Bob Arum is making plans to distribute Manny Pacquiao?s Nov. 5 return against titleholder Jessie Vargas himself through Top Rank?s pay-per-view arm instead of mainstream outlets such as HBO or Showtime, a process that he told RingTV.com ?will change the way that old pay-per-view operates.? Top Rank?s own in-house services would produce, distribute and promote the fight, he said.
?Just like most human beings, you go and accept the status quo,? Arum said in a phone interview. ?And so for years we?ve had this plan of having HBO distribute and it was convenient. Now, because of their position that we we?re too close to the Ward-Kovalev fight (on Nov. 19), we suddenly realized ? who the hell needs them??
Arum hopes to promote the Nov. 5 bout on conventional networks such as CBS, NBC and ABC with programming highlighting Pacquiao?s work in the Philippines Senate and other storylines that might otherwise have been carried on HBO?s famed 24/7 series, he said. Arum hopes to take advantage of the very unusual circumstance of Pacquiao serving as a senator while also preparing for a fight.
?In other words, it?s like a ?24/7? but I think it?s going to be much more innovative,? he said of the network promos. ?We?re going to do major pieces that have never been seen before. We?re going to take cameras right into the Senate, see them considering bills. I think it?s going to be fascinating.?
The feedback from the networks has been encouraging. ?They?re all very, very receptive to getting this kind of programming,? he said, which Top Rank will foot the bill for. If the Nov. 5 card is a success, Arum said he would be open to taking the same approach for Pacquiao?s future fights.
Arum also plans to hire what he described as a star-studded announcing team, which he says will rival the work of HBO?s Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman. ?I think the commentating team is going to blow everybody?s socks off,? Arum said. ?Because obviously if HBO was the distributor and HBO did the delay, then you eliminate ? as good as they are ? the Lampleys and Kellermans and etc. ? now we bring in a new team of people who excelled at other sports and people are going to be anxious to hear them.? Arum declined to reveal the talent other than to say, ?We?re negotiating with major names.?
Arum referenced HBO?s penchant for replaying an HBO PPV main event a week after it airs live, a situation he cited as a deterrent for ordering the PPV to begin with. ?Everybody and his mother knew that they could wait one week and see it for free on delay,? Arum said. ?That ain?t the case anymore.?
Arum pointed to recent departures at HBO PPV of experienced hands like Mark Taffet and Tammy Ross as another reason to bypass HBO?s PPV for this fight. ?They really brought something to the table,? Arum said of Ross and Taffet. ?Now, they?re down to one guy, who?s a good guy, Tony Walker, but we can replicate and improve and throw more resources into what Walker would do.?
Another incentive for Arum to do this is to avoid paying a distributor such as HBO a large fee, he said. ?The distributor charges 7 ? percent and actually enters into three contracts with Direct TV, Dish and with in-Demand,? commented Arum. ?We do those contracts ourselves. In other words, they negotiate them but we do them ourselves, so why would we pay 7 ? percent to anybody if we can get all of the publicity and the promotion from others by supplying it to networks that have a much bigger audience then say an HBO. Well, people say, ?Those HBO pieces like ?24/7? are very good, and they are. But you know who pays for them? I do.?
As someone who?s always looking for the best deal, Arum is open to altering his approach to the Nov. 5 fight if he gets a better offer. However, he seemed pretty committed to distributing the card through Top Rank. ?If somebody came in and wanted to be a distributor and wouldn?t charge us 7 1/2 percent, we might change,? he said. ?But right now, this looks like the most likely scenario.?
