FUTURE OF BOXING & WRESTLING VERY SIMULAR
San Francisco, CA-When it came to Pay Per View broadcasts, this weekend featured both a boxing show and one of professional wrestling. What I realized, that besides the wrestling presentation being more exciting than the Golden Boy boxing promotion, was that there are a number of similarities between Oscar De La Hoya’s company, and that of Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett’s TNA Wrestling.
ARUM IS MCMAHON & TNA IS GOLDEN BOY
The first similarity is that currently neither company is on top on their particular industry, although I would expect GBP to be numero uno within two years. In wrestling, Vince McMahon, having bought out WCW a few years ago, is the man whose firm makes more money annually than the NFL. Carter’s TNA is running a bad second to WWE in revenues, they’re actually losing money, but their product is superior so say fans.
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE TWO CURRENT KINGS
McMahon has used supplements and weight-training to obtain a Charles Atlas type of physique at the age of 60. Arum at 75, sans body building supplements, instead spends a lot of time in the Las Vegas sun. Both men have their sons, Arum with stepson Todd du Beof, and Shane McMahon, and they figure to take over after their dad’s walk away.
DE LA HOYA NEW “FACE” OF PROMOTING BOXING
Golden Boy has Oscar De La Hoya out front, but the man that really runs the show is CEO Richard Schaeffer. Reportedly possessing a Swiss banking background, Richard is the brain running Golden Boy Promotions. He has brought in people like Don Chargin, the hall of fame promoter with six decades of experience for advice. Underneath, Oscar has two lifelong friends in (matchmaker) Eric Gomez, and Raul Jaimes (director of operations) both of whom are capable executives.
ONE INKS PACQUIAO, THE OTHER KURT ANGLE
While Oscar has recently signed the premier free agent, Manny Pacquiao, the hottest fighter in the world, Carter’s TNA wrestling has done the same in inking Kurt Angle. The 1996 Olympic gold medallist, Angle, who at one point earlier this year while when he was with McMahon’s WWE, was the most popular wrestler in the business.
LOOKING AT THE FUTURE OF GOLDEN BOY & TNA
The future of TNA is questionable. The reason being Dixie Carter has for years let fellow stockholder and #1 heel Jeff Jarrett run the show. And with that kind of control, Jeff has kept himself on top for the majority of the company’s four years. But with Angle, another superstar in Samoa Joe, and a two-hour weekly prime time show coming to Spike TV, if the wrestling masses get hip to TNA, McMahon’s game of wrestling monopoly will be over.
OSCAR’S GBP APPEARS HEADED TOWARDS DYNASTY?
Having become the HBO “house” promoter, (says Cliff “24-Karat” Rold) Golden Boy Promotions appears destined to become numero uno. The mere fact that Oscar can open “any” door he stands in front of, this puts him in the enviable posit that other promoters can only dream about. If boxing ever returns to ABC, CBS, or NBC in any big way, it’ll probably be because Oscar De La Hoya’s involved.
DOES A PROMOTER REALLY WANT NETWORK TV?
The reason I ask that is De La Hoya has made money on the weakest of PPV broadcasts. Bob Arum, with the exception of Oleg Maskaev-Hasim Rahman, he too makes good money with almost every show he puts forth. What I’m trying to say is why would a promoter want to go to Network TV, when he can make millions by offering boxing to a niche audience? Time to put on your thinking cap readers. A so-so fight like Marco Antonio Barrera-Rocky Juarez II did 180,000 domestically homes on PPV.
I’LL DO THE CALCULATING FOR YOU FOLKS!
The promotion did 180,000 homes at $44.95, split 50-50 with HBO PPV, made the promoters $4,045,000. Now, boxing fans at the end of this paragraph, I’ll ask you a question that you can answer in the comments section. When you take into consideration the live gate “site” fee (say the Mandalay Bay paid $3 million), and the international sales involving a Mexican icon, I’d imagine that we’re talking at least $3 million worldwide. That’s an estimate gross before paying the fighters of $10,045,000. With purses estimated at $4.5 million, we’re guessing that $5,545,000 went to promoters.
