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EXTENDING BOXING’S REACH
The US market remains the top target for boxing promoters, who are seeking
fans’ attention with an ever-wider array of media initiatives. Barry Wilner
reports on the tactics being used, and the new overseas markets targeted.
DEAL OF
THE MONTH
JAMES PICKLES
Editor, TV Sports Markets
NEVER THE TYPES to be shy about how and
where they seek money for their productions -
sometimes the more outlandish the source, the
better - US boxing promoters are mining new
areas - thinking outside the ring, if you will.
Young audiences, for whom boxing is now
seriously battling with mixed martial arts, are
being targeted with a barrage of new products
on traditional and new media. And promoters
are reaching far beyond American shores and
into China, a market that every forward-thinking
sports entrepreneur covets.
“Boxing has to reach a younger audience, a
new audience,” HBO Sports vice president Mark
Taffett says. “We need to connect them to the
athletes to move the sport forward.”
HBO has been doing this through its “24/7”
behind-the-scenes programmes broadcast in the
lead-up to major bouts. These fights tend to be the
easiest to sell to the public, even on pay-per-view,
but the idea that HBO can create new fight fans,
particularly amongst youngsters, through those
specials is an original one.
“HBO’s 24/7 draws new fans to the sport of
boxing in order to ensure boxing’s future,” Taffet
said, speaking about the broadcasts leading up
to US boxer Floyd Mayweather’s big victory in
September over Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez.
“The [Mayweather fights] are must-see TV that
have our fans glued to their television sets.
“We have made it so that wherever consumers
go, watch, listen, read, tweet, text, they are going
to be surrounded by Mayweather and Marquez.”
There was a pre-fight show televised by Fox
Sports Net, which is a stronghold for the viewing
demographic promoters seek: young male sports
fans. De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions,
Marquez’s promoter, helped things along by
releasing lots of video content for broadcast prior
to the fight.
Golden Boy also went back to a tried and
trusted broadcast method from the 1960s and
‘70s and showed the fight in nearly 200 cinema
theatres across the country. Theatres throughout
America showed trailers advertising the bout in
the weeks leading up to it.
The one million-plus pay-per-view buys
for Mayweather-Marquez suggests that the
promoters’ approach to the media, combining
traditional methods with new, definitely works.
But the US is no longer the only market the
promoters think they can make big money in.
Dino Duva and businessman Richard Davimos
have formed D&D Global, which has reached
agreement with the Chinese Boxing Federation
to train and market its amateur fighters.
“This is the chance to develop them right to
the pros,” Duva says. His company is the first
overseas player to do a broad, comprehensive
deal with the Chinese in boxing.
In addition to training Chinese boxers - many
already have spent time at camps in the States
- D&D Global gained exclusive rights to market
them. Several sponsors, including adidas, are
already on board.
“We’re in the process of working on TV deals
in China and globally,” Davimos says.
“The thing that’s interesting for me is the
money is there to commercialize, even while
they’re amateurs. We’re talking to sponsors that
would never go near boxing in the U.S.”
Adds Duva: “There are markets out there
where you can make more money than you can
in the United States.”
Juan Manuel Marquez fights Floyd Mayweather - Getty Images Sport
Mumbai-based agency Nimbus
Communications extended its deal with
the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) for a further four years, from
2010 to 2014. The rights, which cover
India’s home international matches
and domestic competitions, have
traditionally been the country’s most
important sports rights property.
What’s it worth
Nimbus is paying approximately Rs20
billion ($425 million) over the period, with
a flat rate of Rs312 million per match.
How does that compare
On a per match basis, Nimbus is paying
about four-per-cent less than what
it pays now. The decrease is largely
attributed to the changed economic
environment but also perhaps tacitly
acknowledges that the rights are no
longer the undisputed driver in the
market, given the spectacular growth
of Twenty20’s India Premier League
in the last two years. It is also worth
remembering that Nimbus’s winning offer
last time round was over $100 million
clear of the next highest bid.
What competition was there
The BCCI was restrained from offering the
rights on the open market by a very strong
renewal clause in the existing Nimbus deal
which gave the agency first right of refusal.
Were there any potential challengers
Rivals Sony and ESPN Star Sports were
interested in the BCCI rights, especially
Sony, which is looking at launching a
dedicated sports channel to fill a gap in
its present bouquet of channels. Winning
the BCCI rights, which it could combine
with its existing nine-year deal for the
IPL, would have given Sony an impressive
platform and at the same time landed a
crippling blow on one of its rivals.
What would have happened had Nimbus
lost
The BCCI rights are the backbone of
Nimbus’s Neo channel, which would have
seen its turnover plummet at least 80
per cent if it had lost the rights, raising
serious questions over its future. As it is,
the new extension contains a similarly
strong renewal option for a further four
years up until 2018, in effect guaranteeing
Neo’s future for almost a decade.
SportBusiness International • No.152 • 12.09 19