HBO desperate for PPV Stars?

[Left Hook Tua]

that or he should fold dibella into his operation and let him handle the in ring stuff.

dibellas smart.

he just don't have the resources.

with haymon's resources that could be a monster company.

[jqSide]

The trio, Schaefer, Haymon, Espinoza, already experimented on the viability of PPVs at SHO's expense. They learned later that it's really not that profitable. Look at where Haymon ended up with, free TV.

[Eff Pandas]

1 the old HBO CEO's were big boxing fans. not so much anymore.

2 HBO pays for hype/buzz. so ppl talk HBO and get new subscribers.

most boxing buzz fights aren't on HBO anymore. those few fights go HBOPPV like pac-may, canelo-cotto.

3 HBO main rival right now isn't even SHOW and definitely not boxing related.

it's NETFLIX.

HBO/NETFLIX war is on right now.

Didn't even think about Netflix. That all makes sense doe.

What do you think HBO's future in boxing looks like? We 5-10yrs away from HBO only being connected to TruTV shows & PPV's? I've been saying for a couple years now I think HBO is gonna end as we know it now & with those budget numbers I don't see how that isn't the end game or there is much to argue about.

[soul_survivor]

Bradley or anyone can do a PPV...it doesn't mean anyone will actually buy it. Not in any big numbers anyway, which is my point.

Even Cotto and Canelo need each other or another big dance partner for PPV. I doubt either does more than 400k on their own. Even Cotto v Martinez didn't do that.

They don't have a guy apart from Manny who can exceed like half a million no matter who's in the other corner, and he won't be here much longer, so they are searching for that next guy who can.

If Canelo beats Cotto, he'll be big enough.
But I do agree, I don't think Bradley or anyone else pushes the 400k+ limit, having said that, Cotto is the 3rd or 4th biggest draw in the sport, meaning that Pacquiao or Mayweather numbers are just an anomaly, not the norm.

[Scipio2009]

I'd love to understand the mindset of HBO giving HBO Boxing a smaller & smaller budget over the years. Around 2000 they supposedly* had a $100M-$120M budget, around 2008 it supposedly* a $70M-$80M budget & in the last few years its supposedly* around $30M-$40M. And over this entire time HBO has been the industry leader, the gold standard in boxing. Yet less & less money. I can't help but feel like HBO is heading out of the boxing business very gradually cuz the numbers don't make sense to me.

*from various articles & "industry experts" these are usually the quoted ranges from those times

HBO was doing more with less and, with no broadcasting competitors, they were looking to do with even less; could track the move down to the end of Showtime being the place for big-time boxing with the fall of Mike Tyson. The agressive move to PPV also helped cover things for HBO (as near any card that would've ended up costing a good amount of money was instantly moved to PPV).

That system has changed, started largely by Showtime's move back into big-time boxing (opening up the boxing budget to put enough money on the table to go forward with the Super Six tournament gave the hint that Showtime wanted back in).

With Showtime now being an alternative broadcaster wanting to air fights, HBO was no longer in position to set the price wherever they wanted, telling promoters to "kick rocks". You add that Haymon's PBC effort is also injecting a massive amount of money into boxing (distorting even further, the leverage of Showtime's expanded boxing budget, as Showtime/CBS is in that mix as well) and things get even worse for HBO.

HBO hasn't wanted to be in the boxing business, if we're being honest, for some time now; if given $1, they'd much rather invest that money into developing the next "Game of Thrones", rather than invest that money in marketing fights to boxing's niche audience. PPV and being able to pick off all of the major fights were largely the only reasons why HBO kept with boxing for this long.

With the end of the Mayweather/Cotto/Pacquiao PPV run, if one of Canelo/Golovkin/Kovalev/Ward(assuming he sticks with HBO) don't emerge as the sport's new top draw, I have no doubt that HBO would simply take the boxing budget and invest that money into producing another "Veep" or hopefully a show like "True Blood".

http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=591312

[ИATAS]

HBO doesn't do that many PPV's anymore. I think they're just looking for stars in general, PPV worthy or not. They have Al Haymon to compete with, who has a massive stable of fighters, so it's been difficult recently but they seem to latch onto everyone they can who isn't with Haymon by giving them or offering them exclusive contracts. I don't know what kind of profit they made from PPV's in the past, but I have a feeling it's not as much as a lot of people here may believe. I'm guessing they are more concerned with HBO ratings, not HBO PPV's which have nothing to do with ratings and are independent (although the HBO PPV replay is certainly on HBO and can generate strong ratings).

[Scipio2009]

The roster is too thin. Think about it. What if they did all of this in 2015:

Santa Cruz/Mares in February
Russell/Selby in March

Russell/Santa Cruz in June


Then who would the winner of Russell and Santa Cruz fight in December, and in 2016, 2017 and 2018?

No one promoter has enough depth to run on their own and continuously make competitive fights. They need each other.

That's why PBC featuring shows with 12 fights per show is a touch of brilliance; a Russell/Santa Cruz fight would've likely ended up being moved to the Fall, to further build the anticipation, but that's beyond the point.

While that is going on, Jesus Cuellar (wba champion) keeps plugging along, Eddie Hearn continues to develop the path for Josh Warrington and his other affiliated fighters, with some of the top fighters at 122 also bubbling up (Frampton/Quigg/Alejandro Gonzalez Jr are all in the mix to possibly go up in weight).

There's always going to be someone to fight, especially if you have as many folks in the pot as Haymon does (WBC/WBA/IBF 126 champion will also have mandatory title obligations to work through, as those fresh fights get put together).

[The Gambler1981]

HBO's slogan was building stars one round at a time. You don;t build stars on PPV though they were built on regular HBO, then once ripe they cashed in or allowed the stars to cash in getting the best of both worlds.

3.5 or 4 million really wasn't that much that HBO should have needed to out it on PPV, if that was their goal if they had a good budget like days of old. They also cheaped out on Lemieux-N'Dam, which would have given Lemieux some extra heat. Inflation is a mother****er, but it does exist so as prices inevitably go up while a budget decreases business would have to change and HBO for the most part operates like they always have.

HBO if they want to be the gold standard they have been will need to pay the cost to be the boss, and boxing is one of the major thing that separates them from a streaming service. It would also aid them (and the sport as a whole) if they actually work with PBC in some form.

If things keep going my prediction of HBO be done in the boxing business, in 5 years like 2 years ago will come true. Which will be very sad because it so easily could be avoided if they would simply adapt.

[Scipio2009]

The trio, Schaefer, Haymon, Espinoza, already experimented on the viability of PPVs at SHO's expense. They learned later that it's really not that profitable. Look at where Haymon ended up with, free TV.

Grow the audience, to the point that major fights actual head to PPV for a reason, rather than simply because the network couldn't afford the fight.

Showtime has put on less than 10 PPV fights since bringing Mayweather into the mix, with near every one of those featuring Floyd Mayweather. While all that was taking place, Espinoza/Schaefer/Haymon were delivering triple and quadrupleheaders to their viewers, featuring good fights, with pretty balanced commentating.

If PBC ends up working, boxing has an opportunity to be presented to the general sports audience in a package that should help grow the sport into the future (ie Showtime/CBS ends up with the main content deal, presenting PBC programming across CBS/CBS Sports/cbssports.com/Showtime, keeping things on CBS throughout the year, but moving fights to Showtime during football season [since it seems that that competition is detrimental to the numbers]. For the occasional showdown that captures the audience's imagination, you move that show to PPV).

The hate is hilarious.