RATINGS WARS
Posted: 13 Feb 2018, 12:28
It's been a lukewarm topic (to call it hot would be something of an exaggeration) on boxing forums that I have joined in with in the past and one about which I would be interested to read the views of the Boxrec community.
On numerous occasions since BN launched, Warren has announced a card for a given Saturday and 'Exclusivity' Eddie has, not long after, scheduled a Sky show for the same date. It may have been the other way around on a few occasions but not nearly as often. Although boxing's profile in the UK is thankfully on the rise again, I still do not think it has reached the point at which such intensely hostile domestic promotional competition is in the best interests of the sport. It's nothing like the US pro wrestling Monday night wars of the mid-late 1990s, which had a massive fan base to compete for and actually enhanced the quality of the product to a level not seen before or since.
The upcoming shows on April 21 are an obvious case in point, one that I am struggling to understand the thinking behind from the perspective of Sky and 'Exclusivity' Eddie. They must have known that Khan was never going to take a fight against a significant name for his first contest in almost two years, since being flattened by Canelo, yet Amir's ring return was set for 21/4 even before the inevitably underwhelming announcement that Phil Lo Greco would occupy the opposite corner. So why put it up against a card on BT/BN that is being headlined by a contest between two bona fide global stars of the sport?
I suppose one of the key questions germane to the subject is how much do live TV numbers still matter in this day and age? Hayemaker and UKTV would appear to still attach a good degree of importance to them, hence this weekend's York Hall bill being scheduled for Friday evening so as not to clash with the ITV pay per view the following day.
Ultimately, to what extent are such card clashes either beneficial or damaging to the sport?
On numerous occasions since BN launched, Warren has announced a card for a given Saturday and 'Exclusivity' Eddie has, not long after, scheduled a Sky show for the same date. It may have been the other way around on a few occasions but not nearly as often. Although boxing's profile in the UK is thankfully on the rise again, I still do not think it has reached the point at which such intensely hostile domestic promotional competition is in the best interests of the sport. It's nothing like the US pro wrestling Monday night wars of the mid-late 1990s, which had a massive fan base to compete for and actually enhanced the quality of the product to a level not seen before or since.
The upcoming shows on April 21 are an obvious case in point, one that I am struggling to understand the thinking behind from the perspective of Sky and 'Exclusivity' Eddie. They must have known that Khan was never going to take a fight against a significant name for his first contest in almost two years, since being flattened by Canelo, yet Amir's ring return was set for 21/4 even before the inevitably underwhelming announcement that Phil Lo Greco would occupy the opposite corner. So why put it up against a card on BT/BN that is being headlined by a contest between two bona fide global stars of the sport?
I suppose one of the key questions germane to the subject is how much do live TV numbers still matter in this day and age? Hayemaker and UKTV would appear to still attach a good degree of importance to them, hence this weekend's York Hall bill being scheduled for Friday evening so as not to clash with the ITV pay per view the following day.
Ultimately, to what extent are such card clashes either beneficial or damaging to the sport?