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Premier Boxing Champions For Sale
As noted on Friday (5.18), the prevailing thought amongst boxing insiders is that it was Al Haymon who invested at least $10M into last night’s Wilder-Breazeale fight to keep Deontay on his side of the street. The belief is that Premier Boxing Champions is for sale (or that Haymon is raising capital) and that he needs the heavyweight champion to pull down the highest multiple. There’s been speculation that Endeavor would have interest in PBC, but that seems unlikely. As one boxing insider told us “Haymon’s fighters may not fight often, but he’s paid them through the roof; Endeavor is not going to buy something with a model diametrically opposed to their MMA business.” FYI:Nearly half (41%) of the UFC’s +/- 500 fighters earn less than $45,000/year.
Showtime Boxing On The Ropes
HBO’s decision to exit the boxing business left Showtime as the sole premium cable channel invested in the sport, but whispers that they too are on bought time are getting louder and as one industry insider told us “at some point somebody above Stephen Espinoza is going to pull the plug because it doesn’t make sense to be spending $30 million, $40 million, $50 million/year on a sport and sit third on the totem pole (behind ESPN & DAZN). I don’t believe a lot of subscribers would turn off Showtime if they stopped doing boxing.”
The ratings from last night’s (5.18) Wilder-Breazeale fight (not yet released at time of print) could go a long way towards making that decision for the network. As reported in Friday’s (5.17) newsletter, Showtime is paying a record licensing fee to broadcast the bout. The network needs to draw 1 million viewers for the show to be considered a success; “if it does just 700,000 or 800,000 homes, it’s going to be embarrassing from a business standpoint.”
https://johnwallstreet.com/showtime-...-on-the-ropes/
As noted on Friday (5.18), the prevailing thought amongst boxing insiders is that it was Al Haymon who invested at least $10M into last night’s Wilder-Breazeale fight to keep Deontay on his side of the street. The belief is that Premier Boxing Champions is for sale (or that Haymon is raising capital) and that he needs the heavyweight champion to pull down the highest multiple. There’s been speculation that Endeavor would have interest in PBC, but that seems unlikely. As one boxing insider told us “Haymon’s fighters may not fight often, but he’s paid them through the roof; Endeavor is not going to buy something with a model diametrically opposed to their MMA business.” FYI:Nearly half (41%) of the UFC’s +/- 500 fighters earn less than $45,000/year.
Showtime Boxing On The Ropes
HBO’s decision to exit the boxing business left Showtime as the sole premium cable channel invested in the sport, but whispers that they too are on bought time are getting louder and as one industry insider told us “at some point somebody above Stephen Espinoza is going to pull the plug because it doesn’t make sense to be spending $30 million, $40 million, $50 million/year on a sport and sit third on the totem pole (behind ESPN & DAZN). I don’t believe a lot of subscribers would turn off Showtime if they stopped doing boxing.”
The ratings from last night’s (5.18) Wilder-Breazeale fight (not yet released at time of print) could go a long way towards making that decision for the network. As reported in Friday’s (5.17) newsletter, Showtime is paying a record licensing fee to broadcast the bout. The network needs to draw 1 million viewers for the show to be considered a success; “if it does just 700,000 or 800,000 homes, it’s going to be embarrassing from a business standpoint.”
https://johnwallstreet.com/showtime-...-on-the-ropes/
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