Would you pay £17.95 to watch Froch Vs. Kessler II?

[orbtastic]

The standard of living is higher but then so are their taxes. Some "luxury" items that are very cheap here are taxed heavily too.

[TJ77]

Final Round,
Surely you get the concept that boxing is a business ? Without ppv revenue how do you suggest the Promotor raises the capital to cover the whole costs of the show plus purses etc ? Ticket sales, advertising ?
Get real.
No ppv no fight.
I know which I prefer.
How would you have responded if you had been told the fight was off because they couldn't match the fighters terms ?
You'd have slaughtered the Promotor.

I know your right if you want the best to fight the best and they will produce value for money.
Trouble being this is the first step back on a rocky road.
As long as they don't allow the format to be abused again dishing up sub standard contests where the figher believes he can only fight on ppv regardless of the level of opponent.
I can see Team Khan plotting already ...

[loaded_gloves]

It's hilarious how many of you think a fight is impossible to make without pay per view. You do realise professional boxing as we know it existed a good 90 to 100 years before pay per view was introduced, right?

How did they ever manage to make big fights back then?

Oh yes, by matching men together who would produce a great fight and pack an arena.

Pay per view has been introduced to make even more money, not to 'make fights happen.'

Lucrative fights were happening for a century before pay per view.

[Khaosai-Galaxy]

It's hilarious how many of you think a fight is impossible to make without pay per view. You do realise professional boxing as we know it existed a good 90 to 100 years before pay per view was introduced, right?

How did they ever manage to make big fights back then?

Oh yes, by matching men together who would produce a great fight and pack an arena.

Pay per view has been introduced to make even more money, not to 'make fights happen.'

Lucrative fights were happening for a century before pay per view.

Ever heard of Closed Circuit TV?

[palooka]

It is a very good match up between 2 very good fighters (who are not the best in the division). The problem is when a boxer goes to PPV then every bout they have is then PPV - even if it's a relatively poor bout.

[orbtastic]

Let's not forget Jacobs charging $100 for Louis/Conn II, complete robbery at the time.

[palooka]

It's hilarious how many of you think a fight is impossible to make without pay per view. You do realise professional boxing as we know it existed a good 90 to 100 years before pay per view was introduced, right?

How did they ever manage to make big fights back then?

Oh yes, by matching men together who would produce a great fight and pack an arena.

Pay per view has been introduced to make even more money, not to 'make fights happen.'

Lucrative fights were happening for a century before pay per view.

Ever heard of Closed Circuit TV?

I'd sooner watch in my living room than in a cinema with a load of perverts.

[Khaosai-Galaxy]

It's hilarious how many of you think a fight is impossible to make without pay per view. You do realise professional boxing as we know it existed a good 90 to 100 years before pay per view was introduced, right?

How did they ever manage to make big fights back then?

Oh yes, by matching men together who would produce a great fight and pack an arena.

Pay per view has been introduced to make even more money, not to 'make fights happen.'

Lucrative fights were happening for a century before pay per view.

Ever heard of Closed Circuit TV?

I'd sooner watch in my living room than in a cinema with a load of perverts.

So there are no perverts in your living room on a big fight night?

Sounds a bit drab at your place, to be honest.

[palooka]

It's more edgy through the week.

[Parson Cross]

Loaded,
It's no good comparing.
Fighters back then were naive about money in fact even up to the nineties.
Packed arenas, best against the best, SHIT PAY.
How much do you think Sky would put in the pot for this fight - non ppv ?
How much do you think ticket revenue will generate ?
Sponsorship ?
Advertising ?
It ain't difficult to work out that that would just about cover Kessler's fee.
Ask Nigel Benn if in hindsight he earned the right pay for some of his epic fights.
It's about supply and demand and I don't begrudge these two lads a penny of what they're getting.
I'm going so this ppv fee is irrelevent to me but if I wasn't going damn right I'd pay up.

[Khaosai-Galaxy]

Loaded,
It's no good comparing.
Fighters back then were naive about money in fact even up to the nineties.
Packed arenas, best against the best, SHIT PAY.
How much do you think Sky would put in the pot for this fight - non ppv ?
How much do you think ticket revenue will generate ?
Sponsorship ?
Advertising ?
It ain't difficult to work out that that would just about cover Kessler's fee.
Ask Nigel Benn if in hindsight he earned the right pay for some of his epic fights.
It's about supply and demand and I don't begrudge these two lads a penny of what they're getting.
I'm going so this ppv fee is irrelevent to me but if I wasn't going damn right I'd pay up.

The formatting makes that look like a poem.


Nice

[Parson Cross]

Why thank you Galaxy. Over the years you have penned a few classics of your own !

[Cholo_cws]

No, I'll definitely not being buying it. Sky happy to collaborate with the alphabets and sell this as a unification world title fight despite selling the never ending Super Six to us as cleaning up the mess in the division...and Andre Ward proving his dominance over both Kessler and Froch - Kessler's current title only being conceived from Ward-Froch's unification. So in my eyes this doesn't deserve to use the "world title and unification" tag and "they're multi-titlists" line that Sky will spout and rely on to sell it as PPV. I'm not saying this is unique to this fight but it is particularly galling due to what happened in the recent Super Six. I do not believe Sky would think to sell this as PPV without the world title tags attached and if so-called world titlists don't feel obliged to meet their main rivals then I am right not to respect their claim or their belts or give two hoots if they don't think they're getting what they say they deserve. Any sport that cannot bring its top competitors together should be skating on thin ice. Boxing carries on regardless.

I'd also point out that I would guess the alphabets could be taking something in the region of a £250,000 just for their involvement and recognition of this 'world title' fight (despite Andre Ward being nowhere in sight)...if rumours of the boxers' purses is to be believed (and including a multitude of alphabet add ons.) No doubt these are taken into account when the boxers purse demands are made and no doubt factored in to the costs for any fan to view the fight. How do fans feel about that?

It might not be how everyone looks at this and as I said nothing particularly new in boxing, but I cannot get past the twisted fact that fans will be paying a lot of money for an unwanted endorsement from the alphabets - an endorsement that enables Sky and the promoters to go PPV and ask for even more.

[goldenears]

it's a great fight, not a 'best in the world' fight by any means as Ward is a mile ahead of both, but it's a fight the hardcore boxing fan will love to see again as the first one was a decent tear up.

Pay Per View is pure greed though particularly given the crap that Sky has fed us under Hearn. It's the least the subscribers deserved to get one PROPER fight for their money.

PPV hasn't really worked in England since Hatton's demise and as undeniable as Froch's legacy is, his popularity doesn't match it. Kessler also isn't a Mayweather or a Pacquiao so this matchup won't crossover to the general public.

The whole PPV concept was raped by Haye and his disasters with Audley and Wlad, and the casual buyer won't be sucked in again.

In fairness in the US where I live now, PPV is anything from $55-70 , which is actually more than I'm paying to actually go to Rios v Alvarado and more than I paid for Berto v Guerrero live too.

Culturally it's a bad idea and this isn't the fight to turn that concept around IMHO

[WildWaylon]

£17.95?... oh man, you guys are so lucky!

Here in Denmark the PPV price will be 499 kroner (as it was for Kessler's last 2 fights) - which, at today's exchange rate, is slightly more than £58.

You guys must be earning much more than us. There would be no buys at that price no matter who was fighting.

[chad]

£17.95?... oh man, you guys are so lucky!

Here in Denmark the PPV price will be 499 kroner (as it was for Kessler's last 2 fights) - which, at today's exchange rate, is slightly more than £58.

Does Denmark have subscription TV like SKY / Virgin Media? If PPV is £58, how much is your subscription TV each month?

[jonnyyorkshu]

I think it will be a good fight but no way am I paying an extra 18 dabs,I will find a nice stream to take a dip in

[ajwesty13]

i tried to buy tickets.. but tickets companies have already stripped the cheap seats and are throwing them out again for £140.00 .... so gonna have a few mates round and we can share the price of the 17.95.... I do remember when ppv charged 14.95 everytime they had a big fight on...

[Bundana]

£17.95?... oh man, you guys are so lucky!

Here in Denmark the PPV price will be 499 kroner (as it was for Kessler's last 2 fights) - which, at today's exchange rate, is slightly more than £58.

Does Denmark have subscription TV like SKY / Virgin Media? If PPV is £58, how much is your subscription TV each month?

Indeed we do.

We can choose between different "packages"... and if you want to be able to watch international boxing live (like last night's Wembley Arena show and Hopkins-Cloud from the US), you have to subscribe to a big package (about 50 channels), which will set you back approx. £50 a month.

As for PPV, it doesn't really matter who the opponent is - all Kessler's fights are priced the same. Whether it's a big fight like the one coming up against Froch, or a crap fight against Allan Green... PPV is always 499 kroner.

The reason they can do this, is the huge interest here in Denmark - not just in Mikkel, but the entire Kessler family! His ENORMOUSLY-boobed sister, Linse, is the star of her own reality-show, which also features other family members... and Linse and her daughter have both appeared in other reality-shows as well. So there isn't a man, woman or child here in Denmark, who doesn't know who Mikkel Kessler is.

The May 25 fight has already been hyped for months, and since Froch is also close to being a household name here in Denmark... come fight time EVERYBODY will know, this fight is taking place. That's why they can get away with 499 kroner!

[chad]

Thanks for the info Bundana.

Just checked Kesslers' sister...........I wouldn't! Well give me a few pints and I'd be all over it DD

[Goz]

I wouldn't pay that for this. I've drifted away from boxing over the last 5/6 years (since I had kids) and would only probably have found the time to watch it recorded anyway. I'm not paying £18 to watch a recorded fight and therefore boxing continues to discourage another type of fan.

[Final round]

Loaded,
It's no good comparing.
Fighters back then were naive about money in fact even up to the nineties.
Packed arenas, best against the best, SHIT PAY.
How much do you think Sky would put in the pot for this fight - non ppv ?
How much do you think ticket revenue will generate ?
Sponsorship ?
Advertising ?
It ain't difficult to work out that that would just about cover Kessler's fee.
Ask Nigel Benn if in hindsight he earned the right pay for some of his epic fights.
It's about supply and demand and I don't begrudge these two lads a penny of what they're getting.
I'm going so this ppv fee is irrelevent to me but if I wasn't going damn right I'd pay up.

Parsons of course you are right re. the fight would not happening in it's current state if it wasn't PPV.
It was Carls wish to rematch Kessler and he wanted to rematch him on his own turf.
Hearn had to cave in to Kesslers massive demands to secure the fight.Something Kessler didn't have to do as he coins it in over there and he won the first fight and it appeared like he wasn't arsed about having a rematch at all.
Couple of questions for you. Would it have still been PPV if it had taken place in Denmark?
Do you think Sky's current boxing output is of a decent enough quantity/quality for a Sky sports subscriber who solely coughs up for the boxing?
For the proper stuff ooh*sharp intake of breath* that's extra mate!

[Parson Cross]

Yes I do think the fight would still have been ppv mate. If I was representing Froch I would have insisted on the UK TV rights then done a deal with Sky - pretty much the David Haye approach. As for Sky's coverage no I don't think the standard subscription fare is good enough. Going down the monopoly route has contributed to that. Sky never learn. This problem is cyclic just change the Promotors name. Wazza more or less had a monopoly before and look where that got us. Fast forward and Hearn is going down the same path. Prepared to wait and see though but tell you what 2014 could be the end of boxing on Sky if we're not careful.

[Final round]

Yes I do think the fight would still have been ppv mate. If I was representing Froch I would have insisted on the UK TV rights then done a deal with Sky - pretty much the David Haye approach. As for Sky's coverage no I don't think the standard subscription fare is good enough. Going down the monopoly route has contributed to that. Sky never learn. This problem is cyclic just change the Promotors name. Wazza more or less had a monopoly before and look where that got us. Fast forward and Hearn is going down the same path. Prepared to wait and see though but tell you what 2014 could be the end of boxing on Sky if we're not careful.

Thanks mate I know you're speaking sense and it is a tasty fight but just feel fecked off the first decent fight of the British season and people are 'talking' the rate of PPv going up! ( I should really wait to see if it is confirmed before being outraged though)
Yeah sadly it's not hard to envisage Sky Sports ditching the sport altogether. It's probably more aggro than it's worth!

[loaded_gloves]

Bundana, thank you for giving us an insight into how things are in Denmark. Can I ask you an off-topic question - I often read that Brian Nielsen is highly regarded over there and is considered a 'great fighter' - is this true? Surely fans knowledgeable enough to appreciate Kessler know that a guy like Nielsen is a pure Buuterbean-style novelty act?