Television and boxing

[goose 5]

I'm sure we've all heard/read the argument that t.v. killed boxing; but, I'd like to read some of the board's opinions on the statement.

[oogiebe]

Free TV didn't kill boxing. Huge PPV costs and lack of free TV coverage contributed to it.

[Ambling Alp II]

It is true that free TV really hurt the small clubs in the 1950s. It was sort of like minor league baseball; why pay to see fights in person when you can see stars on TV for free?

By the end of the 1950s, TV rating for boxing went down as other programs became available on TV.

Boxing was still a popular sport in the 1960s and 1970s though. It gradually became less popular from the early 1980s to the late 1980s.
Not having boxing on free TV hurt the sport greatly. Too many fights were on PPV. A lot of people didn't subscribe to HBO or Showtime.
Even non-boxing fans knew who the heavyweight champ was.

[goose 5]

Even if t.v. led to a degraded product, I'd rather watch a lesser caliber of boxing on t.v. than listen to better fighters on the radio. Just how many bouts did the average fan get to attend in the 20's and 30's, for instance ?

[Onetimeonly]

Casino site fees killed boxing. HBO and Showtime with their huge contracts contributed but it was only a matter of time before fighters being paid above their worth stopped them trying to seek the best opposition.

It used to be, when Americans cared about the sport, you'd build guys regionally and the fans would follow them.

Cable TV in general, boxing was way bigger than college football when I was a kid. Maybe 2 college games on a huge day and the bowls were on but boxing was everywhere. Big fights were primetime on weekdays, casinos switched all that up.

[prewarboxing]

Even if t.v. led to a degraded product, I'd rather watch a lesser caliber of boxing on t.v. than listen to better fighters on the radio. Just how many bouts did the average fan get to attend in the 20's and 30's, for instance ?

In the 1920s and 1930s "average" fans (whatever they are) probably attended between 20 and 50 shows a year. There was far more boxing back then, no TV, and hardly any coverage on the radio. There were nearly 300 shows that year in just one hall in Newcastle, and about 500 shows within a 20 mile radius

Miles Templeton

[goose 5]

It would be interesting to know the yearly attendance at boxing matches in different states during the 20's and 30's. For me, it would be impossible to attend 20-50 shows a year if such a schedule were active today. I've missed a few televised cards over the last 40 plus years. I've spoken to people who didn't see a boxing match until t.v. came around but listened to fights on the radio for years prior to that.

[prewarboxing]

It would be interesting to know the yearly attendance at boxing matches in different states during the 20's and 30's. For me, it would be impossible to attend 20-50 shows a year if such a schedule were active today. I've missed a few televised cards over the last 40 plus years. I've spoken to people who didn't see a boxing match until t.v. came around but listened to fights on the radio for years prior to that.

Sorry goose, didn't realise you were from the States. In the UK, circa 1930, there were about 150 professional shows per week. I would say that some took place in front of about 300 to 500 people, some in front of 2,500 to 3,500 people, with the average being about 800 to 1000. So, accepting that many people went to more than one show, I would state that about 100,000 people in the UK regularly attended boxing tournaments. Far less than football (or, as you would say, Soccer) but still vastly more than do today.

These fans went to watch the boxing weekly, no matter who was on the card. They stayed for the whole event and properly appreciated the sport.

Today most people going to boxing events go to see one bout only, whether that be to watch their mate beat up an Eastern European journeyman on a small hall show, after which they retire to the bar, or at the really big events, the main event only. There just aren't the knowledgeable fans that there used to be I am afraid. So the term 'average fan' that you used in your original post is very much a moveable feast.

Stay safe and don't listen to Trump

Miles Templeton

[The Great John L]

It is true that free TV really hurt the small clubs in the 1950s. It was sort of like minor league baseball; why pay to see fights in person when you can see stars on TV for free?

By the end of the 1950s, TV rating for boxing went down as other programs became available on TV.

Boxing was still a popular sport in the 1960s and 1970s though. It gradually became less popular from the early 1980s to the late 1980s.
Not having boxing on free TV hurt the sport greatly. Too many fights were on PPV. A lot of people didn't subscribe to HBO or Showtime.
Even non-boxing fans knew who the heavyweight champ was.

No one can really say why boxing has dropped from the radar of most Americans, but anyone who knows anything about the sport recognizes how much it's actually declined. When my father first started taking me to fights in the 60's there were always at least 2 local cards in the area each week as well as a multitude of amateur events as well. I live in the Akron area and in the late 60's there were probably at least 7 or 8 established boxing gyms as well as other smaller struggling ones. There are virtually none now.

Alp, when I was a kid almost all of my friends not only knew who the HW champ was, but were also familiar with many of the top contenders. Most also knew other division champions as well. While we didn't discuss boxing as much as baseball or the Browns, it was frequently discussed, especially anytime there were important fights taking place.

Any sport lives and dies with small local events, otherwise there is no infrastructure for developing athletes.

[Ambling Alp II]

Too bad isn't it? You wonder if things could have been different.

[The Great John L]

Too bad isn't it? You wonder if things could have been different.

Probably not. My father told me that when he was young there were really only 3 sports where the average person could make a decent living and also provide potential wealth. If you were small you could be a jockey, otherwise you either pursued baseball or boxing. Post WW2 came the boom in other sports (football, basketball) so young men growing up could actually dream about careers in other sports.

So as televised fight cards slowly choked off attendance at local fight cards, and with it most of the thousands of local boxing gyms, the lure of other less dangerous sports drew away the potential talent. And now I would presume that the limited pool of potential boxers is also strained due to the option of MMA.

Unfortunately, times change and the decline in the popularity of boxing probably isn't changing any time soon.

[AntonioMartin]

PPV killed what was left of boxing's popularity..that and greedy promoters who failed to advertise the sport the way the WWE and the UFC have advertised theirs.

[Chuck1052]

Even if there wasn't any television after World War II, It is likely that professional boxing was going to have a tough time of it in the United States. Boxing was facing more competition from other sports after the war There were more baseball games being played at night, which meant that baseball became more of a direct competitor with boxing. In addition, sports such as football, basketball and ice hockey were very popular after the war.

Another factor was that there was a dramatic societal change in the U.S. after World War II. At the time, there was a booming economy with lots of good jobs and many more educational opportunities, resulting in many more Americans having middle class lifestyles. Professional boxing was far less popular among people in the middle class than in the working class.

Many of the boxing venues were located in American neighborhoods that were becoming more blighted after the war. A lot of Americans were moving to the suburbs from the neighborhoods with those boxing venues, especially if they had better jobs and more income. To be sure, there were fights that drew tremendous crowds and a huge amount of revenue in the U.S. during the 1950s. But the number of fight clubs and boxing shows declined dramatically in the country during the decade, something that was not remembered by many boxing fans who had fond memories of the sport during that time.

- Chuck Johnston

[Ambling Alp II]

Still amazing how the popularity has waned since the early 1980s.

Another factor that you don't hear much about is the low amount of cities that host the big fights. Imagine if the NFL or the NBA only had teams in three or four cities. Had there been major fights in Chicago, Houston, etc. during the 1990s and 2000s.

A lot boxing's problems stems from their not being a Commissioner of Boxing or something like that who thinks about the long run.

[margaret thatcher]

Yall are Muricans aren't you, the only place the sport exists right

[Bodyshot3]

Free-to-air boxing in the UK when I was growing up during the 1980s was great stuff.

It was also a massive career boost for the headline fighters.....they genuinely were household names and crucially their earning power via out of the ring activities was often seriously good and they did not need to roll onto the next fight.

Guys like McGuigan had well-paid newspaper columns, got bookings on the chat show circuit, got a tidy fee for handing over an award at some big corporate dinner and even the advertising business was interested.

And that all stemmed from the fact that pretty much anyone could watch them fight on Saturday night

My first boss - a fruity, old school PR man who knew I liked boxing - loved telling me (a no doubt exaggerated story) that it cost him £10,000 to get Bruno to come onto the stand at the old British Motor Show at Birmingham and Frank was back was on the M40 and heading home to London after an hour

Just as importantly the old free-to-air approach turned middle class kids like me into lifelong fans.
I got hooked on boxing (much to my parents bemusement) and would go onto see live fights and collect boxing mags.