Comments Thread For: PBC on ESPN Averages 799K Viewers, Peaks at 1.1 Million

[AgainstTheRopes]

People do realize the PBC on ESPN series replaced FNF, if you wanna compare it to something, you'd obviously try to compare to what it REPLACED. just saying. The same will happen on PBC on FoxSports1.

No thats a flawed argument.

Most of the FNF fights were crap and even most hardcore fans didnt give a ****. PBC card featured one of the up and coming stars in boxing.

[Eastcoast]

These number don't mean a whole lot when you consider it went up against a massively hyped UFC ppv.

[DSG's#1Hater]

Serious question: Would Keith Thurman be a bigger star if he had been with Top Rank / HBO the past 3 years instead of with Al?

[HanzGruber]

Surprised it didn't do more. 4 mil people saw Thurman whoop on Guerrero. Maybe the channel hopping is why

These number don't mean a whole lot when you consider it went up against a massively hyped UFC ppv.

Also this. UFC had their biggest ppv of the year this weekend

[JakeNDaBox]

People do realize the PBC on ESPN series replaced FNF, if you wanna compare it to something, you'd obviously try to compare to what it REPLACED. just saying. The same will happen on PBC on FoxSports1.

That's a horribly inaccurate comparison, though.

FNF was a relatively low budget show that aired on ESPN2, and quite frankly was never a primary network focus. PBC is running on the flagship network, and whose budget is upwards of 40x more than any given FNF telecast.

[youbeight]

No thats a flawed argument.

Most of the FNF fights were crap and even most hardcore fans didnt give a ****. PBC card featured one of the up and coming stars in boxing.

But wasn't the objective of PBConESPN to replace a FNF series that wasn't able to generate ratings or attention, considering ESPN isn't technically a free channel compared to NBC CBS and ABC ??

Im just coming from a devils advocate point of view. normally when shows are cancelled or replaced, aren't the normal successors meant to do better than they did in the initial run until theres a pattern of consistency to decide whether it'll stay or go?

[Deevel916]

No thats a flawed argument.

Most of the FNF fights were crap and even most hardcore fans didnt give a ****. PBC card featured one of the up and coming stars in boxing.

Yeah, you really had to be a diehard, no life having boxing aficionado to tune into FNF every week on a friday night.

PBC cards are definitely better but the business model just doesnt make sense. How long can Haymon and his investors keep sustaining losses before they have to close up shop? I dont think he has had even one profitable card thus far and is losing millions on each one.

[The Big Dunn]

Serious question: Would Keith Thurman be a bigger star if he had been with Top Rank / HBO the past 3 years instead of with Al?

Yes because HBO has the "prestige" factor and the history. There wouldn't be diehard fans that wouldn't turn in just because he is with Al.

TR is better at building a boxer into a star. Bob and his team have 40 years experience building fighters. You can't just replicate that.

What would also be different is that Thurman wouldn't be making nearly as much money given HBO's reduced budget.

[youbeight]

That's a horribly inaccurate comparison, though.

FNF was a relatively low budget show that aired on ESPN2, and quite frankly was never a primary network focus. PBC is running on the flagship network, and whose budget is upwards of 40x more than any given FNF telecast.

fair enough, i still think for a first show considering what the network gave up to put in its place, its ok, its not great, but more people watched boxing on ESPN compared the FNF. if it has relative consistency or not will only know in the future cards.

[bigdunny1]

Terrible rating. Huge bomb. Not a good sign for PBC. Ratings keep spiraling down and even ESPN could not help.