The HBO Budget Crisis and What it Means

[Vasyl’s dad]

Everybody focused on PBC Struggles but those people are not telling the full story...BOXING IN GENERAL especially here in the US is not doing very well. Ticket Sales are down all over and lets just say, PBC are not the only ones giving away tickets to fill up the place. HBO is going to take the budget down and give us what they want to give us and what they can afford and the Gullible Casuals will gladly accept it and defend in while in the same breath bash PBC every chance they get when in actuality the "HBO vs PBC" stuff is absolutely KILLING the sport of boxing right now

PBC being better than HBO is what you guys wanted though. "Al Haymon, Al Haymon, I got these cheeseburgers." "Haymon is changing boxing! Haymon is boxings hero! Savior Haymon!"

Be real with yourself, you and many others wanted Haymon to change things so bad, you forgot that it was just fine the way it was. Now, crappy matchups are the norm rather than the exception because guys like you accepted such mediocrity because "boxing is a business".

You guys wanted it like this. Don't complain now.

[ИATAS]

Nobody seems to want to mention the most obvious problem when it comes to ANYTHING on tv these days. People are cutting off their cable at an alarming rate. They are going to the pirate internet/cable boxes so they can watch everything free.

This means that HBO has fewer subscribers every year. If they are making less money they will cut their budget accordingly. Simple math. But todays generation wants everything for free and then they wonder why HBO won't pay for more boxing or why is their budget being cut.

It's not just HBO, it's rating across the board for everything. PBC can't draw flies, Showtime ratings aren't any good either. People are complaining all their getting is mismatches. It's because the networks can't afford the good fights because there just aren't enough viewers to watch them and make sense for the networks to put them on. Hell, Haymon has gone into a deep money losing strategy to try and corner the market. He may end up pulling it off but even if he does there will be no money left to pay anyone and no network willing to pay to show the fights.

The only way I see the sport staying relevant is ticket sales. Gate driven profit is the only way to go, and maybe independant PPV's done on the cheap, $15 or $20. Top Rank has the ability to do their own PPV's, they've done it in the past.

But it all goes back to exposure. The fights have to be televised. If they fail to get that done they won't sell tickets either. TV is very important for boxing and the biggest surprise to me is that the promoters have abused the networks with mismatches and terrible fights. Now the chickens are coming home to roost, people cut off their cable and get everything free through the internet. I don't see boxing making legit inroads on tv anytime in the near future. Quite the opposite. It's going into the toilet and it lies squarely on the fault of the promoters and the networks for allowing it.

I believe it's too late. Mayweather-Pac was the swan song for boxing. It literally signified the end of the superfight in this sport. There is nothing BIG to look forward to. There always used to be something just around the corner.

There's always hope but I don't see much of that around these days.

Man you guys are so shortsighted. Mayweather vs Pacquiao was just last year. We already knew there was going to be a transition period from aging/retiring stars of Floyd/Pac/Cotto/Marquez/etc into the new generation of fighters. It isn't always a quick transition into the next big time stars, usually there is a down period. This isn't anything new.

Regarding HBO and boxing on cable in general, so what? All this means is that the sport will change just like everything else. It doesn't mean doom and the end of the world as we know it. It just means things continue to change and evolve as always. What we're seeing, and will continue to see, is a transitional period. New stars will emerge, new mega fights will happen. Again, it hasn't even been 1 year since Mayweather vs Pacquiao. Do you know how many times in the history of the sport people said "well after so and so retires, there's nothing left! No big names to carry the sport!" It's a constant cycle that has gone on for a hundred years! And yet the sport continues on, as it always has and always will.

[Mitchell Kane]

The UFC/Fox negotiations will tell a lot if they pay more than the current $100 million per year or maybe Haymon might have hurt that sport also with his flooding the market with time buy fights.

The PBC really doesn't seem to be all that similar to the UFC, so I'm not sure whatever deal the UFC gets will be all that instructive as far as predicting what the PBC will get.

[PKing]

The PBC really doesn't seem to be all that similar to the UFC, so I'm not sure whatever deal the UFC gets will be all that instructive as far as predicting what the PBC will get.

1 on 1 combat sport.

1 brand name... PBC & UFC.

Yes, it's the closest thing to an estimate anybody will have.

[Mitchell Kane]

1 on 1 combat sport.

1 brand name... PBC & UFC.

Yes, it's the closest thing to an estimate anybody will have.

The PBC may end up being closer to Bellator than the UFC.

[PKing]

The PBC may end up being closer to Bellator than the UFC.

Whatever you want to label it... the fact is that it's a combat sport under a brand.

[Cuban Linx]

I've noticed a lot more PPV talk this year then any other for HBO. In the past few years a PPV on HBO was basically a Pacquiao fight. This year they have 4-5 potential PPV's lined up, and i would argue that all except one of the fights don't belong on PPV.

We're going to get Canelo-Khan, Pac-Bradley 3, GGG-Canelo (If they decide to fight) and Kovalev-Ward is now being mentioned as a PPV fight. Also Cotto-Marquez would also be a PPV fight for HBO.

Out of those fights I mentioned only one is like a legitimate box office PPV fight and that's GGG-Canelo IMO and that's the one that likely won't happen. Ward vs. Kovalev is not a PPV fight as great as both fighters are. That's a fight that belongs on HBO but not on PPV. Pac vs. Bradley 3 is forcing it down your throat. Cotto- Marquez is not a PPV worthy fight either.

Because these fights are headed to PPV, we're left with some bad matchups on regular HBO.

[PKing]

I've noticed a lot more PPV talk this year then any other for HBO. In the past few years a PPV on HBO was basically a Pacquiao fight. This year they have 4-5 potential PPV's lined up, and i would argue that all except one of the fights don't belong on PPV.

We're going to get Canelo-Khan, Pac-Bradley 3, GGG-Canelo (If they decide to fight) and Kovalev-Ward is now being mentioned as a PPV fight. Also Cotto-Marquez would also be a PPV fight for HBO.

Out of those fights I mentioned only one is like a legitimate box office PPV fight and that's GGG-Canelo IMO and that's the one that likely won't happen. Ward vs. Kovalev is not a PPV fight as great as both fighters are. That's a fight that belongs on HBO but not on PPV. Pac vs. Bradley 3 is forcing it down your throat. Cotto- Marquez is not a PPV worthy fight either.

Because these fights are headed to PPV, we're left with some bad matchups on regular HBO.

I bet Bradley-Rios played a big role in this. $3 million for guys who supposedly had profiles on HBO yet drew HORRIBLE ratings.

[bballchump11]

$100 million seems extremely optimistic given the current climate.

$50 million may even turn out to be optimistic.

I think $100 million is very reasonable. Compare PBC's ratings to basketball.

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2016/01/sports-ratings-college-hoops-sec-cbs-nba-espn-cavaliers-thunder-all-american-bowl-nbc/

The LSU/Florida college basketball game had a 0.9 overnight rating on CBS Saturday afternoon

That's less than what Adonis Stevenson vs Bika did on a Saturday afternoon irc.

Then check out these

Friday’s Cavaliers/Timberwolves NBA regular season game scored a 1.1 final rating and 1.7 million viewers on ESPN, up a tick in ratings and 16% in viewership from Bulls/Wizards last year (1.0, 1.5M) but down 31% and 30%, respectively, from Heat/Nets in 2014 (1.6, 2.5M). Thunder/Lakers drew a 1.1 and 1.6 million later in the night, down 15% in ratings and 8% in viewership from Cavaliers/Warriors last year (1.3, 1.8M) and flat and up 8%, respectively, from Lakers/Clippers in ’14 (1.1, 1.5M). (via Programming Insider)

Also Spurs vs The Cavs did 3.17 million viewers on a Saturday night on ABC. On the flip side the Warriors vs Thunder game did close to 4 million two days ago. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...y-jan-30-2016/

[-Kev-]

I've noticed a lot more PPV talk this year then any other for HBO. In the past few years a PPV on HBO was basically a Pacquiao fight. This year they have 4-5 potential PPV's lined up, and i would argue that all except one of the fights don't belong on PPV.

We're going to get Canelo-Khan, Pac-Bradley 3, GGG-Canelo (If they decide to fight) and Kovalev-Ward is now being mentioned as a PPV fight. Also Cotto-Marquez would also be a PPV fight for HBO.

Out of those fights I mentioned only one is like a legitimate box office PPV fight and that's GGG-Canelo IMO and that's the one that likely won't happen. Ward vs. Kovalev is not a PPV fight as great as both fighters are. That's a fight that belongs on HBO but not on PPV. Pac vs. Bradley 3 is forcing it down your throat. Cotto- Marquez is not a PPV worthy fight either.

Because these fights are headed to PPV, we're left with some bad matchups on regular HBO.

On record, 2006 and 2007 were the years with the most HBO PPV's in recent times (From 2000-2016), with 2006 with a whopping 11 PPV's and 2007 with 8 PPV's.

2006 in order:

Pac-Morales
Mosley-Vargas
PBF-Judah
DLH-Mayorga
Hopkins-Tarver
Mosley-Vargas II
Maskaev-Rahman
Barrera-Juarez
Lazcano-Garnica/Daniel PDL-Seeger
PBF-Baldomir
Pac-Morales


2007 In order:

JMM-MAB
PBF-DLH
Cotto-Judah
Hopkins-Wright
Diaz-Morales
Pac-MAB
Cotto-Mosley
PBF-Hatton