsup]

Frank — and, frankly, all boxing promoters — are ******ly pursuing a bad economic model.

They’re imitating the history of Hollywood under what’s called the star system. It’s called that because the stars have all the power. Back in your grandfather’s day, however, Hollywood studios had actors on tightly-controlled contracts. You as a young John Wayne or Marilyn Monroe made a set number of “pictures” for a fixed price. Nobody with a name lacked for champagne and nice cars. They just didn’t have the monumental back accounts of Tom Cruise or Jennifer Lawrence. This “studio system” meant costs could be kept down and more movies — many times more than today — could be made.

When that system crumbled, top stars’ salaries soared. Now, the cost of making a movie was primarily payouts to actors, who also largely decided what would be made. This was great for a tiny handful of stars, but it had disastrous results for the business: fewer movies, safe decisions about what product to make (because the risk of a bomb was now so much more dangerous) and lots of bland sequels that milked a franchise until it was dead.

Sound like a sport you know? Frank’s paying out a colossal sum for a fight that isn’t even one of the top three fans want to see. He’s broke (well, his bankroller in America is broke) so he complains that he can’t put on a quality card. But it’s his own doing — and he’s not alone in boxing. He and his fellow promoters should take a long hard look at what happened to the movie biz: hardly anything outside of a superhero film now makes money and a disaffected public has found other things to do. Frank & Co. can end up in the same miserable situation if they haven’t already.

[REDEEMER]

Some people have fair comments. Some others allow bias to sway their view.

there is fools out here who paid for Joshua v Molina, Joshua V takam and Ortiz V Martin. Yet are raging over this card. Lmfao. The irony!

Joshua was on DAZN in most places the Takam card was great compared to what BT is offering here and not many bought Ortiz vs Martin it was a major flop but at least it was an all heavyweight card that had some good fights .

[Roj]

Whatever the alibi - not using this platform to expose the best of his roster is a major missed opportunity

Exactly! Well said

[Monty Fisto]

Frank — and, frankly, all boxing promoters — are ******ly pursuing a bad economic model.

They’re imitating the history of Hollywood under what’s called the star system. It’s called that because the stars have all the power. Back in your grandfather’s day, however, Hollywood studios had actors on tightly-controlled contracts. You as a young John Wayne or Marilyn Monroe made a set number of “pictures” for a fixed price. Nobody with a name lacked for champagne and nice cars. They just didn’t have the monumental back accounts of Tom Cruise or Jennifer Lawrence. This “studio system” meant costs could be kept down and more movies — many times more than today — could be made.

When that system crumbled, top stars’ salaries soared. Now, the cost of making a movie was primarily payouts to actors, who also largely decided what would be made. This was great for a tiny handful of stars, but it had disastrous results for the business: fewer movies, safe decisions about what product to make (because the risk of a bomb was now so much more dangerous) and lots of bland sequels that milked a franchise until it was dead.

Sound like a sport you know? Frank’s paying out a colossal sum for a fight that isn’t even one of the top three fans want to see. He’s broke (well, his bankroller in America is broke) so he complains that he can’t put on a quality card. But it’s his own doing — and he’s not alone in boxing. He and his fellow promoters should take a long hard look at what happened to the movie biz: hardly anything outside of a superhero film now makes money and a disaffected public has found other things to do. Frank & Co. can end up in the same miserable situation if they haven’t already.

Yeah, not a great history of how the Hollywood Studio System worked.

The studio system was profitable because the studios basically had a monopoly and the only way a theatre could get an A movie was by buying a bunch of B movies from the studio along with it. In other words, it was a big rip off.
The law changed, making this practice of block booking illegal. And along came TV as well. This ended the studio system.

And when the studio system fell, you got movies like the Godfather, Deliverance, Jaws, Star Wars, Dog Day Afternoon and The Sting from the 'new' Hollywood. Which seems pretty good.

There have always been sequels. The only real difference is that audience appetite for them has gone through the roof. The studios respond to what makes money.


And some elements of the studio system are returning: with streaming services like Disney+, the major studios are once again gaining an almost monopolistic control over the distribution. I doubt it will usher in greater quality.

As for boxing, all the promoters dream of a monopoly like the UFC, where the fighters get paid peanuts to risk their health for entertainment. It's double-edged. It does mean the best are forced to fight the best, but the fighters get ripped off, while the organisation owning the monopoly gets extremely rich.

The pendulum probably has swung a little too far in the fighters' favour in boxing, wherein it's difficult to get big fights made because of the pay demands of fighters who don't neccesarily bring in the viewers. Specifically with this fight, I think Frank and Bob just went a little overboard with what they bid.

[NachoMan]

It probably wont effect PPV buys that much as long as the main event actually happens. But if Whyte pulls out at the last minute this is going to be brutal.

Whyte would end his career if he pulled out of this fight. He might be crazy enough to do it though, if someone irritates him, just a little.

[thack]

It probably wont effect PPV buys that much as long as the main event actually happens. But if Whyte pulls out at the last minute this is going to be brutal.

Why would Whyte pull out and lose over $11m if he wins????????? two fights ago this moaning mug was being KO'd for £300,000

[Deleted]

Yeah, not a great history of how the Hollywood Studio System worked.

The studio system was profitable because the studios basically had a monopoly and the only way a theatre could get an A movie was by buying a bunch of B movies from the studio along with it. In other words, it was a big rip off.
The law changed, making this practice of block booking illegal. And along came TV as well. This ended the studio system.

And when the studio system fell, you got movies like the Godfather, Deliverance, Jaws, Star Wars, Dog Day Afternoon and The Sting from the 'new' Hollywood. Which seems pretty good.

There have always been sequels. The only real difference is that audience appetite for them has gone through the roof. The studios respond to what makes money.


And some elements of the studio system are returning: with streaming services like Disney+, the major studios are once again gaining an almost monopolistic control over the distribution. I doubt it will usher in greater quality.

As for boxing, all the promoters dream of a monopoly like the UFC, where the fighters get paid peanuts to risk their health for entertainment. It's double-edged. It does mean the best are forced to fight the best, but the fighters get ripped off, while the organisation owning the monopoly gets extremely rich.

The pendulum probably has swung a little too far in the fighters' favour in boxing, wherein it's difficult to get big fights made because of the pay demands of fighters who don't neccesarily bring in the viewers. Specifically with this fight, I think Frank and Bob just went a little overboard with what they bid.

Well said! I saw stuff on Lucille Ball, its crazy how things used to work in Hollywood not so long ago and still do in many industries.

[Monty Fisto]

Well said! I saw stuff on Lucille Ball, its crazy how things used to work in Hollywood not so long ago and still do in many industries.

Lucille Ball actually had a whole studio of her own. Desilu (named from a combination of the first names of her and her husband Desi Arnaz) and, strangely enough, that was the studio behind Star Trek and Mission:Impossible, the two most expensive TV shows in the late 60s. She used to finance the lion's share of the cost of the shows (about $1.6 million per episode in today's terms). She sold the studio to Paramount in 1968.

[tokon]

So where's the replacement fights of the quality that the money from Anderson and Yarde freed up. Just more bs from Warren. Like he inferred, the tickets are all sold why bother?