Comments Thread For: Top Rank, ESPN Announce Multi-Year Exclusive Deal

[IMDAZED]

Lol i tried telling those handful of morons that it wasnt a time buy. I heard it myself from espn employee.
But they are hard headed and for some reason want boxing as a whole to fail. But i know what they will start saying collectively. "They learned this off haymon" etc haha. Weirdos

It was a time buy. Investor dropped out. ESPN lifted them off the ground. Good for them, and us, although 16-18 fights is a bit on the low side.

[stiff_back]

How was bob arum,able to land an exclusive network deal before al haymon?

This was al haymons goal to buy oit timeslots on various networks as an audition to see if one network would offer him a home for a exclusive deal like ufc did with fox, its been years, and arum was able to land one with the quickness.

This deal might be (partially at least) a time buy.

[Steven Mccowan]

It was a time buy. Investor dropped out. ESPN lifted them off the ground. Good for them, and us, although 16-18 fights is a bit on the low side.

It was not and is not a time buy. And yes good for us. And 16-18 fights on free tv is alot better than we have had. I am happy it got done. But no time buy. Believe that. They had 3 fights already while putting contract in order. Everyone knew it was a done deal but in business you gotta dot your eyes and cross your t's as they say. Anyway its irrelevant to the story and irrelevant to us as boxing fans. The only reason i care at all is because this can be great for the only sport i love and have any interest in.

[Steven Mccowan]

This deal might be (partially at least) a time buy.

No its not time buy.

[killakali]

It was a time buy. Investor dropped out. ESPN lifted them off the ground. Good for them, and us, although 16-18 fights is a bit on the low side.

That's the minimum could be more. I just watched the press conference video. Think about it 18 shows as a minimum is 6 times for than fox gives pBc and pbc has to pay to show the fights

[JRB123]

Hopefully this gets ESPN some subscribers as they are losing viewers in droves.

Not just because people are cutting the cable cord, but because they don't have much content on the sports end and for coverage.

With all of the major sports having their own network, there is no need for sports fans to go to ESPN for highlights and analysis when they get it 24/7 on those networks. This opens the door for boxing to get some spots on ESPN and then have more exclusive coverage of the sport on it.

The takeaway is that Stephen A. is getting involved and he is one of the reasons why folks are dropping the network.

[Butch.McRae]

Great read for those interested in the business of bundling in boxing. If you read between the lines of the write up (particularly the uptick of 20 percent in viewership for FS1) one could deduct this Top Rank deal is a reaction to a looming FS1 deal with PBC. Seems like the conclusion of the UFC negotiations will determine the final number for PBC.



FS1 has been building viewership across its platform since the addition of Colin, Skip, PBC, and the Big3. They've had a good year in terms of growth.

Honestly after finally watching the station this week, I'm going to watch the channel more. I thought their coverage was better than ESPN's

[Deevel916]

THank you al Haymon for changing the game if it wasn't for you there would have been no boxing on hbo

HUH? I'm not sure if anyone told you, but boxing was on HBO/Showtime and on regular network television WAY before Haymon had anything to do with the sport.

Arum has been responsible for having boxing on network TV since the 70's.

[Butch.McRae]

It was not and is not a time buy. And yes good for us. And 16-18 fights on free tv is alot better than we have had. I am happy it got done. But no time buy. Believe that. They had 3 fights already while putting contract in order. Everyone knew it was a done deal but in business you gotta dot your eyes and cross your t's as they say. Anyway its irrelevant to the story and irrelevant to us as boxing fans. The only reason i care at all is because this can be great for the only sport i love and have any interest in.

Check this out...

If you read between the lines of the write up (see link below) (particularly the uptick of 20 percent in viewership for FS1) one could deduct this Top Rank deal is a reaction to a looming FS1 deal with PBC. Seems like the conclusion of the UFC negotiations will determine the final number for PBC.



FS1 has been building viewership across its platform since the addition of Colin, Skip, PBC, and the Big3. They've had a good year in terms of growth.

[Butch.McRae]

HUH? I'm not sure if anyone told you, but boxing was on HBO/Showtime and on regular network television WAY before Haymon had anything to do with the sport.

Arum has been responsible for having boxing on network TV since the 70's.

See my post, ESPN has been playing lots of defense. They are bleeding viewers and FS1 is growing across its platform. Don't get me wrong, ESPN is still a bigger network, but they definitely are trying to build right now in response to FS1.