US PPV - why so expensive?

[Duran1970]

15000 seat arena in Vegas brings in more live gate than a soccer stadium.. GGG/Canelo in Vegas with the cost of tickets generates a higher live gate than any soccer stadium

[oogiebe]

Yes I think that ship has sailed. I wonder if the High PPV has helped to kill boxing in the US. Sheer speculation on my part of course, you guys would know far better than I do.

You didn't buy the PPV? I guess that was before you started to get interested, yes?

I remember years ago, a casual fan friend of mine hosted a party to watch the Ruddick/Tyson fight. I doubt 95% of those guys there can tell you the name of any top HW including the top three today. Boxing is killing itself. Between high PPV costs & lack of free-tv bouts, and poor matchmaking & promoting of prospects and fringe contenders, the US never developed the next generation of boxing fans. Geez, I watched Foreman/Frazier I on free tv live!

[Loki]

You say that but in the UK we are very used to seeing the price of stuff (electronics being a prime example) being the same number in the US and the UK say US$ 500 and UK£ 500 so bearing in mind the exchange rate that makes the UK half as expensive again as it is in the States.

I don't know what happened with Boxing PPV. For once we get the nice, dry, non-shitty end of the stick, it's a very refreshing change.

Because none of my friends or family members are boxing fans, it means I'm paying PPV purely for me to watch. It's different if you can get a bunch of mates and a crate of beers, but watching alone as I do, I even pick and choose over £20 UK PPV, as Jas80s says there is no way I would pay the equivalent of $75 for any fight or fightcard.

You need some new mates.

You lot satisfy all my boxing talk needs, except when there's a PPV, then I'm inclined to agree. Unfortunately hard core boxing fans don't grow on trees, I'd have to settle for casuals coming round and giving me the benefit of their expertise

LOL. Fortunately, most of mine are pretty sound when it comes to boxing. However, my brother is a different matter. He thinks CrossFit entitles him to expound his like warm knowledge of the sweet science.

[oogiebe]

15000 seat arena in Vegas brings in more live gate than a soccer stadium.. GGG/Canelo in Vegas with the cost of tickets generates a higher live gate than any soccer stadium

That's a tough example as it was the third highest live gate in boxing history at around $27 million. That would put as a comp, an average ticket price of $300.00 at 90,000 seat stadium.

[Duran1970]

That was a major fight but there are many many example of this being true..the cost of tickets for live events and PPVs proves this...$100-200 bucks would probably get ya a decent seat in a stadium...in Vegas that wouldn't even get ya in the door

[Loki]

US PPV - why so expensive?

Isn’t it a traditional price point range? The US market have nearly always paid quite expensive prices for PPV events for boxing, MMA and wrestling entertainment.

The American market is far more mature than the UK, in terms of experience of PPV’s, as I think they started in the 60’s with boxing, the WWE’s during the mid-80’s and the mid-90’s for the UFC.

So several generations of people from that region are accustomed to paying certain prices for the events they want to watch.

The UK market only first gained exposure to regular PPV’s until the mid-90’s and the prices have always been low in comparison. They can't suddenly increase the prices without adversely affecting sales, but these events are becoming increasingly expensive, exceeding the rate of inflation. British PPV prices will surely catch up with the US over time, but it might take a decade or so.

But, the US has circa 300m people compared to the UK whom have circa 70m. Surely those numbers don’t lie.

I get your point, but it’s not sensicle and bad business as if they were cheaper, more people would watch it overall.

[oogiebe]

That was a major fight but there are many many example of this being true..the cost of tickets for live events and PPVs proves this...$100-200 bucks would probably get ya a decent seat in a stadium...in Vegas that wouldn't even get ya in the door

I hear you. I've come to the conclusion that I'll never be able to afford to go see a really great live card in the USA due to the ridiculous ticket pricing. To pay thousands of dollars for a ringside seat and hundreds for nose bleed section is criminal. I can parlay that money into a plane ticket and ringside seats at Wembley! lol! It's no wonder PPV's are so expensive here. There just aren't enough boxing fans left to make it profitable to lower pricing and gain more viewership. Luckily (?) there are "B" level cards that are affordable in my area that I can take advantage of.

[Duran1970]

I agree...but the last few years there's been many bouts on free TV with the PBC on many networks unfortunately it doesn't seem to be gaining much momentum with the casuals... although ratings are decent so they say...but it certainly isn't what it used to be with ABC NBC CBS etc showing fights every weekend it seemed like..(late 70s early 80s)....I guess ppv did kill this great sport a little...I can live with the ODD ppv here and there as long it's a "superfight"...but the price is ridiculous,the undercards are crap,and the fights today don't live up to the hype.....

[oogiebe]

I agree...but the last few years there's been many bouts on free TV with the PBC on many networks unfortunately it doesn't seem to be gaining much momentum with the casuals... although ratings are decent so they say...but it certainly isn't what it used to be with ABC NBC CBS etc showing fights every weekend it seemed like..(late 70s early 80s)....I guess ppv did kill this great sport a little...I can live with the ODD ppv here and there as long it's a "superfight"...but the price is ridiculous,the undercards are crap,and the fights today don't live up to the hype.....

PPV and lack of free-tv. As you allude to, a proper mix would be an improvement. DAZN gives me some hope, but they need to advertise on network TV to try to lure folks back.

[jujigatame]

Seems like the streaming services are slowly putting an end to this. There are way less PPVs than there used to be each year.

Looks like a lot this year.

Really? Beside Pac/Broner and Garcia/Spence?

I think there was a time around 10-15 years ago when there'd be boxing PPVs just about every month. Remember when Barrera/Fana was a PPV? Or Rahman/Maskaev?

[Onetimeonly]

Seems like the streaming services are slowly putting an end to this. There are way less PPVs than there used to be each year.

Looks like a lot this year.

Really? Beside Pac/Broner and Garcia/Spence?

I think there was a time around 10-15 years ago when there'd be boxing PPVs just about every month. Remember when Barrera/Fana was a PPV? Or Rahman/Maskaev?

Definitely, I mentioned that. But wilder/fury 2, Thurman/PAC, Crawford/Khan, etc...ESPN & pbc are heading there.

[Best Coast]

Simple.

We Americans are perceived to be filthy rich, so they soak us.

As long as we continue to cough up these ludicrous PPV prices and the promoters/cable networks handsomely profit, there's little incentive to keep the pricetag reasonable.

I'm fortunate that I can easily drive across the international border and watch all these PPV fights for free at Mexican nightclubs.

But if I didn't have that option, I would carefully pick and choose what fights are must-see regardless of the cost, and which I can do without.

Watching them in a Mexican cantina is always a great option. I used to do that before it got so easy to get free streamlinks on the net!!

[dagilechia]

Simple.

We Americans are perceived to be filthy rich, so they soak us.

You say that but in the UK we are very used to seeing the price of stuff (electronics being a prime example) being the same number in the US and the UK say US$ 500 and UK£ 500 so bearing in mind the exchange rate that makes the UK half as expensive again as it is in the States.

I don't know what happened with Boxing PPV. For once we get the nice, dry, non-shitty end of the stick, it's a very refreshing change.

Because none of my friends or family members are boxing fans, it means I'm paying PPV purely for me to watch. It's different if you can get a bunch of mates and a crate of beers, but watching alone as I do, I even pick and choose over £20 UK PPV, as Jas80s says there is no way I would pay the equivalent of $75 for any fight or fightcard.

The £ is 1.32 against the Dollar. The lowest it’s been since the 80s. Fcuking Brexit.

I wouldn’t pay more than £50 for a fight. I normally pack all my mates round, so the beer and party accessories are on them. For me to consider paying over that, it would have to be three headline fights on one card and they just doesn’t happen.

Anyone got any other country PPV costs? What’s it like in Oceania, Canada, South America, Russia or the Far East? I’m curious now.

Poland: 40zł which is £8, 9€, $10

[Enlightened-One]

US PPV - why so expensive?

Isn’t it a traditional price point range? The US market have nearly always paid quite expensive prices for PPV events for boxing, MMA and wrestling entertainment.

The American market is far more mature than the UK, in terms of experience of PPV’s, as I think they started in the 60’s with boxing, the WWE’s during the mid-80’s and the mid-90’s for the UFC.

So several generations of people from that region are accustomed to paying certain prices for the events they want to watch.

The UK market only first gained exposure to regular PPV’s until the mid-90’s and the prices have always been low in comparison. They can't suddenly increase the prices without adversely affecting sales, but these events are becoming increasingly expensive, exceeding the rate of inflation. British PPV prices will surely catch up with the US over time, but it might take a decade or so.

But, the US has circa 300m people compared to the UK whom have circa 70m. Surely those numbers don’t lie.

I get your point, but it’s not sensicle and bad business as if they were cheaper, more people would watch it overall.

In most cases, cheaper prices usually results in greater turnover of products being sold. However, boxing is a niche sport in the US and perhaps its demand is inelastic in nature?

Perhaps it’s only a fixed set of hardcore boxing aficionados that are willing to pay to watch the sport, but they might be so enthusiastic about it that they’d pay anything?

Who knows? But my guess is that the TV network head honchos would be eager to reduce the price of their PPV’s if they thought it would definitely result in more money being generated and greater profitability.

Their market research might suggest otherwise though, meaning our assumptions about cheaper prices may not actually result in greater revenue. We have to assume that the people setting the prices for PPV events in the US aren’t utterly stupid, since they may have access to more information than we do.

For all I know, you might be right, but there has to be a valid commercial reason explaining why PPV prices are so high in the US.

I do have a mathematical theory explaining my guess as to the sort of logic used by the US TV networks to define the prices of their PPV events, but this will inevitably result in another lengthy post.

[greg]

..I'm not familiar with this market but isn't it just a market-driven price established according to demand and supply?

[Onetimeonly]

Nah, it's based off of fighter guarantees and them accepting upsides on the buys they're not likely to reach.

[dickbelden]

Isn’t it a traditional price point range? The US market have nearly always paid quite expensive prices for PPV events for boxing, MMA and wrestling entertainment.

The American market is far more mature than the UK, in terms of experience of PPV’s, as I think they started in the 60’s with boxing, the WWE’s during the mid-80’s and the mid-90’s for the UFC.

So several generations of people from that region are accustomed to paying certain prices for the events they want to watch.

The UK market only first gained exposure to regular PPV’s until the mid-90’s and the prices have always been low in comparison. They can't suddenly increase the prices without adversely affecting sales, but these events are becoming increasingly expensive, exceeding the rate of inflation. British PPV prices will surely catch up with the US over time, but it might take a decade or so.

But, the US has circa 300m people compared to the UK whom have circa 70m. Surely those numbers don’t lie.

I get your point, but it’s not sensicle and bad business as if they were cheaper, more people would watch it overall.

In most cases, cheaper prices usually results in greater turnover of products being sold. However, boxing is a niche sport in the US and perhaps its demand is inelastic in nature?

Perhaps it’s only a fixed set of hardcore boxing aficionados that are willing to pay to watch the sport, but they might be so enthusiastic about it that they’d pay anything?

Who knows? But my guess is that the TV network head honchos would be eager to reduce the price of their PPV’s if they thought it would definitely result in more money being generated and greater profitability.

Their market research might suggest otherwise though, meaning our assumptions about cheaper prices may not actually result in greater revenue. We have to assume that the people setting the prices for PPV events in the US aren’t utterly stupid, since they may have access to more information than we do.

For all I know, you might be right, but there has to be a valid commercial reason explaining why PPV prices are so high in the US.

I do have a mathematical theory explaining my guess as to the sort of logic used by the US TV networks to define the prices of their PPV events, but this will inevitably result in another lengthy post.

YES-boxing in the USA is a cult sport.-those cult members will pay big.-the biggest group in the cult = mexican americans.