Could boxing be the "saviour" of SKY Sports?

[chad]

Last November BT Sports landed an exclusive £897m three-year deal to broadcast live Champions League and Europa League football matches. The news came as a major blow to Sky who currently share Champions League rights with ITV. Sky's bid to retain the rights was roughly £500m.

Both Sky and BT currently share Premier League rights with Sky showing 116 live games and BT showing 38. The rights expire in 2016 however the bidding process for the rights for 2016 to 2019 are expected to begin in December of this year. BT are expected to bid big, in an attempt to wrestle the lions share of games away from Sky, and weaken them as a competitor. What happens to Sky Sports if BT are successful?

Live Premiership and Champions League football have been the bedrock for Sky over the past decade. Without these rights times could get tough for Sky in terms of retaining Sky Sports customers. Over the past 9 months they've signed new long term deals for the likes of Lions Rugby, Super League, the Scottish Cup, Speedway, WWE and various PGA tournaments. Clearly Sky aren't planning on going anywhere.

I remember reading recently comments made by Jeff Powell of the Daily Mail. Jeff suggested that polls had been conducted which showed boxing is overwhelmingly everyone's "second favourite" sport in Britain, to watch on TV, behind their usual regular favourite sport. If there is any truth in this, and I'm sure there will be plenty on here who will dispute this claim, then maybe boxing could help Sky fill the void of losing the Champions League and the lions share of Premier League rights?

Sky would have hundreds of millions of pounds in their coffers if BT trump their bid. Sky could invest heavily in their boxing budget. There's no reason why they couldn't have a live British show every single week. It would be unrealistic to expect Matchroom to produce 52 shows per year however other promoters like Sauerland and Golden Boy could be tempted over to put on shows featuring their "A" fighters in top level fights. Real high end shows each week that would under normal circumstances be PPV worthy. Eddie would have the money to bring champions over, rather than sending his boys on the road to have their world title crack. Eddie could even grow his own stable further with international fighters.

Of course there will be many reasons why this isn't a realistic suggestion however Sky will need to invest their money in something to make their sports channels more appealing if BT get their way. It's been shown time and time again that when the right fights are delivered, the British viewing public do tune in. Your not going to attract hundreds of thousands of new or casual fans for a game of cricket or rugby, but you will for a fight that captures the imagination. What would the viewing figures for Froch Vs. Groves II have been if it was on regular SKY Sports?

[Boxing Prospect]

They should do what Bein Sports Espanol are doing and pick up the cheaper, interesting cards from Mexico. In terms of action those fights deliver amazing "bang for buck" and are the style matches that fans enjoy watching. Recent fights like Terdsak's vs Salido and Mendoza Vs Garcia Hirales might not immediately attract attention but the follow up conversations and the "did you see those two crazy fights in Mexico? Sky are repeating them on Thursday night" will build a snowball effect.

Almost everyone enjoys a good, even, back and forth fight, if you can pick them up cheaply then they are going to be worth every penny.

But then again channels seem to prefer paying more for less

[ScottDetonator]

I thought Darts was the second most popular sport on Sky behind football?

It is only a matter of time before Sky realise that one promoter is not the way to go forward if you want to build a viewing audience.

The Matchroom shows are so predictable that they are mostly boring, even for a hardcore fan such as myself who watches around a 750+ fights a year. You expect cards to favour the promoted fighter but most of the Matchroom cards don't even have a 60/40 main event and they can last for 4 hours. Joe public isn't going to swallow that - watching the same decent domestic level fighter beating an Argie import over 8 one sided rounds, 3-4 times on every card and then the sky sports team telling us they are the next big thing in boxing. 'Switch' "I wonder what is on ITV..."

[black panther]

We can dream mate....

[pyenest77]

I thought Darts was the second most popular sport on Sky behind football?

It is only a matter of time before Sky realise that one promoter is not the way to go forward if you want to build a viewing audience.

The Matchroom shows are so predictable that they are mostly boring, even for a hardcore fan such as myself who watches around a 750+ fights a year. You expect cards to favour the promoted fighter but most of the Matchroom cards don't even have a 60/40 main event and they can last for 4 hours. Joe public isn't going to swallow that - watching the same decent domestic level fighter beating an Argie import over 8 one sided rounds, 3-4 times on every card and then the sky sports team telling us they are the next big thing in boxing. 'Switch' "I wonder what is on ITV..."

Pretty much the same point I made in another post. I wont be going to Matchroom card to see a big guy beat up a smaller guy for the foreseeable future.

[Boxerbeetle]

Personally I couldn't care less about Sky Sports.

In an ideal world I'd like all boxing to be covered on a dedicated channel (whether it be allegedly or something similar) so I could cancel Sky Sports completely. I do watch the football when a big game is on, but I'd be more than happy to watch the highlights on BBC later - I certainly don't watch enough to justify the subscription cost.

As for boxing being most people's "second favourite sport" - God knows where that idea comes from, definitely doesn't ring true from my own experience of people. Even if it is true, the disparity in popularity between football & boxing is so vast that it makes very little difference either way.

[leforge]

Last November BT Sports landed an exclusive £897m three-year deal to broadcast live Champions League and Europa League football matches. The news came as a major blow to Sky who currently share Champions League rights with ITV. Sky's bid to retain the rights was roughly £500m.

Both Sky and BT currently share Premier League rights with Sky showing 116 live games and BT showing 38. The rights expire in 2016 however the bidding process for the rights for 2016 to 2019 are expected to begin in December of this year. BT are expected to bid big, in an attempt to wrestle the lions share of games away from Sky, and weaken them as a competitor. What happens to Sky Sports if BT are successful?

Live Premiership and Champions League football have been the bedrock for Sky over the past decade. Without these rights times could get tough for Sky in terms of retaining Sky Sports customers. Over the past 9 months they've signed new long term deals for the likes of Lions Rugby, Super League, the Scottish Cup, Speedway, WWE and various PGA tournaments. Clearly Sky aren't planning on going anywhere.

I remember reading recently comments made by Jeff Powell of the Daily Mail. Jeff suggested that polls had been conducted which showed boxing is overwhelmingly everyone's "second favourite" sport in Britain, to watch on TV, behind their usual regular favourite sport. If there is any truth in this, and I'm sure there will be plenty on here who will dispute this claim, then maybe boxing could help Sky fill the void of losing the Champions League and the lions share of Premier League rights?

Sky would have hundreds of millions of pounds in their coffers if BT trump their bid. Sky could invest heavily in their boxing budget. There's no reason why they couldn't have a live British show every single week. It would be unrealistic to expect Matchroom to produce 52 shows per year however other promoters like Sauerland and Golden Boy could be tempted over to put on shows featuring their "A" fighters in top level fights. Real high end shows each week that would under normal circumstances be PPV worthy. Eddie would have the money to bring champions over, rather than sending his boys on the road to have their world title crack. Eddie could even grow his own stable further with international fighters.

Of course there will be many reasons why this isn't a realistic suggestion however Sky will need to invest their money in something to make their sports channels more appealing if BT get their way. It's been shown time and time again that when the right fights are delivered, the British viewing public do tune in. Your not going to attract hundreds of thousands of new or casual fans for a game of cricket or rugby, but you will for a fight that captures the imagination. What would the viewing figures for Froch Vs. Groves II have been if it was on regular SKY Sports?

Sky have bought up rights to loads sports since the champions league loss. They wont lose out to BT they bid very big.

[black panther]

Personally I couldn't care less about Sky Sports.

In an ideal world I'd like all boxing to be covered on a dedicated channel (whether it be allegedly or something similar) so I could cancel Sky Sports completely. .

Amen.

Sadly I feel it’s only going to get worse. TV License fee gets you boxing on channel 5.
Sky Sports Sub gets you the Eddie Hearns circus.
BN gets you allegedly shows plus some big shows from US/Germany.
BT Sport will probably start bidding (and winning) to show some boxing matches.

All in all if you want to watch all the boxing on the box it presently costs you around £70 a month - which is ridiculous as the only sport I watch is boxing.
In fact the only programmes I watch on TV are boxing and the news. And with BT Sport in the mix it will only add to costs. Am I getting ripped off or what?

[Ezzard]

Okay...over here in dream land...

Wouldn't it be great of once a year the top promoters put on a joint bill... Say Eddie and Frank... 5 fights for some kind of promoter trophy.

It'll never happen. But it would be good.

Anyway do that...AND/OR bring back 'Henry Cooper's Golden Belt'

[Datsue]

They should do what Bein Sports Espanol are doing and pick up the cheaper, interesting cards from Mexico. In terms of action those fights deliver amazing "bang for buck" and are the style matches that fans enjoy watching. Recent fights like Terdsak's vs Salido and Mendoza Vs Garcia Hirales might not immediately attract attention but the follow up conversations and the "did you see those two crazy fights in Mexico? Sky are repeating them on Thursday night" will build a snowball effect.

Almost everyone enjoys a good, even, back and forth fight, if you can pick them up cheaply then they are going to be worth every penny.

But then again channels seem to prefer paying more for less

Whilst I'm with you, obviously, the picture in consensus reality is that most people tuning in to boxing don't actually want to see a "good fight". They just... Don't. Or at least, it's not number one on their list at all, in fact it's like #345 or something. There are a metric shit-tonne of other things that the viewers of boxing matches wanna see first, sadly, & most of 'em don't involve sport at all, let alone boxing.

The amount of boxing fans to whom the boxing matters, the skill or the competition, is vanishingly small.

Look at Mayweather: chump that he is, excellent PR, in with the hip-hop/gossip boys, excellent defensively, boring as fvck, major mega-star. Part of that is the skillfully engineered panto villain schtick, but still.

Rigondeaux: beat a bigger threat than Mayweather's faced recently (imo there's no-one around at or above the weight as dangerous/accomplished as Donaire was/is, so it's not entirely his fault, but if there was, he'd not fvcking fight him anyway), no-one wants to watch him. At all. It's not just being Cuban, or it is, in that the Septics can market Mayweather 'cos he presents some kind of aspirational ideal.

What that says RE: the state of people's aspirations, topic for another time.

Ahem. On-topic: So no, boxing isn't going to be the saviour of SKY (what a horrific idea "saving" SKY is). Something like boxing, "boxing" if you like, might be, if they can market someone correctly. Dunno who, though.

@Black Panther: Yes mate, yes you are. Very much so.

[dbf]

In a few years time it will all be on demand of sorts I'm sure. You will be able to pick and choose the sports as it will all be Internet based and no need for a dish etc.

Gomez is clued up on this.

Boxing deliver some good nights and numbers but it's too risky to throw loads of money at.

[Datsue]

In a few years time it will all be on demand of sorts I'm sure. You will be able to pick and choose the sports as it will all be Internet based and no need for a dish etc.

Gomez is clued up on this.

Boxing deliver some good nights and numbers but it's too risky to throw loads of money at.

That would be my ideal, so nerds like me could just watch the stuff we want to watch & ignore/not have to pay for the circus going on elsewhere.

[ScottDetonator]

As an example of a poor card, look at Matchroom's Oct 4th card. Talk about 3-4 hours of cack!

[whiskey]

In a few years time it will all be on demand of sorts I'm sure. You will be able to pick and choose the sports as it will all be Internet based and no need for a dish etc.

Gomez is clued up on this.

Boxing deliver some good nights and numbers but it's too risky to throw loads of money at.

Correct, Sky will be an app on your Smart TV as everything shifts to IPTV . You don't need a box to watch it on iPad or mobile via sky go. This 'Now TV' is trying to bridge the gap before the inevitable.


With regards the topic , if BT Sport can knock Sky out of the park on football then they can also turn their attention to boxing in a heartbeat.

There are already shared staff between allegedly and BT already.

BT throw the channel in for free when you sign up for their broadband. That's the market they want, the football is the carrot.

People can get their football and shows via Netflix for £25 a month instead of £100+ month for sky and their broadband services. No reflection on the great sky staff, but Sky's pricing has been greedy for a while.

[chad]

Sky have bought up rights to loads sports since the champions league loss. They wont lose out to BT they bid very big.

They've just signed a 5 year deal with the NFL:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 55219.html

There's an interesting ending to the article that shows how busy SKY have been in terms of sports rights recently.

"This is the 22nd live rights deal that Sky Sports has struck this year as it battles with BT Sport ahead of the vital English Premier League football auction, which is due to begin later this year and is again expected to raise more than £3 billion."

[moogie101]

Boxing the country's second favourite sport, my ass.

If it was there would be more boxing, instead Sky Sports seems to focus more on darts/ cricket/ golf/ F1 etc.
If boxing was this big draw it would get the TV focus, outside of the occasional big fight which catches the population's imagination which then greatly flatters the public's daily interest in the sport.

Don't get me wrong I'd be happy for more boxing on Sky, but I imagine they'll be spending their money on other sports first beforehand.

[reggaereggae]

For boxing to 'save' Sky Sports, they would have to get rid of the entire team and start again