The future of boxing on Sky Sports

[keithmoonhangover]

That’s it’s not renewed or that it’s turned into a fight by fight deal.

When I was a kid, I'd watch anything that Eurosport and ScreenSport would dollop up. Herbie Hide undercards aplenty, but back then it was a novelty to have so much sport available after years and years of terrestrial TV. Now there's a lot of competition from the other sports and I wonder how many people would watch a York Hall show on a Friday night, instead of a mid-table Championship game.

There’s too much sport available on tv/social media etc now. Too much choice. There’s no mystique to anything. Even going back 30 years it was exciting watching things like the World Cup or euros as it was a chance to see players you would never normally see. Now you can watch any game anywhere anytime on your phone. Same with boxing. European title fights in the 70’s were shown live on the BBC. How fckin crazy does that sound now. Even the old Friday fight nights on Sky seems an age ago. British and Comminwealth title fights every month…sigh getting all fckin nostalgic here ..

That was 30/40 years ago. I wonder how people will watch fights 30/40 years in the future. When we were watching Wednesday nights with Harry Carpenter, who'd have thunk that you could watch live fights from all over the world on a portable phone. Crazy. I wonder how long it is before we can watch holograms of live fights in our living room?

[Kilburn]

Presumably these holograms would be scaled down a bit size wise? Might need a bloody big living room otherwise.

[SeanBrennan]

I'm an old fart I just want to watch it on telly, I hope Sky stay in the sport too, I think Shalom is ok, definitely resilient putting up with all the hassle he gets

[black panther]

Mate worked for Sky for 15 years got made redundant last year.

Sky is going under .....so splashing out on Boxing day not make business sense anymore.

Sky has been reporting losses, with operating losses doubling to £224 million in 2023.

[Glass Joe]

Sky greed is unreal no wonder everyone got a firestick now.

[johninmanchester]

50 days left to end of June, which is when the contract supposedly runs to. That's what, five weeks?

Leaving it very late to announce this supposed renewal /new contract.

March 8th he told Boxing News that he hoped to announce something about the new deal "soon" and also "some big fights to announce".

Two months have passed since then.

If Sky don't renew them, where do they go from there?

[maverick23]

Still no news and Shalom has been quiet in the last few weeks too.

The rumours are that Sky have given 2 offers. A similar deal to what they have currently but on less money or a pay as you go deal depending on the quality of the show so they can only accept shows they think are good enough,

It would be a real shame if Sky came off boxing but I can’t see Boxxer getting a better deal elsewhere either.

[tony1234]

Still no news and Shalom has been quiet in the last few weeks too.

The rumours are that Sky have given 2 offers. A similar deal to what they have currently but on less money or a pay as you go deal depending on the quality of the show so they can only accept shows they think are good enough,

It would be a real shame if Sky came off boxing but I can’t see Boxxer getting a better deal elsewhere either.

What can Boxxer offer SKY that would be worth a similar deal ? Whittaker who is somewhat a busted flush and needs to comeback, Clarke on the comeback, no nationally known names and the women can't sell out a phone box.

If they offer less money they should be realistic as to what they offer, and what they would get elsewhere

[maverick23]

Still no news and Shalom has been quiet in the last few weeks too.

The rumours are that Sky have given 2 offers. A similar deal to what they have currently but on less money or a pay as you go deal depending on the quality of the show so they can only accept shows they think are good enough,

It would be a real shame if Sky came off boxing but I can’t see Boxxer getting a better deal elsewhere either.

What can Boxxer offer SKY that would be worth a similar deal ? Whittaker who is somewhat a busted flush and needs to comeback, Clarke on the comeback, no nationally known names and the women can't sell out a phone box.

If they offer less money they should be realistic as to what they offer, and what they would get elsewhere

They’ve got Eubank Jr who is now one of biggest stars in U.K. boxing and Whittaker probably does drive an audience.

The issue Boxxer will have is that guys like Whittaker, Buatsi, Clarke etc will be on pretty high minimums. They offered Terri Harper over £200k to fight Caroline Dubois on an undercard which is crazy to me.

So if Sky offer Boxxer less then can Boxxer make it work to be able to pay their headliners, get decent opponents and undercards that makes them money and delivers good viewing numbers? I’m not sure.

[Glass Joe]

Strange for harper to turn down that sort of money.

[maverick23]

Strange for harper to turn down that sort of money.

She wanted to fight at Doncaster’s ground which is happening this weekend.

I’m sure if she gets offers it again she’ll take it.

[mickey1975]

Strange for harper to turn down that sort of money.

I still find it hard to believe that was true. It doesn't add up.

[Floydendizer]

Looking forward to seeing Steffy back this week, he may be able to answer why Harper turned down that type of money ?

[maverick23]

Strange for harper to turn down that sort of money.

I still find it hard to believe that was true. It doesn't add up.

No one denied it though. Eddie was asked about it and referenced the Doncaster fight rather than Dubois being incorrect on the offer. If it was rubbish then Eddie wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to go after Shalom.

[Jimmy2025]

Knock knock knock

[Jimmy2025]

Reporting restrictions don’t really mean anything when you’ve been found guilty

Not true. Reporting restrictions are often put in place to prevent prejudice in subsequent trials. They aim to ensure that jury members in later trials are not influenced by information from earlier proceedings or media reports. This is achieved by postponing the publication of trial details until after a later trial, or by prohibiting certain information from being published at all.

[mickey1975]

Strange for harper to turn down that sort of money.

I still find it hard to believe that was true. It doesn't add up.

No one denied it though. Eddie was asked about it and referenced the Doncaster fight rather than Dubois being incorrect on the offer. If it was rubbish then Eddie wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to go after Shalom.

That's how I took it, too. I just don't see how it's possible.

[johninmanchester]

The rumours are that Sky have given 2 offers. A similar deal to what they have currently but on less money or a pay as you go deal depending on the quality of the show so they can only accept shows they think are good enough.

First one makes no sense to me.

If sky have been unhappy with the quality of what they've been served up thus far, they're surely not going to be happy with what comes from Boxxer-with-less-budget.

Although it does tie in with recent allegedly interview where he said something about boxxer potentially "having their dates cut in half".

Would end up a tiny stable (whittaker, Azim, Dubois, Clarke, Simpson basically)

Second option makes much more sense from Sky perspective, but will really test Boxxer ability to run tight budgets unless they can strike further deals elsewhere.

[KiwiRider]

In New Zealand Sky Sports haven't shown a single boxing card for over two years and that includes Sky Box Office PPV.
I do check regularly just in case it's worth signing up again.
But for now, stuff them

[maverick23]

The rumours are that Sky have given 2 offers. A similar deal to what they have currently but on less money or a pay as you go deal depending on the quality of the show so they can only accept shows they think are good enough.

First one makes no sense to me.

If sky have been unhappy with the quality of what they've been served up thus far, they're surely not going to be happy with what comes from Boxxer-with-less-budget.

Although it does tie in with recent allegedly interview where he said something about boxxer potentially "having their dates cut in half".

Would end up a tiny stable (whittaker, Azim, Dubois, Clarke, Simpson basically)

Second option makes much more sense from Sky perspective, but will really test Boxxer ability to run tight budgets unless they can strike further deals elsewhere.

Sky will be wanting to cut costs. They may try and push Boxxer to deliver the same volume of shows and fights but off a lower amount.

Boxxer already have a pretty small stable. The big thing for me was that they didn’t sign any of the recent GB Olympians. They only Ngamba from the refugee team who is good but doesn’t have that cache of representing GB.

Re: the second option, I think it’s better for the viewer but may mean we get a situation like PBC going to Prime and just get far fewer shows.

[maverick23]

In New Zealand Sky Sports haven't shown a single boxing card for over two years and that includes Sky Box Office PPV.
I do check regularly just in case it's worth signing up again.
But for now, stuff them

Do you watch any live boxing then?

[KiwiRider]

In New Zealand Sky Sports haven't shown a single boxing card for over two years and that includes Sky Box Office PPV.
I do check regularly just in case it's worth signing up again.
But for now, stuff them

Do you watch any live boxing then?

Not very much now unfortunately. Also DAZN only seems to show less than half the boxing down here that you lot get. That was very disappointing and had to quit that.
I'd say I watch only 20% of my boxing 'live' and the rest later on.
It's fine, I'm getting used to it. You can spend a fortune right now just to watch the main cards live.

[johninmanchester]

They may try and push Boxxer to deliver the same volume of shows and fights but off a lower amount.

Off a lower amount of money you mean?

Lower money but same number of shows would mean they'd essentially be staging small-hall shows on Sky.



There was an interview with Shalom last year actually where he talked about doing "untelevised events" to "let boxers develop without the pressure of being on Sky"

I remember watching that and thinking, you sound like a man laying the ground for a future where your budget is slashed and you've got way less tv dates

[maverick23]

They may try and push Boxxer to deliver the same volume of shows and fights but off a lower amount.

Off a lower amount of money you mean?

Lower money but same number of shows would mean they'd essentially be staging small-hall shows on Sky.



There was an interview with Shalom last year actually where he talked about doing "untelevised events" to "let boxers develop without the pressure of being on Sky"

I remember watching that and thinking, you sound like a man laying the ground for a future where your budget is slashed and you've got way less tv dates

It depends how much of a reduction they get.

They’re supposedly getting £8m a year currently. They give about 8 shows a year so call it £1m per show. If that’s reduced to say £750k per show then that should be more than enough to do 8 arena shows once added in to gate revenue and international rights fees.

It may mean though that Boxxer’s short term profit takes a hit and that they have to renegotiate fighters deals where they’re potentially being overpaid compared to their commercial worth.

[johninmanchester]

It depends how much of a reduction they get.

They’re supposedly getting £8m a year currently. They give about 8 shows a year so call it £1m per show. If that’s reduced to say £750k per show then that should be more than enough to do 8 arena shows once added in to gate revenue and international rights fees.

It may mean though that Boxxer’s short term profit takes a hit and that they have to renegotiate fighters deals where they’re potentially being overpaid compared to their commercial worth.

I thought they were supposed to deliver much more than 8 shows a year though? I may be wrong. I have seen various comments etc that they've "fucked the budget" - maybe that's why less volume of shows last couple of years?

If they need to negotiate fighter purses down... Yeah good luck with that. Azim, Whittaker will receive bigger offers from other promoters just to poach them. Couldn't see them taking pay cuts to stick around.

Are they generating much in international rights fees? I'd have thought NBC Peacock was the most valuable but that seems to have gone.

This is all completely idle speculation of course.. None of us have an insight into the boxxer contracts or business.

Sky contract expires in a few weeks though so won't be long until news starts coming out.