[Previous entry: "The Showdown Part 2 postponed"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Saturday's Results"]
12/06/2003 Archived Entry: "The Crap Chute"
The Crap Chute
with the Ol' Spit Bucket (a.k.a GorDoom/ a.k.a. Stephen Gordon)
The CBZ talked to ESPN's Max Kellerman and & Max ain't happy. Apparently the ratings for the Friday fights have plummeted. The site fee's that ESPN pays to the promoters came to about 3 mil this year & that's not including the cost of broadcasting the show.
I know from working in the music biz that just doing a remote from say a club/concert to a radio station is VERY expensive. TV costs are through the roof compared to radio. Also factor in the crews & both locations: studio/site, & all those tech crews it takes to make it happen - not to mention the cost of the broadcasters & sattelite relays - Let's just say it's a boat load of Benjamin's.
I was correct in my interpetation of ESPN's statement that sponsorship by the promoters means that they have to come up with the corporate sponsorship for the TV adds. Max agree's with me that that ain't gonna happen on any kind of regular basis.
It's all about the dead presidents & apparently boxing has turned into a financial sink hole for the network.& when you couple it with those bad ratings it's going to mean the diminishing of broadcasts until they eventually goes down the drain as they circle the sewer pipes.
This sucks big time!
Here's what I think is gonna happen: If you read between the lines of their statement ESPN is saying they are DONE with boxing. However they don't want to look like complete A-holes who ruined a sport, so they've left the door open for a possible 40-45 shows.
BUT ... They have set up an impossible roadblock. What they mean by promoter "sponsorship" is that the promoters have to scare up the companies that will pay to advertise between rounds. That simply isn't going to happen. What the hell do small time boxing promoters know about getting TV adds for a sports show?
Absolutely nothing ....
In other words ESPN wants to pay absolutely nothing to televise boxing but expects the promoters to come up with the revenue to buy blocks of commercial time. This is patently unfair. No other sport has to do this. Hell, they pay rights fees for billiards, poker & cheerleading contests for Christ's sake!
So in the end, boxing will be off weekly tv completely.. That's the death knell for the sport in the USA. How do you develop stars for HBO & PPV if nobody can see them?
In our culture if your a sport & not on TV you don't exist. For example we are all watching the NHL slowly strangle to death from lack of exposure & TV $$$ ...
Then it's going to be like the 70's up to 1976 when Sugar Ray & the Olympics brought weekly boxing back to tv - where it had been non-existent since the mid-60's. Back then the ONLY American world champs were heavies Frazier-Ali-Foreman. Every single other division had a non-American as champ & except for Ali TV boxing was functionally dead in the USA.
This ESPN sitch has a ripple effect. If no stars are developed they won't be able to move on to HBO. If there are no American stars, eventually even HBO will walk away from boxing. Think about it: All the major boxing stars today are either real long in the tooth-Lennox-Holy-Tyson. Or like Roy, Oscar & Tszyu will be gone in the next 2 years. Other than Hispanics in the lower divisions, who the hell is gonna replace them when they are gone with no outlet to develop young fighters into stars?
Boxing will basically die inthe USA. Why would a young athlete choose boxing if there is no way to move up & make $$$? Boxing will continue in Europe, Latin America Africa & Asia but it will be deader than a broke dicked dog in the good ol' USA..
To paraphrase Timbuk 2 -The future's so dark for American boxing it might as well wear a casket.
Replies: 3 Comments on this article
JD is right. In addition, ESPN almost never came under 2.5 hours. So when I did have to tape the shows the timer would go off at the prescribed time, but the bout would be in the 4th round of a 10 rounder. I would sometimes take 2 weeks to watch the tape and not know who won. The quality of the bouts has dropped lately and there's too much rambling between bouts with the studio hosts constantly (and annoyingly) interupting the ringside commentators. If we need such a forum, let each other talk!! No points are being made when 2 people are talking over each other. A refined broadcast, a consistant schedule and better bouts are best for TV boxing fans.
Posted by Larry Tornambe @ 12/09/2003 01:18 PM EST
The answer is NBC. NBC has given the sport a chance. With more fights scheduled for 2004, the interest is there. More big name promoters need to get involved, get their fighters on the air.
Posted by Tony Cuevas @ 12/07/2003 10:51 PM EST
Of course ratings are going to plummet when you televise your shows after 11:00 PM and after. ESPN boxing caters to the east coast, which why the ratings have been poor to horrendous. If you plan on showing a college football game, which ends after 10:30 or 11:00, you can't expect anyone to catch or want to wait around for a the main event after midnight. ESPN shouldn't even schedule boxing shows on those nights. That's why they've wasted so much money. It hasn't been a lack of fan interest. They've wasted money on shows that aren't being watched because everyone is already in bed or don't know when to set their VCRs. ESPN obviously hasn't really thought about what they've been doing and guys that have been running their programing, should be ashamed of themselves. It's a shame that they will be the death of one of the oldest and greatest of sports.
Posted by JDVEna@aol.com">JD Vena @ 12/06/2003 06:09 PM EST
