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12/22/2003 Archived Entry: "The Television Situation in Boxing"
The Television Situation in Boxing
The Demise of Boxing on ESPN
Boxing on Network Television
Options for Programming on Cable
by Umar ben-Ivan Lee
When ESPN recently announced that it would no longer be subsidizing boxing many in the American boxing establishment panicked. After all ESPN had aired boxing at least one a week for over 30 years.An entire generation of boxing stars got their television starts on ESPN and built up a fan base on ESPN.
It had been the practice of ESPN to give promoters $50,000 per show and they would use this money to help pay purses, site fees, marketing and other related costs. Under the new ESPN policy promoters will have to line up sponsors to pay for the event and be self-sufficient. Responding to this CES Boxing of New England lined up sponsors and venues for events and was prepared to establish the foundation of a good year for Boxing on ESPN in 2004. The only problem is ESPN has not gotten back with them and as of yet has not even put the new policy on paper.
What does this mean? It means that ESPN is gradually getting out of boxing and that could be a potentially cat! astrophic blow to boxing in this country. After all if we go back to the 1980's boxing was on all three major networks (NBC, CBS and ABC) and boxing appeared weekly on ESPN, the USA Network, BET and a few other minor cable networks. With the eminent end to boxing on ESPN the only basic cable networks to air boxing on a regular basis will be Telefutura and Telemundo and both of those are Spanish language networks that are catering to a solidified fan base.
With boxing not on TV on a regular basic a young generation is growing up without seeing or knowing boxing and therefore the sport is losing an entire generation of not only fans, but of athletes who are choosing other sports over boxing. Older generations of boxing fans are rapidly losing touch with the sport because many cannot afford to purchase the premium cable channels (HBO and Showtime) and the Pay-Per-View events that many of their major fights are on.These fans are left to watch the fights they can afford which are u! sually mismatches on ESPN.
Many see hope in boxings return to network television. Beginning in May NBC will be airing five shows in a row and a few later on in the year in conjunction with Main Events Promotions.This is something that boxing desperately needs, exposure on free television. This will help to enlarge the fan base, get youngsters interested in becoming boxers, and reinvigorate the older base.However, Main Events will have an enormous burden to bear. These shows on NBC will represent boxing to many who do not even know who Bernard Hopkins or Zab Judah is. If they are turned off by these shows they may be turned off of boxing forever. Therefore Main Events must showcase its main talent in competitive bouts. This should not be a problem if Main Events chooses to do so, but will they choose to do the right thing?
If the Main Events Model is successful this may very well be the formula to bring boxing back to network television on a regular basis. The network! could work deals with five or six promoters who can put on five or six cards a year on the network. After all, NBC is a network with no NBA, NFL or MLB. If this does happen all the various promoters should have to adhere to quality standards and NBC should enforce those standards.
Outside of NBC and network television there are other intriguing possibilities for boxing on basic cable/satellite. AS News Corp., the parent company of the Fox Network, Fox Sports, Fox News, the Sky Network, etc. with recent acquisitions will shortly be the leading satellite provide in the United States and already has a massive international sports presence this becomes an interested possibility for boxing.
Fox currently airs occasional Goosen-Tudor shows from California , yet the potential for boxing on Fox is much greater than that. Being the massive company that it is Fox has the ability to do three things; air boxing on a regular basis on the various Fox Sports Networks on cable, put! major fights on network television and compete with HBO and Showtime for the big names and fights in boxing and third it can air major European, South African, and Australian fights that we would not normaly see in the US due to its international presence.
In addition to FOX another intriguing possibility is Spike-TV. This is the first network dedicated entirely to men. Already it airs hunting, outdoors sports, wrestling and different types of made-up sports. With a male audience and an inclination towards contact sports Spike TV would be ideal to air a boxing series that would showcase up and coming talent and take the place of what Tuesday and Friday Night Fights was doing on ESPN.
One positive element from ESPN that should not be abandoned however is the studio setting. The American public is largely ignorant of boxing and the segments on ESPN with Max Kellerman and Brian Kenny helped to educate fans on the sport and create interest for future events. A studio se! tting on NBC or Fox would be ideal to host interviews with major figures , hype future events and analyze recent events.
