Is this the last decade with boxing on HBO?

[HURTFEELINGS]

Losing Floyd has killed them. lol
boxing losing Floyd has killed the PPV model. lol
WHAT lil g isnt bringing in fans?lol

[Eff Pandas]

I was referring to all those job cuts ESPN recently went through. HBO's subscribers #'s seem pretty stable, I don't think they'll be cutting the boxing budget any lower. They have the elite fighters, but quality match-making has been tough with the cold war.

Idk why that would effect the PBC/ESPN deal or boxing in general. That seems like its either a time buy or a partial timebuy. So as long as PBC is paying them that would stay on. And like I said ESPN shows way more bs sports than boxing & boxing seems like its good for 200k+ on ESPN2 which surely has value to them. So if PBC goes down the toilet boxing has a future on ESPN2 or one of the other ESPN's I'm sure. Boxing fans are loyal & dependable for 200k+.

HBO's focus has always been on having the big-name fighters, so their subscribers feel their getting value for the subscription. I think if they can develop another flagship name of a fighter on level with a peak Mayweather/Dela Hoya/Tyson, they'll increase investment into the rest of their boxing programming. Of course everything's changing with the increase of channels, internet, and cord-cutting.

Idk. I think the next several years will re-test the loyalty HBO has with boxing. At some point its not worth the commitment with its aging fanbase & I feel MMA is already more popular with younger people so it'll make more sense to make some sort of MMA play whatever the boxing landscape looks like sooner or later. I believe the UFC's deal with Fox ends in 2018, 2019 so if HBO makes a move towards MMA it'll be going down around that time at the earliest or at the latest whenever that next deal with Fox or whoever ends imo. Or its completely feasible they get out of the combat sports business entirely & just try to create some more crazy popular shows that are making them more $$$ than combat sports idk I just think HBO boxing has just about ran its course unfortunately.

[Foreign Soil]

Most likely not, but things will be different. I wouldn't be surprised if they start doing some live streaming on HBO GO for a monthly fee, or something in that realm. They've been dragging their feet with boxing programming but I doubt they'll be dropping it anytime worth mentioning as it still gets decent enough ratings and they aren't exactly paying a ton in purses.

[Eff Pandas]

No. It could be a sign that HBO may be transitioning out of the PPV model, which frankly would be great IMO.

How can they transition out of the PPV model when they got all these big names getting good money & got a crappy budget for that talent that requires them to freelance out there biggest fights to the HBO PPV arm of the operation? It seems like they are tied to PPV & have been tied to it & nothing suggests a change in the future to me. I don't think its far fetched to suggest Canelo might not have a non-PPV fight for a couple years at this point.

[The Big Dunn]

How can they transition out of the PPV model when they got all these big names getting good money & got a crappy budget for that talent that requires them to freelance out there biggest fights to the HBO PPV arm of the operation? It seems like they are tied to PPV & have been tied to it & nothing suggests a change in the future to me. I don't think its far fetched to suggest Canelo might not have a non-PPV fight for a couple years at this point.

I think the GGG fight showed PPV is not the best model. Cable subscriptions are down and PPV's are getting more expensive.

Maybe they just limit the PPV's to 1 or 2 cards a year and load them up heavy.

Is there any PPV worthy fight on the horizon other than Floyd/Manny 2 and Canelo/GGG?

ALso consider ESPN and NBC can put HUGE fights on without the PPV platform and get money from advertisers.

[Eff Pandas]

I think the GGG fight showed PPV is not the best model

I mean yes & no. Sure the PPV did ****ty numbers, but the HBO Boxing budget wasn't going to be able to allow this fight to happen otherwise. So this fight only happened at all cuz they could throw it to the HBO PPV arm. If HBO hadn't had the PPV option we'd have more than likely seen GGG fight some nobody #11 abc ranked type guy.

Maybe they just limit the PPV's to 1 or 2 cards a year and load them up heavy.

Yea I guess if you throw more lower paid prospects or fringe contenders on regular HBO or just don't show fights every month on HBO & get like 4-6 of these P4P HBO guys & throw them on the PPV card you can greatly reduce the budget issues, but you also diminish the overall value of HBO boxing by not showing guys like Canelo, Ward, GGG or whoever on HBO at all (or the week after anyway) or with huge gaps between their regular HBO fights.

Its a fine line HBO has to walk with paying their fighters, staying within budget & putting on competitive fights & idk how they'd do it without the PPV arm they have access to. The death of PPV that some fans have been predicting (not sure how they see the perceived success of Saturday if the 900k+ numbers are true) isn't happening any time soon. I think PPV outlives HBO boxing.