New PBC studio shows premier this afternoon.

[MasterPlan]

College football isn't a good comparison as boxing is a niche sport with not nearly as big of a fan base. Football is the most popular sport in America, boxing is well, not close to being the biggest sport.

But they definitely needed to get on multiple networks. Time will tell if boxing on four or five different networks ends up being a good thing or not.

Boxing is not a niche sport, bowling is. I hate when people say that. Everyone can name a boxer new or old. No one can name the best bowler or billards player ever.
Boxing is not seen on regular TV like NCAA football. It was at one point. And it was the top drawing sport when it was.

And why would more boxing on multiple stations be a bad thing?

[MasterPlan]

There is no way to know what would have happened if PBC did things differently. It wasn't so much being on different channels, but there was no schedule at all. No one knew when it was on. I think PBC would have had more exposure with some kind of set schedule. Then people would actually tune in to watch boxing, instead of just seeing it on as they flip through the channels. At PBC's beginning, they aired fights on FS1 on Tuesday nights. It wasn't ever two top level, elite guys fighting each other, but had good fights between prospects and good showcase fights. Then they just did away with it.

Top Rank got a big deal from espn. They didn't have fights on random days, on random networks. DAZN gave Matchroom a billion dollar deal, and they don't even have any big names in the U.S.

Why the f did PBC pay espn to show their fights?!? espn pays crazy money for crap fights right now. To say PBC couldn't have, wouldn't have gotten a deal with a network if not for fighting on random channels, on random nights, at random times doesn't even make sense. Another valid point, is that was YEARS ago! PBC has been on Showtime almost exclusively for the past two years. I like PBC, and regularly point out the idiocy and hypocrisy of Haymon haters, but I'm a pretty hardcore boxing fan, and not even I knew when all their fights were on.

All the money PBC blew through at the beginning could have bought the cards and shows that Fox is now paying for. Fox believes having boxing on regularly will work, but PBC didn't.

Fox in now investing in the exact opposite of early PBC. I guess, PBC on Fox will bomb. Being on the same channel and all. I mean having fights no one knew was on was what made PBC. Right? Or was the past two years of PBC fighting only on Showtime that led to a deal with Fox. I guess if Haymon had been on hbo instead of Showtime he could have had espn paying to show PBC fights. To think, Arum didn't even need to spend hundreds of millions televising his fights. How'd he do that?

Top Rank is on ESPN because of PBC. If PBC never gets that time buy back in 2015, ESPN wouldn't have went to Arum.
Before they were fine showing low level Friday Night Fights.

No one in recent memory was putting boxing on reg TV before Haymon. No one was even interested. Hell, Arum thought it was nuts and now he has a 7 year deal with ESPN.

They were fine on HBO and SHO.

[Bardamu]

NBC, Spike, ESPN, Fox, NBC Sports, CBS, Bounce TV, Showtime, FS1.

That was a lot of networks. But it needed to be done. Imagine if Boxing was currently on 9 networks today. Football is on that many and is the most popular sport in America.

Hell no one knows the College Football Network schedule. One night a team may be on Fox afternoon. Next week NBC midday and later in the month ESPN primetime. It's never a problem with NCAA but only boxing.

It's on four networks currently and two apps.

Football is on the same networks on the same time on the same days. You wanna watch the NFL, it is on CBS and Fox at 1 and 4 on Sundays. On NBC on Sunday nights. On NFL Network and Fox on Thursday nights. And on ESPN on Monday nights. The NFL isn't on random days, on random networks, at random times. Do you know why? Because people wouldn't know when it was on!!!

I know the College football schedule. College football is on Saturdays in the fall. CBS shows SEC games, Fox shows Big 10 games, NBC shows Notre Dame, espn/ABC shows various games. On Saturday nights there are usually good games, between two ranked teams. Same channels, same time, same day.

Showtime and HBO don't have boxing on random days. If boxing is on Showtime or if it was on hbo, boxing was on Saturday nights. The prospects fight on Showtime on Friday nights. Me and hundreds of thousands of others watch boxing, because we know if it is on, it will be on a Saturday night and on one of two or three networks.

The problem wasn't so much too many networks, but no set schedule. No one knew when a PBC fight was on, let alone what network. It made it impossible to follow. Someone flipping through the channels might have seen a PBC fight, watched it, enjoyed it, and tuned in the same day at the same time the next week and nope! nothing.

[KTFOKING]

Boxing is not a niche sport, bowling is. I hate when people say that. Everyone can name a boxer new or old. No one can name the best bowler or billards player ever.
Boxing is not seen on regular TV like NCAA football. It was at one point. And it was the top drawing sport when it was.

And why would more boxing on multiple stations be a bad thing?

No, boxing is a niche sport. It ranks below football/basketball/baseball/soccer/MMA and other sports like golf/hockey probably get better ratings to. Tennis as well for the majors. That makes boxing a niche sport.

But whatever, if you say it's not a niche sport, it sure isn't 1/50th as popular as football so that was a bad comparison either way.

[MasterPlan]

No, boxing is a niche sport. It ranks below football/basketball/baseball/soccer/MMA and other sports like golf/hockey probably get better ratings to. Tennis as well for the majors. That makes boxing a niche sport.

But whatever, if you say it's not a niche sport, it sure isn't 1/50th as popular as football so that was a bad comparison either way.

Boxing is not a niche sport it's just not widley available like those other sports. Freakin MMA is barley even 20 years old and is available in more homes than boxing. That is the problem.

All of those programs are available on one of the major 4 networks. Some on multiple of the 4 and then on ESPN, FS1, Turner, ect.

Boxing (the stars) only on premium cable.

[KTFOKING]

Boxing is not a niche sport it's just not widley available like those other sports. Freakin MMA is barley even 20 years old and is available in more homes than boxing. That is the problem.

All of those programs are available on one of the major 4 networks. Some on multiple of the 4 and then on ESPN, FS1, Turner, ect.

Boxing (the stars) only on premium cable.

If Merchant and Lampley are going to call it a niche sport, then that is pretty much what it is. You can argue semantics, but it far below the food chain compared to other sports.

Again though, comparing it to college football being available on 10 or so different networks was a bad comparison. Boxing isn't nearly as popular to put fights on so many different networks where the casuals wouldn't even know who was fighting and when they were fighting.

[Bardamu]

Top Rank is on ESPN because of PBC. If PBC never gets that time buy back in 2015, ESPN wouldn't have went to Arum.

You don't know that. You are simply saying that because PBC was on random days, at random times, on random channels, that THREE YEARS LATER, on of the networks PBC PAID to be on, decided to invest heavily into one of PBC's rivals.

So, PBC buying airtime landed Top Rank a deal with espn and Matchroom a deal with DAZN, and PBC a deal with Fox? And the lowest annual budget, and the shortest contract is the PBC one?

???

Wow, I like it. I never knew Haymon and PBC were only trying to get boxing on different networks. I thought PBC was trying to make PBC successful. I never realized they were so concerned with Top Rank and Matchroom.

PBC has the fighters I like, and Haymon hasn't been as bad as Arum or ODLH. I am a big PBC fan. PBC is still alive, and doing well.

I just don't understand why anyone believes the time buys were some big success. PBC puts on most of the best fights, and now has shows on a major broadcast network, in addition to Showtime. I like it. I just believe what Fox is doing now would have worked better than the helter-skelter schedule they started with.


PBC and Fox have finalized a long-term deal for fights to appear on both Fox and FS1 with an annual boxing budget that eclipses $60 million, multiple sources told The Ring. The deal, which will be announced Tuesday, will kick off in December; the agreement calls for 10 championship-level fights on Fox, with at least another 12 shows on FS1. That’s to be added to Showtime’s existing budget, also estimated at over $60 million.

How much did PBC have to start with? Half a billion? PBC had the money to fund both their current deal with Fox and espn's deal with Top Rank for three years! It will work now, and it would have worked three years ago too.

[MasterPlan]

You don't know that. You are simply saying that because PBC was on random days, at random times, on random channels, that THREE YEARS LATER, on of the networks PBC PAID to be on, decided to invest heavily into one of PBC's rivals.

So, PBC buying airtime landed Top Rank a deal with espn and Matchroom a deal with DAZN, and PBC a deal with Fox? And the lowest annual budget, and the shortest contract is the PBC one?

???

Wow, I like it. I never knew Haymon and PBC were only trying to get boxing on different networks. I thought PBC was trying to make PBC successful. I never realized they were so concerned with Top Rank and Matchroom.

PBC has the fighters I like, and Haymon hasn't been as bad as Arum or ODLH. I am a big PBC fan. PBC is still alive, and doing well.

I just don't understand why anyone believes the time buys were some big success. PBC puts on most of the best fights, and now has shows on a major broadcast network, in addition to Showtime. I like it. I just believe what Fox is doing now would have worked better than the helter-skelter schedule they started with.


PBC and Fox have finalized a long-term deal for fights to appear on both Fox and FS1 with an annual boxing budget that eclipses $60 million, multiple sources told The Ring. The deal, which will be announced Tuesday, will kick off in December; the agreement calls for 10 championship-level fights on Fox, with at least another 12 shows on FS1. That’s to be added to Showtime’s existing budget, also estimated at over $60 million.

How much did PBC have to start with? Half a billion? PBC had the money to fund both their current deal with Fox and espn's deal with Top Rank for three years! It will work now, and it would have worked three years ago too.

Remember PBC got sued by Top Rank and GB. PBC lost ground because of that. Those networks weren't lookin at Boxing until PBC came along. I mean you can believe what you want but it's a reason ESPN came to Arum. ESPN got good rating with PBC.

I do agree with you about a regular schedule. They still don't have one. But UFC never had one and they do fine. UFC is not on every Sat on Fox. But they did fine.
They will not be on every Sat on ESPN either in 2019. That's just boxing. But the networks have lowered.

[Bardamu]

Remember PBC got sued by Top Rank and GB. PBC lost ground because of that. Those networks weren't lookin at Boxing until PBC came along. I mean you can believe what you want but it's a reason ESPN came to Arum. ESPN got good rating with PBC.

I do agree with you about a regular schedule. They still don't have one. But UFC never had one and they do fine. UFC is not on every Sat on Fox. But they did fine.
They will not be on every Sat on ESPN either in 2019. That's just boxing. But the networks have lowered.

Maybe you are right and espn wouldn't have signed Top Rank, but if that is the case, why didn't espn approach Haymon and PBC? It seems, hbo wasn't paying for all of Arum's mismatches so he had to go somewhere else.

None of it really matters now, I guess. We will see what kind of fights and schedule Fox and espn put on. It is definitely better for boxing as a sport to be shown regularly on espn and Fox. So I'm happy.

[HarvardBlue]

Just watched the show. I liked the format. Kinda like what UFC is doing.