HBO PPV TO GO WELL OVER $200 MILLION
New York, NY-If the average boxing fan is being turned off, or dissuaded from purchasing a fight card on pay per view, then they as the consumer have the choice of buying it or not. Gary Radnich, the head of KRON TV 4’s sports team, and the top rated sports mid-morning talk show host in the San Francisco market on KNBR radio, told me when I joined him on the air last week that the move to pay per view has alienated him from boxing. “I’m not going to pay $50 bucks to see a fight that should be on basic Cable or regular TV,” said the UNLV alumni whose father was a pretty good heavyweight promoted by Don Chargin in the 1950’s.
BAD NEWS FOR GARY AND YOU FANS AS WELL!
In 1999, Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad went 12 very uneventful rounds. Afterwards, the Mandalay Bay Events Center had the stench of burned rubber, which could probably be attributed to Oscar’s burning holes in his boxing shoes by running the last four rounds. But with that fight breaking the “non-heavyweight” record for PPV revenues, that and a number of lesser events set an HBO record for pay per view revenue that barely broke $200 million. This year, with the plethora of PPV cards being offered, Home Box Office will set a new record that should top $250 million.
MELTZER SAYS THE SIGNS ARE INDEED OMINOUS
My favorite writer, Dave Meltzer of the www.WrestlingObserver.com had this to say in regards to HBO breaking a Pay Per View record this year. “There is a weakness in that these gates are being drawn with existing stars, many of whom won’t be around much longer, and new people to fill their shoes aren’t being created.”
MORE PPV CARDS COMING YOUR WAY IN 2006
The August PPV card pits Hasim Rahman vs. Oleg Maskaev. If Hasim didn’t have possession of the green WBC title belt, this fight would be an undercard bout somewhere on the Don King circuit. Marco Antonio Barrera-Rocky Juarez II is headed for a PPV crash and burn I think. The Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales III fight is interesting, if you’re into watching Erik get buried, AKA a fistic funeral!
BOXING PAY PER VIEW BOYCOTT PURE BULLSPIT!
Earlier this year, the boxing faithful, they proclaimed loud and hard that there were boycotting the Floyd Mayweather-Zab Judah fight. The reasons were plentiful, and the pontification ran wild on Internet message boards and the like. But at the end of the day, HBO Pay Per View, the promoters, and at least one of the fighters made bank! Although I might add this, I’ve been told many fight fans are now watching fights either live or delayed on the Internet.
350,000 OF YOU MIGHT BUY FIGHTING ROACHES
Although as “The TV Man” Lou Ciaccia, said in his Thursday column, HBO has put forth better shows, on both HBO Championship Boxing and Boxing After Dark, PPV brings in so much money that you can see why the folks at Time Warner aren’t eager to walk away from such. Add in the factor that about 350,000 of you would pay upwards of $50 to watch what was once an ESPN type of fight, well this assures the individuals promoting an event of making money. Pay Per View is here to stay!
