future of boxing

[lanker rom]

PBC boxing needs ESPN and vice versa. In order for ESPN to get the best product they need PBC. For Boxing to become mainstream it needs PBC to get on the worlds leading sports channel.

[pillowfists98]

ESPN has a deal with Top Rank. Why would they need PBC?

[lanker rom]

ESPN has a deal with Top Rank. Why would they need PBC?

Because PBC has a deeper stable and can bring in a more consistant product. ESPN wanted top ranks fight library not their actual live product. (from what ive heard)

[Scipio2009]

PBC boxing needs ESPN and vice versa. In order for ESPN to get the best product they need PBC. For Boxing to become mainstream it needs PBC to get on the worlds leading sports channel.

Haymon with Showtime/CBS for the premium content and FOX/FS1 as the "reach out to the general audience" platform, has enough reach to launch without ESPN, especially with the proper investment being made

[lanker rom]

Haymon with Showtime/CBS for the premium content and FOX/FS1 as the "reach out to the general audience" platform, has enough reach to launch without ESPN, especially with the proper investment being made

for boxing to be mainstream it needs the help of fox and espn not fox and showtime. Those two are the major sports networks. Showtime doesn't have the reach nor bandwith to cary all of their fighters or make them stars.

[lanker rom]

Haymon with Showtime/CBS for the premium content and FOX/FS1 as the "reach out to the general audience" platform, has enough reach to launch without ESPN, especially with the proper investment being made

Fox sports 1 doesn't do ratings close to espn and I doubt that theyre willing to invest more money in boxing than they were into the UFC. Having a joint deal with the stwo biggest sports networks can add more money and having ESPN back you will help create more stars.

[Scipio2009]

for boxing to be mainstream it needs the help of fox and espn not fox and showtime. Those two are the major sports networks. Showtime doesn't have the reach nor bandwith to cary all of their fighters or make them stars.

Fox Sports and ESPN are competitors though. Showtime and Fox Sports aren't really competitors (CBS and FOX compete for college football, while sharing the NFL).

Showtime/CBS for the feature content, and FOX/FS1 to reach out to the general public (hyping the general shows along with the general sports, while telling everyone about the premium fights on Showtime/CBS).

[Scipio2009]

Fox sports 1 doesn't do ratings close to espn and I doubt that theyre willing to invest more money in boxing than they were into the UFC. Having a joint deal with the stwo biggest sports networks can add more money and having ESPN back you will help create more stars.

FOX consistently does better ratings than ESPN does, so not sure what your point is.

Beyond that, boxing doesn't even need more than what was already on the table to be invested in the UFC; no different than the actual UFC deal, the premium package (UFC's 12 PPVs) was kept separate from the content for FOX/FS1 and there was no issue with it.

For $150m a year (spitballing numbers here, but the initial UFC deal was for $100m a year and the last offer before the move was for something near $200m a year), Fox Sports can get 4 FOX dates, 20-30 FS1 dates (most of the dates will be for Toe-to-Toe Tuesday, but the flexibility is already there to deliver shows for other days, as long as not competing against their own show), PBC Jabs and other needed filler programming, and a FOX/FS1 crew to sell the related PPV events.

FS1 still remains as a viable channel worth having, and it's likely not for some ridiculous amount of money.

ESPN basically paid for the next 4 years of Top Rank Boxing, with Lomachenko and Crawford as stellar fighters; let's see if your assumption is right

[lanker rom]

Fox Sports and ESPN are competitors though. Showtime and Fox Sports aren't really competitors (CBS and FOX compete for college football, while sharing the NFL).

Showtime/CBS for the feature content, and FOX/FS1 to reach out to the general public (hyping the general shows along with the general sports, while telling everyone about the premium fights on Showtime/CBS).

The fact that they are competitors who hypothetically would get their fighters/fights from the same producer would completely benefit the fighters. The dded edge of competition would cause each network to try to out due the other one.


With Showtime I don't see fox having to increase shoulder programing to out due them because they have a larger audience and theirfore the competition is already rigged in their favor. the fans and the fighters would be stuck with a worse product because fox only needs to do the bare minimum

[lanker rom]

FOX consistently does better ratings than ESPN does, so not sure what your point is.

Beyond that, boxing doesn't even need more than what was already on the table to be invested in the UFC; no different than the actual UFC deal, the premium package (UFC's 12 PPVs) was kept separate from the content for FOX/FS1 and there was no issue with it.

For $150m a year (spitballing numbers here, but the initial UFC deal was for $100m a year and the last offer before the move was for something near $200m a year), Fox Sports can get 4 FOX dates, 20-30 FS1 dates (most of the dates will be for Toe-to-Toe Tuesday, but the flexibility is already there to deliver shows for other days, as long as not competing against their own show), PBC Jabs and other needed filler programming, and a FOX/FS1 crew to sell the related PPV events.

FS1 still remains as a viable channel worth having, and it's likely not for some ridiculous amount of money.

ESPN basically paid for the next 4 years of Top Rank Boxing, with Lomachenko and Crawford as stellar fighters; let's see if your assumption is right

Fox does better ratings true but I was referring to FS1
because fox is a broadcast channel and ESPN is a cable channel they are in a different amount of homes.

When PBC was first started wasn't the goal to bring boxing back to the mainstream? I Feel as though boxing would need a real investment into the sport from multiple networks. CBS,FOX, and ESPN I believe could each add a different flavor and audience that would increase the amount of stars made. Also I don't think this is to many networks if each one makes their schedule clear before hand.


I believe ESPN their are people who want to replace top rank with PBC. In an interview burke magnus said in a perfect world he would have a ufc and boxing match every Saturday of the year. How else would he do this without PBC. Remember ESPN basically only got involved with top rank for their Fight library.