Comments Thread For: Crawford-Horn Will Be Streamed Through ESPN+ Subscription App

[IMDAZED]

Remember when there were gonna be shows on ABC? I do.

[Scipio2009]

If i can spend 5 dollars a month and get a card like crawford horn every month that looks like a value to me. If theyre only putting good cards on this service the this would be the biggest thing to have if your a boxing fan, id much rather pay 5 a month for good fights than 7 a month for the garbage Pbc puts on. Not to mention they were going to put Crawford Horn on ppv, which would cost a year what this subscription will and we'll get to see 11 more fights of good quality. Thats the value. Plus you can live stream right from your phone

Do you honestly think Top Rank has it in their stable to even deliver a Horn-Crawford fight (a good fight, but honestly not a great fight, full disclosure) 12 times per year, plus fill the other dates that they owe ESPN? I think not.

Beyond that, WatchESPN streams live ESPN content; nowhere in any of this talk was there mention of WatchESPN being rolled into ESPN+, so fall back.

Have fun with Horn-Crawford and watching college wrestling.

[Bob Haymon]

Adding extra paywalls to access boxing is the reason the audience has dwindled to the point where we're at now. Streaming might be the future, but not for major sporting events. Netflix and Hulu might be huge but the average person has no idea that Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Black Mirror are TV shows that actually exist. If this Top Rank deal was meant to give boxing more exposure, then keeping the best fights on basic cable is the smarter move which will pay off greater dividends in the future.

[boxingitis]

Showtime is giving you 20 shows a year, plus how many more ShoBox cards, plus their original programs (The Chi, Billions, Ray Donovan, Homeland, Shameless, etc), all live mind you, plus whatever movie rights that they have, for their $10/month.

ESPN+ is offering Horn-Crawford, another 11 cards beyond the ones they've committed to already putting on ESPN (where Arum will find the talent to fill all of these dates is beyond me), and basically the sports that'd end up on ESPN3 (rugby, NCAA wrestling and baseball, etc; doubt that WatchESPN is going anywhere) for $5/month.

Where's the value?

I don’t watch any other content other than boxing on showtime. So 5 bucks a for good event is nothing. Star bucks drink cost that. Im pretty much paying that for showtime, they have two events per month for $10 that i pay.

[Pigeons]

Remember when there were gonna be shows on ABC? I do.

Are you talking about PBC or Top Rank?

[IMDAZED]

Are you talking about PBC or Top Rank?

Top Rank. I don't think ABC was ever a part of PBC. It certainly wasn't prominent.

[Pigeons]

Top Rank. I don't think ABC was ever a part of PBC. It certainly wasn't prominent.

The irony of your post is that PBC said the same **** when they signed with ESPN. They never had one ABC show.

[IMDAZED]

The irony of your post is that PBC said the same **** when they signed with ESPN. They never had one ABC show.

They did? I missed that in the launch release but please share. Please.

Anyway, back to the topic. We went from expanding the audience with this ESPN deal to shrinking it. What was the point again?

[jjsmyth87]

You're crazy if you think this is huge exposure for Crawford. You're on a boxing site for hardcore fans & they are saying they're not getting the app. I guarantee Loma-Linares will be on regular ESPN & not this app. This app is less exposure than the HBO PPV Crawford was on.

And like I said, i was looking forward to this app because i dont have a cable box. But if they're showing ESPN 3 level programming I'm not buying it

Im not saying its the greatest thing since sliced bread, i bought the upgraded Satellite package just to have Espn. However if your a boxing fan 5 dollars each month to watch a good card like Crawford Horn is actually a pretty good deal. And your crazy if you think the Crawford Horn ppv which only had 50k buyers is more exposure than this. Look how big streaming services have gotten, its a huge industry. This caters specifically to boxing fans who dont have cable or to fans who only watch Espn for the boxing and those other sports. Crawford Horn is not Espn3 level programming. This is basically like the Netflix for sports fans except half the price. And like I said this fight alone will probably generate 500k new subscribers for the app. At 5 dollars a month that is a very large amount of money being generated, much more so than if it were on ppv except we get to watch it for 5 bucks

[Pigeons]

They did? I missed that in the launch release but please share. Please.

Anyway, back to the topic. We went from expanding the audience with this ESPN deal to shrinking it. What was the point again?

Here you go, Brother Mustafa.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/boxing/2015/03/18/espn-abc-will-air-premier-boxing-champions-fights/24953921/

Looking at the Top Rank launch release, I only see the possibility of ABC fights mentioned. I also don't see anything in this press release that states that possibility over.