Top Rank/Arum working on a National TV Deal

[ReggieDiggs]

More good news for free tv boxing. Arum mentioned in passing in the last couple days TR will be announcing a national TV deal in the next couple weeks.

we will be announcing a major network deal within the next couple of weeks

it will be on free television… major network.”

http://thaboxingvoice.com/bob-arum-to-l ... 902?var=no

Is boxing becoming cool again? Is this ABC or someone else?

Looking forward to all this boxing on TV thats on tap.

[KBB]

More good news for free tv boxing. Arum mentioned in passing in the last couple days TR will be announcing a national TV deal in the next couple weeks.

we will be announcing a major network deal within the next couple of weeks

it will be on free television… major network.”

http://thaboxingvoice.com/bob-arum-to-l ... 902?var=no

Is boxing becoming cool again? Is this ABC or someone else?

Looking forward to all this boxing on TV thats on tap.

He's just trying to compete with Haymon and stay relevant.

[tiny_acres]

More good news for free tv boxing. Arum mentioned in passing in the last couple days TR will be announcing a national TV deal in the next couple weeks.

we will be announcing a major network deal within the next couple of weeks

it will be on free television… major network.”

http://thaboxingvoice.com/bob-arum-to-l ... 902?var=no

Is boxing becoming cool again? Is this ABC or someone else?

Looking forward to all this boxing on TV thats on tap.

He's just trying to compete with Haymon and stay relevant.

We all know that he is trying to compete with Haymon.
I like it.We as fans only benefit from this.

[IKSRTFO]

More good news for free tv boxing. Arum mentioned in passing in the last couple days TR will be announcing a national TV deal in the next couple weeks.

we will be announcing a major network deal within the next couple of weeks

it will be on free television… major network.”

http://thaboxingvoice.com/bob-arum-to-l ... 902?var=no

Is boxing becoming cool again? Is this ABC or someone else?

Looking forward to all this boxing on TV thats on tap.

He's just trying to compete with Haymon and stay relevant.

That's what you do in business...compete with the competition right? This is a capitalist nation.

[KBB]

That's what you do in business...compete with the competition right? This is a capitalist nation.

Of course it is but notice he didn't bother with this until Haymon started getting good deals out there. Where was the initiative of Arum before Haymon made this happen??

[IKSRTFO]

That's what you do in business...compete with the competition right? This is a capitalist nation.

Of course it is but notice he didn't bother with this until Haymon started getting good deals out there. Where was the initiative of Arum before Haymon made this happen??

And Haymon didn't get into boxing until Arum was already making money off of it. Where was the initiative of Haymon when he was just a music manager?

[KBB]

And Haymon didn't get into boxing until Arum was already making money off of it. Where was the initiative of Haymon when he was just a music manager?

Hahaha, is that a comeback? Comparing a music manager to a boxing promoter? That's as bad as your comparison of a 40 year old Mosley to a prime Mosley.

[IKSRTFO]

And Haymon didn't get into boxing until Arum was already making money off of it. Where was the initiative of Haymon when he was just a music manager?

Hahaha, is that a comeback? Comparing a music manager to a boxing promoter? That's as bad as your comparison of a 40 year old Mosley to a prime Mosley.

1. Haymon is/was a music manager when he decided to go into boxing
2. I compared 38 year old Mosley to 36 year old Mosley.

[walter5]

It's reported by Rick Glaser that the network is TruTV and will be a monthly series a lot like boxing after dark. HBO and TruTV are owned by the same parent company.

[punchoutsb]

That's what you do in business...compete with the competition right? This is a capitalist nation.

Of course it is but notice he didn't bother with this until Haymon started getting good deals out there. Where was the initiative of Arum before Haymon made this happen??

And Haymon didn't get into boxing until Arum was already making money off of it. Where was the initiative of Haymon when he was just a music manager?

owned

[ReggieDiggs]

It's reported by Rick Glaser that the network is TruTV and will be a monthly series a lot like boxing after dark. HBO and TruTV are owned by the same parent company.

Does TruTv have any sports on that channel? I thought they just showed criminal/court kinda shows & whatnot. Admittedly I haven't watched TruTv in a long time.

[walter5]

They have first round games of the NCAA Basketball tournament I know.

[uptconnect]

As much as I like the idea of Boxing on network television, and just more viewing options in general, I don't think it's a foregone matter that this will succeed and stick around.
Almost all of the things that slowly turned the American public away from boxing are still things.
(It's still a brutal sport, and the judges are still the judges, in all of their scoring glory. Etc.)

Here's to hoping we get good free fights for a long time coming.


Not holding my breath though.

[Dennis]

Sorry Bob, I wouldn't really call truTV a major network and I also don't consider it FREE tv since it is a cable channel. NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX are free TV channels available over the air. I hope it happens though as it gives boxing fans more viewing options and boxers more opportunities to be seen on TV.

[ReggieDiggs]

As much as I like the idea of Boxing on network television, and just more viewing options in general, I don't think it's a foregone matter that this will succeed and stick around.
Almost all of the things that slowly turned the American public away from boxing are still things.
(It's still a brutal sport, and the judges are still the judges, in all of their scoring glory. Etc.)

Some of these shows will definitely not be working out. I think thats a given. I do think the perception might not be as bad as you are suggesting.

Officials blowing calls is a part of sports in general. Nothing you can do about that & even when you get as good a system as possible there are still going to be bad calls.

The brutality of boxing has definitely taken a backseat to MMA these days (& maybe even the NFL with all the sh!t they are getting) & I think they got more mainstream coverage than Boxing these days outside of nights like May 2.

The "Who's the champion" thing is an ongoing problem, but I think we probably worry about that more as hardcore fans than more casual fans worry about it. Throwing All Access, 24/7 or the new PBC: Corner to Corner show out there so the casual fans get to know about Keith Thurman & see him meditating & sh!t will go a long way for them getting to know & getting attached to Keith & these fighters currently lesser known guys who are the future of the sport.

The announcers do more of a disservice to the sport with the constant reminders of these things. Teddy Atlas calling fans drunk cuz they disagreed with him on a close round. Larry Merchant with some nutty ass Shakespeare rant while sh!tting on the best fighters in the game. That sorta stuff hurts the sport more than any of these other things in my mind.

They need to clone Al Bernstein, Sean O'Grady, Max Kellerman & cats like those guys who have a passion for the sport AND can hype the sport & not sh!t on the sport at every opportunity. Its bunch of grumpy ass old men who are about to die announcing boxing. Give me some younger people with less knowledge about the sport but some mfing passion, love & appreciation for the sport. These guys are out there getting hit in the f#cking head for 30 minutes. Focus on the fighters not on some greedy handful of guys all day long. If major sports were ran like boxing on TV the NBA would talk about that racist owner or the latest baby mama, crime or whatever other negative thing thats going on in the NBA on every other f#cking game.

/rant

[Evander]

It sounds like a good thing for us, I'm not complaining.

[ReggieDiggs]

Sorry Bob, I wouldn't really call truTV a major network and I also don't consider it FREE tv since it is a cable channel. NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX are free TV channels available over the air. I hope it happens though as it gives boxing fans more viewing options and boxers more opportunities to be seen on TV.

I don't think its confirmed its TruTv is it? That just seems to be the rumor at the moment.

Its clearly not a free tv channel though if that is it, but sh!t man more boxing is more boxing. Throw a monthly boxing card on Lifetime I don't care.

[Dennis]

Sorry Bob, I wouldn't really call truTV a major network and I also don't consider it FREE tv since it is a cable channel. NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX are free TV channels available over the air. I hope it happens though as it gives boxing fans more viewing options and boxers more opportunities to be seen on TV.

I don't think its confirmed its TruTv is it? That just seems to be the rumor at the moment.

Its clearly not a free tv channel though if that is it, but sh!t man more boxing is more boxing. Throw a monthly boxing card on Lifetime I don't care.

I agree. I will take boxing on as many channels as I can get.

[Dennis]

As much as I like the idea of Boxing on network television, and just more viewing options in general, I don't think it's a foregone matter that this will succeed and stick around.
Almost all of the things that slowly turned the American public away from boxing are still things.
(It's still a brutal sport, and the judges are still the judges, in all of their scoring glory. Etc.)

Some of these shows will definitely not be working out. I think thats a given. I do think the perception might not be as bad as you are suggesting.

Officials blowing calls is a part of sports in general. Nothing you can do about that & even when you get as good a system as possible there are still going to be bad calls.

The brutality of boxing has definitely taken a backseat to MMA these days (& maybe even the NFL with all the sh!t they are getting) & I think they got more mainstream coverage than Boxing these days outside of nights like May 2.

The "Who's the champion" thing is an ongoing problem, but I think we probably worry about that more as hardcore fans than more casual fans worry about it. Throwing All Access, 24/7 or the new PBC: Corner to Corner show out there so the casual fans get to know about Keith Thurman & see him meditating & sh!t will go a long way for them getting to know & getting attached to Keith & these fighters currently lesser known guys who are the future of the sport.

The announcers do more of a disservice to the sport with the constant reminders of these things. Teddy Atlas calling fans drunk cuz they disagreed with him on a close round. Larry Merchant with some nutty ass Shakespeare rant while sh!tting on the best fighters in the game. That sorta stuff hurts the sport more than any of these other things in my mind.

They need to clone Al Bernstein, Sean O'Grady, Max Kellerman & cats like those guys who have a passion for the sport AND can hype the sport & not sh!t on the sport at every opportunity. Its bunch of grumpy ass old men who are about to die announcing boxing. Give me some younger people with less knowledge about the sport but some mfing passion, love & appreciation for the sport. These guys are out there getting hit in the f#cking head for 30 minutes. Focus on the fighters not on some greedy handful of guys all day long. If major sports were ran like boxing on TV the NBA would talk about that racist owner or the latest baby mama, crime or whatever other negative thing thats going on in the NBA on every other f#cking game.

/rant

You are correct Reggie. I am constantly appalled by the statements made by some commentators. I ask "why haven't they been fired?" They definitely hurt the sport that pays their salaries. I like Max, Al, Paulie, Sean, and Mauro. I'm sure there are others too.

[KBB]

owned

How is that owning? He made a stupid comparison and just because you don't like you me you decide to roll with the dumb comparison and say owned, wow.



How do you compare a man who is into music into one who is promoting boxing? One thing is for certain before it's all said and done; Haymon will be far bigger than that crook Arum could ever have hope to been.

[witherspoon]

Regardless of the timing, and that so many think that Pac-Mayweather is too late, this will be a huge event, with the potential to draw in casual fans in big numbers.

Arum is probably ( ) only motivated by the potential to capitalise financially on the aftermath
But boxing is back in the mainstream, if not right now, you can bet the profile of our sport will build to a hyperbole fuelled frenzy come May.

If more boxing is made available on free tv, I'm hoping that the interest will be sustained, and boxing will regain some popularity with casual fans, more people will be attracted to boxing and good fighters who are only really known to die-hard fans will gain some recognition in mainstream media.

........and finding themselves under more scrutiny than before, due to this wonderful boost to the popularity of boxing, governing bodies will clean up their act, do away with the bastard-offspring belts which have proliferated and unite to organise elimination tourneys in each weight class leading to mega-fights galore and culminating in a single champ for each weight class.

[sucracristo]

Sorry Bob, I wouldn't really call truTV a major network and I also don't consider it FREE tv since it is a cable channel. NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX are free TV channels available over the air. I hope it happens though as it gives boxing fans more viewing options and boxers more opportunities to be seen on TV.

i just heard that almost one in 5 households don't have cable or dish anymore, which means
a hell of a lot of people have dumped pay tv in the last 10 years, when i could swear not
that long ago over 90% had pay tv. the thing is, that still means the vast majority still
watch "free tv" over cable or dish. even if the rate of people dumping pay tv increases
rapidly, which i think it probably will, i'm not so sure that the comeback of rooftop aerials
is the future. i think all this non-premium channel boxing sounds great, especially in the
short term, but how many people on the planet don't have wifi at home by now?
i have to think like 99% of north american, european, pacifica, and vast majority of asian
and latin homes have high speed wifi. a lot of young folks don't watch tv at all anymore.
they all have tablets and we are close to the point where unlimited 4G wireless broadband
will mean you will be able to stream anything you want from anywhere, and i don't see tv
even being relevant at that point. why wouldn't GB or TR or any promoter just charge
a few bucks to stream directly to subscribers worldwide and take all the sponsor money
themselves and cut the cable and dish and tv networks out of the deal entirely? i honestly
believe if, for some reason, the tv networks just disappeared for a few weeks as a result of
some weird technical difficulties, people would all adapt to streaming everything almost
immediately without missing a beat and tv would never be able to come back. it's just
there as a legacy media and people are creatures of habit but the platform isn't really
necessary anymore. it's just more middlemen between the content producers and customers

[ReggieDiggs]

a lot of young folks don't watch tv at all anymore.
they all have tablets and we are close to the point where unlimited 4G wireless broadband
will mean you will be able to stream anything you want from anywhere, and i don't see tv
even being relevant at that point.

No question in my mind things are trending that way.

why wouldn't GB or TR or any promoter just charge
a few bucks to stream directly to subscribers worldwide and take all the sponsor money
themselves and cut the cable and dish and tv networks out of the deal entirely?

I tend to think something like this will be the future. Thus far from my understanding the UFC & WWE are the two most comparable things to boxing doing this right now. The WWE was the first to dip their toe into this pool & are also a publicly traded company so info is available about their progress thus far & its promising. WWE started WWE Network in Feb. 2014. And just last month the WWE announced they had 1M subscribers within their first year. They sell WWE Network for $9.99 a month. Thats $10M a month total. $120M a year. They are expecting to get up to 3M-4M subscribers within 3-5 years. That'd be $360M-$480M a year.

[sucracristo]

They are expecting to get up to 3M-4M subscribers within 3-5 years. That'd be $360M-$480M a year.

i haven't watched wrastling in decades, but i checked that out and they let you try it
for free and i might sign up for a free day just to see how they do it. i would think
the sponsor money could be big if they had that many subscribers. they wouldn't
have to play traditional commercials but just have logos and graphics and the
slam of the night brought to you by denny's or whatever. not only that, 90% of
their audience is those people i was talking about who don't even watch tv anymore.
i think the boxing audience has lots of older folks set in their ways so the tv thing
could hang on longer, but when that exodus from tv happens anybody who can
draw a big audience will be able to make a lot of money streaming direct to
their audience without charging a lot or even streaming for free