ESPN+ is garbage

[SenorPipino]

Dan Rafael, during his internet boxing chats, always shills for how valuable and cheap the new app is.

But fans always tell him that they're tired of paying extra when it comes to boxing, and ESPN is simply exploiting viewers and icing connoisseurs.

The trouble with boxing is that it has problems attracting big name television sponsors.

A lot of companies are wary of linking their products to a corrupt blood sport.

[jujigatame]

It's not that big a deal. You can just treat it as a $5 PPV which is better than what we had 10 years ago when there was a $60 PPV every month. I just think they need to improve the service.

[turn2stone]

ya this is BS, the whole concept. Boxing fans already are paying enough through cable, showtime, hbo etc.
espn shows an old Crawford fight and the weigh-in like it's some sort of enticement to shell out more money. at least ppv's show up later on tv as replays. I haven't seen that yet with espn+. just another way to keep boxers from the masses. very short sighted garbage.

[ldlamb]

This is a lot of complaining over 5 dollars a month.

[SenorPipino]

This is a lot of complaining over 5 dollars a month.

True.

But boxing fans always seem to be the ones who have to shell out extra for our sport of choice. Every other sport is pretty much shown on free over the air television, or cheap basic cable. Even the championship matches.

How come we have to pay more for everything? Do promoters think that boxing fans are all made of money?

When does it stop? Why are we the ones who are treated as fools who will gladly open our wallets to watch any shlock of a matchup???

[jamamb]

its not really a lot of complaining, in reality typing these posts has probably only taken ppl minutes. revieweing a paid service is totally normal, especially to suggest things that need to be improved

[ldlamb]

This is a lot of complaining over 5 dollars a month.

True.

But boxing fans always seem to be the ones who have to shell out extra for our sport of choice. Every other sport is pretty much shown on free over the air television, or cheap basic cable. Even the championship matches.

How come we have to pay more for everything? Do promoters think that boxing fans are all made of money?

When does it stop? Why are we the ones who are treated as fools who will gladly open our wallets to watch any shlock of a matchup???

If ESPN thought boxing would get better ratings and more ad dollars than whatever else it shows on a Saturday night (above their cost for obtaining the rights of course). Clearly that hasn’t been the case.

[SenorPipino]

This is a lot of complaining over 5 dollars a month.

True.

But boxing fans always seem to be the ones who have to shell out extra for our sport of choice. Every other sport is pretty much shown on free over the air television, or cheap basic cable. Even the championship matches.

How come we have to pay more for everything? Do promoters think that boxing fans are all made of money?

When does it stop? Why are we the ones who are treated as fools who will gladly open our wallets to watch any shlock of a matchup???

If ESPN thought boxing would get better ratings and more ad dollars than whatever else it shows on a Saturday night (above their cost for obtaining the rights of course). Clearly that hasn’t been the case.

Well if there are so few people who want to watch boxing, it's not likely that they'll get an overwhelming response to buying their app, even at $5 a month.

If sports fans aren't that interested in watching it for free on the regular network, what will possibly persuade them to pony up $5 more to watch something they can live without?

And yes ESPN+ has other programming besides boxing, but the app seems to be primarily aimed at fight fans.

[ldlamb]

It has a lot of American soccer, Canadian football, some baseball and otherwise non televised golf and tennis and will probably have college football in the fall..

I’m not here to defend ESPNs business plan, I’m just saying that 5 dollars a month for all that plus fights that may well have been 40 dollar PPVs In the past isn’t all that much.

[armageto]

I'm just going to use the 7 day free trial right before the fight, then cancel after checking the service out for a week. Looking at the schedule, and Loma out the rest of this year, there isn't much boxing wise that would make me want to get the app at the moment, even for $5. The few times they will have a fighter or fight that I'm interested in, I don't mind paying the $5 to watch. Probably will be 4 fights a year anyhow.

[turn2stone]

Sure I'm whining over a small amount of money. Unfortunately I can't get the + service where I am. And if everyone jumps into this game (showtime +, pbc+)..well you get the idea. Its also a shame fewer people now get to see Crawford et al.

[marvelous marv]

I like that showtime has been streaming a lot of fights for free on youtube lately.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Apparently, they have around 200k subscribers

[jujigatame]

God this service is absolutely atrocious. I'm trying to renew my subscription (my 7-day free trial ran out) and every time I click "renew" it just takes me back to the homepage and I can't seem to do anything. When I click on "start 7-day free trial" it says I already had the free trial so I can't use it again. So I literally cannot find a way to give them my money.

How can such a huge company have such an amateurish web UX? UFC does it infinitely better and they're a fraction of ESPN's size.

[Mexi-Box]

Thank goodness I didn't waste my trial on Horn/Crawford. I wonder if the app will show Pacquiao/Matthysse. I'll do the trial for that fight.

[caldo2025]

Thank goodness I didn't waste my trial on Horn/Crawford. I wonder if the app will show Pacquiao/Matthysse. I'll do the trial for that fight.

Yes, thank God you saved that $4.99 man. That shiit stacks up. lol

[Mexi-Box]

Thank goodness I didn't waste my trial on Horn/Crawford. I wonder if the app will show Pacquiao/Matthysse. I'll do the trial for that fight.

Yes, thank God you saved that $4.99 man. That shiit stacks up. lol

You got destroyed so now you'll be stalking me. I have way too many fans.

[armageto]

The fight was one sided as I figured, most did. I liked how they showed the whole card though. Got some younger guys some air time.

The stream itself was solid. I had no issues with the quality. It was like watching TV. Watched a soccer match as well to get the most of the 7 day trial. Overall, for $5, it's not bad, assuming there is other content you like.

Dazn will be up and streaming in Sept or so. Not sure what Hearn is trying to charge with that. I'm not to worried about Showtime/HBO following suit. People already pay extra for them on top of cable. If they tried to charge extra for boxing, people would simply cancel their regular subscriptions to the channel, thus they would lose money. PBC doesn't even have an official channel, they just piggy back off cable channels for their show.

[caldo2025]

Thank goodness I didn't waste my trial on Horn/Crawford. I wonder if the app will show Pacquiao/Matthysse. I'll do the trial for that fight.

Yes, thank God you saved that $4.99 man. That shiit stacks up. lol

You got destroyed so now you'll be stalking me. I have way too many fans.

Lolol. You are starting to be funnier. I will give u that buddy. I’ll take credit for it. Lol