Hearn: Sky need to Increase Rights Fees

[Ruthless-RKO]

Basically, every boxer wants market rates. Most are not making AJ money, so instead they want at least a mil per fight plus.

Sky’s contract with Matchroom won’t cover those kinda purses. Which is true. The only way Whyte-Parker would have been made was PPV. Sky only Folked out £2m for the purses. The rest was made up from buys.

Hearn has a lot of money to play with in the US through DAZN. So looks like from now on.. like Hearn said in the video, headliners for UK shows will be guys like Buatsi, Josh Kelly, Okolie, Edwards etc.

Obviously we have Whyte, Chisora, Liam Smith too.

Guys like Crolla, Brook, Khan, Callum Smith and a few other names i’ve missed, Will all want Dollars from now on.

Like Hearn said, there’s no PPV worthy fight for Callum in the UK.

What he said about Frank and his boxers being “co-promoted” by TR on ESPN, is basically the same thing.

Remember by the end of 2016, UK had 13 world champions. Boxing was booming here.. now it’s all about the money. Boxers want market value but they’re not marketable.

Thoughts on this?

[oogiebe]

What leverage does SKY have with DAZN/Hearn? I read an article where Sky implies that they are the forgotten step child.

[Boxerbeetle]

The only sport Sky has ever really cared about is Premier League football. Boxing is way way down on their priority list, other than when Joshua is fighting.

[fizzjambo]

Sky only have themselves to blame. They sacked off every other promoter to climb into bed with Hearn and now a better offer has come along and Hearn’s jumped on it. End result? Sky now have a shite product, are way down Hearns priority list and unsurprisingly there’s no one left to step into to Hearns shoes as Frank is tied up with BT and the rest have disappeared.

Tough shite for Sky. Once the subscribers figure out what’s going on the numbers will drop - the danger of a supply and demand market.

Suck it up Adam, you’ve been played

[Dirk Kelly]

As soon as his Sky contract is up I expect to see DAZN UK launching.

[Nightmare Roy]

Yeah unlucky Sky, how long is left on their deal together? Hopefully we will get DAZN sooner or later, I’ll happily pay $100 a year for it.

[spudder56]

Sky only have themselves to blame. They sacked off every other promoter to climb into bed with Hearn and now a better offer has come along and Hearn’s jumped on it. End result? Sky now have a shite product, are way down Hearns priority list and unsurprisingly there’s no one left to step into to Hearns shoes as Frank is tied up with BT and the rest have disappeared.

Tough shite for Sky. Once the subscribers figure out what’s going on the numbers will drop - the danger of a supply and demand market.

Suck it up Adam, you’ve been played

I always thought at the time that it was a bad move by sky when they got rid of Warren maloney Hennessy and Hatton and gave exclusivity to matchroom and Hearn has milked them to the maximum with his crap shows plus ppvs which apart from a couple or so have been absolute rip offs

[lillywhite14]

Sky only care about Joshua. Nobody else matters to them because nobody comes close to actual numbers which is what it’s all about.

Boxing is way down the list anyway, I’m sure they barely give a toss. Hopefully the exclusive Hearn deal is done soon and we get other promoters competing to get on the channel.

[Boxing Prospect]

Can Matchroom Sport survive without Sky? Boxing might have found a new home, but that's not all they have. Also... Is this why Matchroom never win purse bids?...

[Avitar]

The only reason sky even shows boxing as part of there subscription is to keep an interest in the sport to help with it's ppv numbers the

[ewenhay]

Basically, every boxer wants market rates. Most are not making AJ money, so instead they want at least a mil per fight plus.

Sky’s contract with Matchroom won’t cover those kinda purses. Which is true. The only way Whyte-Parker would have been made was PPV. Sky only Folked out £2m for the purses. The rest was made up from buys.

Hearn has a lot of money to play with in the US through DAZN. So looks like from now on.. like Hearn said in the video, headliners for UK shows will be guys like Buatsi, Josh Kelly, Okolie, Edwards etc.

Obviously we have Whyte, Chisora, Liam Smith too.

Guys like Crolla, Brook, Khan, Callum Smith and a few other names i’ve missed, Will all want Dollars from now on.

Like Hearn said, there’s no PPV worthy fight for Callum in the UK.

What he said about Frank and his boxers being “co-promoted” by TR on ESPN, is basically the same thing.

Remember by the end of 2016, UK had 13 world champions. Boxing was booming here.. now it’s all about the money. Boxers want market value but they’re not marketable.

Thoughts on this?

I don't usually defend sky but criticising them for forking out 2m for Whyte v Parker is a bit harsh imo. 2m for a non title fight is big money

[Ruthless-RKO]

I don't usually defend sky but criticising them for forking out 2m for Whyte v Parker is a bit harsh imo. 2m for a non title fight is big money

What i’m saying is, boxers want more than they’re worth. Like you said, it was a decent HW fight, but non-title.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Can Matchroom Sport survive without Sky? Boxing might have found a new home, but that's not all they have. Also... Is this why Matchroom never win purse bids?...

Matchroom Sport provide Sky with Darts too and I think a few others.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I normally think Adam chats beans.. but this was a good little interview from him.

[ewenhay]

I don't usually defend sky but criticising them for forking out 2m for Whyte v Parker is a bit harsh imo. 2m for a non title fight is big money

What i’m saying is, boxers want more than they’re worth. Like you said, it was a decent HW fight, but non-title.

Ah gotcha.

[maverick23]

Sky only have themselves to blame. They sacked off every other promoter to climb into bed with Hearn and now a better offer has come along and Hearn’s jumped on it. End result? Sky now have a shite product, are way down Hearns priority list and unsurprisingly there’s no one left to step into to Hearns shoes as Frank is tied up with BT and the rest have disappeared.

Tough shite for Sky. Once the subscribers figure out what’s going on the numbers will drop - the danger of a supply and demand market.

Suck it up Adam, you’ve been played

I always thought at the time that it was a bad move by sky when they got rid of Warren maloney Hennessy and Hatton and gave exclusivity to matchroom and Hearn has milked them to the maximum with his crap shows plus ppvs which apart from a couple or so have been absolute rip offs

I’ve said it before on here - we have rose tinted glasses when it comes to boxing on Sky Sports. For every Arthur vs Gomez or Moore vs Macklin we had a lot of poor shows. Ajose Olusegun vs Gary Reid for a Commonwealth title headlined a Sky show with an undercard that was woeful. Martin Power (who I have nothing against) headlined several Sky shows with again not much on the undercards.

We had Amir Khan vs Breidis Prescott on PPV with only one reasonable fight on the undercard.

Boxing in the U.K. has grown massively in the last 6 or so years and Sky Sports and Matchroom, with their fighters, have spearheaded that. They’ve sold out Wembley a couple of times with different fighters, have had loads of other stadium shows and have done, by most reports, massive numbers on PPV.

Clearly Sky (Adam Smith) aren’t too happy at the moment as several decent fighters, including Joshua, are going over to the US but I can almost guarantee they don’t regret their decision to go to a sole promoter.

[Boxing Prospect]

Can Matchroom Sport survive without Sky? Boxing might have found a new home, but that's not all they have. Also... Is this why Matchroom never win purse bids?...

Matchroom Sport provide Sky with Darts too and I think a few others.

That's what I'm thinking, Darts, fishing and snooker. BBC won't pay the same as Sky did for the rights. Always assumed it was a mutual relationship, but could imagine if Eddie messes up Sky on the boxing front, they'll drop the other stuff down the line. as there's no long a full package of quality sporting content.

[DMA1987]

I’ve said it before on here - we have rose tinted glasses when it comes to boxing on Sky Sports.

Thats for sure. Thinking back to the times when Hearn came it, boxing was on the decline for me.

It also wasn't an issue of fighters being paid enough, but being paid at all if I remember rightly.

Fighters might be getting paid/ want too much now, but that shows how far UK Boxing has come over the last 6/7/8 years IMO. Matchroom being SKY's sole promoter has done UK boxing the world of good. And also, when somebody raises the bar if forces everybody to raise the bar - a kick up the backside a good few needed.

Now we are at a point where, with the money boxers want, the current model might be unsustainable (barring almost everything being on PPV), which lends itself to a great subscription model like DAZN, or more investment from the current incumbent. Or just tell the boxers as a whole its becoming unsustainable

[whiskey]

I said this several years ago, that online streaming was going to rip Sky a new one unless they had a decent service of their own with more realistic pricing.

Sky are only a broker for movies and television shows. Most are available elsewhere much cheaper.

Only their sports was proprietary in-house made shows. And they’ve dropped the ball on everything but Football & F1

[Avitar]

Anyone think its currently value for boxing.. i mean if i had sky sports only for boxing the subscription would be an absolute ripper.. also i think the only reason that sky even show boxing as part of the subscription is to drum up exposure for there ppv shows.

[maverick23]

Anyone think its currently value for boxing.. i mean if i had sky sports only for boxing the subscription would be an absolute ripper.. also i think the only reason that sky even show boxing as part of the subscription is to drum up exposure for there ppv shows.

I think the start of the year has been disappointing with regards to U.K. shows but I personally am enjoying the US based DAZN shows.

If someone was paying for Skysports just for the boxing then I’d agree it’s not value for money but the majority of people who subscribe to Sky Sports do so for more than one sport.

Same with BT Sports. I think the boxing coverage on BT this year has been crap but I love the UFC so will keep paying for it.

[Coco]

I think Eddie will take boxing and his other sports over to DAZ.
This will leave a space at SKY, my prediction is a deal with MTK

[leejonesjnr]

Everyone in every profession wants more.
The market dictates value, so whilst occasionally a boxer will be fortunate and scoop up some good money on the crest of a wave that they never created, generally that is not the case.
Things like this often flow in peaks and troughs. The U.K. boxers currently being talked about as moving to US shows will return as soon as DAZN establishes itself properly and starts to build some American names. Callum Smith will be back at Echo Arena within 3 fights.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Anyone think its currently value for boxing.. i mean if i had sky sports only for boxing the subscription would be an absolute ripper.. also i think the only reason that sky even show boxing as part of the subscription is to drum up exposure for there ppv shows.

I think the start of the year has been disappointing with regards to U.K. shows but I personally am enjoying the US based DAZN shows.

If someone was paying for Skysports just for the boxing then I’d agree it’s not value for money but the majority of people who subscribe to Sky Sports do so for more than one sport.

Same with BT Sports. I think the boxing coverage on BT this year has been crap but I love the UFC so will keep paying for it.

Yeh Sky have the DAZN cards here but it’s PST midnight we don’t get to enjoy the prime time boxing anymore.

This last weekend was the first World title headliner we’ve had in a while. And it was a Flyweight bout. Edwards is a no name.. it was at the Copper Box. A venue mostly FW used.

[samwbr]

I think Eddie will take boxing and his other sports over to DAZ.
This will leave a space at SKY, my prediction is a deal with MTK

Not sure they will get into bed with a bunch of drug lords