Kovalev-Ward PPV Numbers Won’t Justify Ward’s $5 Million Guarantee

[Ruthless-RKO]

Michael Yormark wouldn’t commit to a specific number Tuesday when asked during a conference call about the pay-per-view business he expects from the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward fight next week in Las Vegas. Roc Nation Sports’ president and chief of branding and strategy said, though, that he thinks the four-fight broadcast headlined by their light heavyweight showdown will draw a “huge” pay-per-view audience.

Without attaching an actual number to it, we can only assume Yormark meant more by “huge” than the 300,000 buys Roc Nation’s promotional partner in the event, Kathy Duva, has said would cause her to “set off fireworks” in the Totowa, New Jersey, office of her company, Main Events. Duva, who has been involved in boxing in some capacity for parts of five decades, also has said that 250,000 buys, even for a terrific fight of this magnitude, is the realistic expectation. That’s largely because, despite their resumes and skill levels, neither Ward (Roc Nation Sports) nor Kovalev (Main Events) has been even been the ‘B’ side of a pay-per-view event, forget the ‘A’ side.

“We’re very optimistic about the pay-per-view numbers,” Yormark said during the conference call to promote the November 19 fight at T-Mobile Arena. “This is a 50-50 fight, the biggest fight of the year and, on paper, the biggest fight of the last decade. We would be very disappointed if it wasn’t the biggest pay-per-view fight of 2016.”

[boxing_rocks]

With how little known these guys are to casual fans, 200k would be a good result and 300k would be a big success.

[tiny_acres]

I could care less how many sales are made.
I don't care how many millions either fighter is making.
It doesn't affect my pocketbook and it certainly does not affect the joy I get watching it

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Of course not, obviously ROC nation did not get into boxing to make money.

[gilgamesh]

I'd be a little surprised if it even sold 100K to be honest. Ward can't draw flies to sh*t, and Kovalev isn't a big attraction to people that aren't hardcore fans of the sport. I'd like to hear this fight sold well as it would be a good step in the direction of matchmaking, but neither of these guys appeal to the biggest PPV selling demographic which is the Latino market.

[Freedom2013]

Why is Andre Ward demanding a minimum of $5 million?

"Love of money is the root of all evil" - Jesus Christ, the REAL Son of God

[Enlightened-One]

Kovalev-Ward PPV Numbers Won’t Justify Ward’s $5 Million Guarantee

First of all, the official paydays of Kovalev & Ward haven’t been announced by the NSAC yet. So Andre Ward’s $5m payday is pure speculation (until we receive confirmation of the official figures).

Second, what has the actual quantity of PPV buys got to do with anything, since revenue and expenses in dollars is all that matters, which is compounded by the fact that we have no idea of the total cost of the event itself (i.e. the undercard fight purses, overheads etc.)?

Third, if Kovalev-Ward share $12m (the rumoured $7m to the Russian and $5m to the American), the event only needs about 222K in HBO PPV buys to make similar commercial numbers to the GGG-Brook fight (i.e. the cost of the main event guaranteed fight purses as a percentage of the total PPV revenue received).

[gilgamesh]

Why is Andre Ward demanding a minimum of $5 million?

"Love of money is the root of all evil" - Jesus Christ, the REAL Son of God

^Real simple minded this guy

[Kalan]

I'd be a little surprised if it even sold 100K to be honest. Ward can't draw flies to sh*t, and Kovalev isn't a big attraction to people that aren't hardcore fans of the sport. I'd like to hear this fight sold well as it would be a good step in the direction of matchmaking, but neither of these guys appeal to the biggest PPV selling demographic which is the Latino market.

Be prepared to be amazed because this fight will do at least 200K... But damn!!! Isn't that pathetic for a fight like this??? ... This is the best fight in many years, so something is wrong... You need to see ads and commercials for the fight on daytime and nighttime TV, or ANY TV non-boxing fans would be likely to watch.. You need to make sure the fighters appear on popular TV talk shows and other shows -- and that the fighters both hold public workouts the press will follow.. and that there are many Internet stories about them in the regular news, featuring different imaginative angles.

How the Hell is the general public going to be aware of 2 fighters and their accomplishments if American promoters don't promote them??? I remember Ingemar Johansson appearing on What's My Line, The Tonight Show, very many regular news programs, and in numerous magazine and newspaper articles well in advance of his 1st fight with Patterson.. Johansson hadn't done that much with his career, but It was impossible for just about anybody not to know he was fighting Floyd Patterson, because he was all over the news. Even though he barely spoke English, never fought in America before, never won an Olympic medal, never fought a world title fight before, and never fought 30 pro fights in his whole career, before and after his 3 massively hyped fights with Patterson.

When you have 2 great fighters like Ward and Kovalev... who are extremely skillful and undefeated in 30 or more fights each... and unbeaten in 17 World Title Fights between them... and they've both been around for as many years at the top---in the United States---as these 2 guys have -- and American sports fans don't know who they are??? For me, they're not being promoted.. Luis Angel Firpo was no great shakes as a boxer.. He never won a title fight and fought 35 unskilled fights in his entire unaccomplished career, before and after Dempsey -- but everybody knew who Firpo was when he stepped into the ring with the champ, because Tex Rickard built him up as a personality and a threat.

[Bard of Boxrec]

I agree with the above post. I don't need to be American to notice that this fight isn't being promoted well. What are roc nation and Kathy duva doing ???

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I haven't seen a commercial. Granted, the UFC card tonight is insanely good, but you think they'd run some ads.

[gilgamesh]

I haven't seen a commercial. Granted, the UFC card tonight is insanely good, but you think they'd run some ads.

I saw a commercial for it the other day. I forget which channel it was on, but I did see one. It kept showing flashes of them with some of their highlight reel punches, and showing the words "Pound for Pound" and all that. Maybe the commercials for it will pick up this week.

[Tarkus]

Why is Andre Ward demanding a minimum of $5 million?

"Love of money is the root of all evil" - Jesus Christ, the REAL Son of God

Not a hypocrite, not a Christian.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus

That said though, 300k ppv would easily justify 5 million for both fighters. Some people have problem with counting.

My prediciton over 500 k.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I'd be surprised if it does 200k.

[Enlightened-One]

"Kovalev-Ward PPV numbers – low 160K says Iole"

Using 160K buys as the minimum and assuming the ballpark average cost price is $64.99 per buy, then this equates to event generating roughly $10.5m in revenue (excl. gate receipts), with the guaranteed fight purses of the main event at $7m (i.e. $5m to Ward & $2m to Kovalev).

I suspect that the Kovalev-Ward event has probably broken even or perhaps even made a small profit.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I'm surprised such a know it all doesn't realize that the cable/Satellite providers get 50% of that and HBO probably gets 8-9%.

[Enlightened-One]

I'm surprised such a know it all doesn't realize that the cable/Satellite providers get 50% of that and HBO probably gets 8-9%.

My opinion about the break-even point of PPV’s was based on an interview with Bob Arum, who explained the whole process. So I made a moderately educated guess.

I also conceded that I didn’t know the total revenue realised from gate receipts, which may compensate for any PPV commission deductions.

Of course, I could be wrong about my “break even” claim, but I never boldly proclaimed that I was 100% accurate about my openly-admitted “guess”, as I actually used the term “suspect”… However, I doubt the actual costing and precise revenue figures will ever be published to justify your counter-argument.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Not an argument, the 50% is factual.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I also used arum for HBO's take.

[keithmoonhangover]

I'm sure I heard Kathy Duva and Virgil Hunter say that Ward was on $8million and Kovalev was on $4million.

[Enlightened-One]

I'm sure I heard Kathy Duva and Virgil Hunter say that Ward was on $8million and Kovalev was on $4million.

The official purses are notified to the NSAC, which are subsequently published by journalists such as Dan Rafael. Apparently they’re disclosed to the public. According to ESPN, Ward was on $5m and Kovalev was paid $2m. In fact, Virgil Hunter delivered a lengthy and emotional speech about how Sergey was being exploited during the pre-fight press conferences.

I'm surprised such a know it all doesn't realize that the cable/Satellite providers get 50% of that and HBO probably gets 8-9%... Not an argument, the 50% is factual... I also used arum for HBO's take.

Put it this way, Bob Arum said that he lost $100K on the Crawford-Postol bout, which generated about 50K HBO PPV buys (at $49.99 each), where the total guaranteed fight purses of the main event was $2m, with the attendance at 7K (ticket prices at $304, $204, $104, and $54).

The Kovalev-Ward bout, which generated about slightly more than 160K HBO PPV buys (at $64.99 each), where the total guaranteed fight purses of the main event was $7m, with the attendance at 13.5K (ticket prices at $55.00 - $1,005.00).

So if you do the maths, it’s fairly easy to understand why I believe the Kovalev-Ward PPV event may have broken even.

Like I said before, I could be wrong, but there’s nothing wrong with submitting a moderately-informed "guesstimate".

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Lol, your guesstimate would be better if you realized over half of the ppv purchase money doesn't touch the promoter or the fighters. No worries, I know you like to pretend you're informed so I threw the dolt a bone.

[keithmoonhangover]

Lol, your guesstimate would be better if you realized over half of the ppv purchase money doesn't touch the promoter or the fighters. No worries, I know you like to pretend you're informed so I threw the dolt a bone.

But he's the Enlightened One.

[Enlightened-One]

Lol, your guesstimate would be better if you realized over half of the ppv purchase money doesn't touch the promoter or the fighters. No worries, I know you like to pretend you're informed so I threw the dolt a bone.

OK, I’ve just read that NY Sports claimed the Kovalev-Ward bout did $3.5m in gate receipts. Bob Arum stated that the Crawford-Postol fight achieved $700K.

So it seems that Top Rank only made a loss of $100K on the Crawford-Postol PPV event that generated about $3.2m in revenue ($2.5m PPV buys & $700K in gate receipts), where the total combined guaranteed main event purses was $2m.

The Kovalev-Ward bout generated at least $13.9m ($10.4m PPV buys & $3.5m gate receipts), where the total combined guaranteed main event purses was $7m.

You claimed your opinion was based on Bob Arum’s own words… and I’ve used those words verbatim to provide these figures.

Since you’ve claimed I’m a "dolt", do you think that my guess about the Kovalev-Ward PPV event at least breaking even is utterly ridiculous (based on the above numbers)?

[SaadOffTheDeck]

No, I just corrected your faulty math. That you're still using, that's why you're a dolt. The 50% to the providers is common knowledge to anyone who understands an inkling of the business side. I just used arum for HBO's cut. That's 58% of your 10.4 million to outside interests. Anywho, ive talked to the brick wall that is you far too long. Carry on in your ignorant bliss.