MMA Universe

Ring.tv is reporting that Top Rank Boxing and Spike TV is working on a weekly boxing program for the channel. Top Rank is seeking a better platform for its fighters as it currently is seen on Fox Sports.

The proposed show is slated for 36 shows beginning March 9th. Late last year, NBC Sports Network announced a quarterly boxing program for its network.

Via Bad Left Hook:

Most likely this would be a series similar to Top Rank Live, which currently airs on FSN and Fox Deportes, as I wouldn’t expect Spike to be going in deep on money to produce big fights. At its best, Top Rank Live produces some very good shows with lower-weight fighters in action bouts, and gives looks at prospects like Mercito Gesta or Diego Magdaleno.

Payout Perspective:

This is an interesting move for Spike as it will have the UFC library and boxing this year with Bellator coming up next year. We will see how many boxing fans are out there that will tune in to watch. More importantly, how many casual fans are out there. For Top Rank, its a good step forward for exposure for its fighters as boxing is shuffled around in the schedule (similar to Bellator) on Fox Sports in favor of regional sports.

The Sports Business Journal reports that Top Rank Boxing has signed AT&T as a sponsor to a six month deal that will include some of its marquee fights in 2012. The deal includes the anticipated “Super Fight” between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in May.

The details of the pact include Pacquiao’s May fight as well as two to three premium cable tv fights which AT&T need not choose until two weeks prior to the fight. Additionally, the two companies agreed to a list of fighters that AT&T would find acceptable to sponsor.

Financial terms of the sponsorship were not disclosed although its believed that the deal could be worth in excess of $1 million due to Pacquiao and the rise in value of sponsorships for his fights.

Sponsorship would include logo placement on the ring mat and broadcast area. According to the Sports Business Journal, “It would also include arena and local activation rights, to use video and images in advertising and promotional materials and fight tickets.”

Payout Perspective:

The sponsorship deal appears to hedge the potential for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight in 2012 although both camps still seem at an impasse. The deal boosts Top Rank’s sponsorship profile and allows AT&T the flexibility to pick and choose when it wants to involve its brand in a particular fight. Perhaps AT&T had the extra money as the deal was reported the same day it dropped its bid to purchase T-Mobile.

Boxing will be a new addition to NBC Sports programming in 2012. NBC Sports Network (now known as Versus until 2012) will debut NBC Sports Network Fight Night on Saturday night January 21, 2012 from Philadelphia.

The Fight Nights will be produced on a quarterly basis with fight nights in January, March, June and December in 2012.

Via NBC Sports Network press release:

NBC Sports Group will work with Main Events (Promotions) and Hall-of-Fame matchmaker J Russell Peltz on a multi-promoter strategy for NBC Sports Network Fight Night designed to produce the best quality fights. It is a strategy in which any promoter can participate to get their boxers involved in these programs.

“This is a unique approach to have multiple promoters competing to put fights on NBC Sports Network,” said Jon Miller, President, programming, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network. “That, coupled with the legendary matchmaker J Russell Peltz serving as our quality control expert, ensures that boxing fans will enjoy exciting and competitive matches.”

(H/t: Bad Left Hook and Boxing Insider)

Payout Perspective:

It was once rumored that the UFC would land with NBC/Versus. It looks like NBC Sports has chosen boxing to bolster its sports content for 2012. This will be interesting to see how it will compete with HBO, Showtime and ESPN offerings of boxing programming. The multi-promoter approach will be another interesting component of its Fight Nights. How much will NBC Sports Network be able to promote these fighters for a casual audience to tune in? Will NBC Sports invest programming to market the fighters prior to the Fight Nights? We will see how successful these programs will be for the NBC Sports Network and whether it will expand in the future.

Welcome to a special edition of Payout Perspective in which we cover Saturday night’s fight between Juan Manuel Marquez versus Manny Pacquiao held in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand.

Pacquiao wins decision over Marquez

Unlike his past several fights, Pacquiao was not Superman as we can safely say that Marquez is Pacquiao’s kryptonite. Despite the loss, Marquez is the only boxer that can arguably claim he can hang with Pacquiao in three fights. While the judges’ decisions may have betrayed him, Marquez made a good showing. We now see that for all of Pacquiao’s popularity and wins, the strategy of fighting in upper weight divisions while maintaining his speed worked. But when facing a good counterpuncher, it presents problems.

The silver lining in this is that Floyd Mayweather, likely an attention grab during the trilogy’s pre-fight hype, announced he wanted Pacquiao on May 5th. What he saw Saturday probably affirmed his decision to fight Pacquiao next year.

As of today, it seems that the posturing for the fight has begun. The LA Times reports that Bob Arum has stated that Pacquiao would rather have a 4th Marquez fight before fighting Mayweather. Frankly, I think every business owner on the Las Vegas strip turned its stomach with this news as its likely that a Mayweather-Pacquiao matchup would be a boon for businesses across the Las Vegas strip. It would also mean a $100 million payday for the fighters.

Payouts

Speaking of payouts, USA Today reports Pacquiao earned $22 million Saturday night plus a share of the PPV revenue which is estimated at $30 million. Marquez receives $5 million plus another $5 from the PPV revenue.

Attendance – UPDATED 11/15

UPDATE: Pacquiao vs Marquez: Attendance: 16,389; Tickets Sold: 15,498; Comps: 891; Live Gate: $11.648 Million. It’s 9th all time in Nevada

Attendance was16,368 according to a tweet of Dan Rafael of ESPN. As indicated in the NY Times, the Pacquiao fight was a sellout within two weeks although ticket prices averaged $1,000.

Promotion of the Fight

For the second time, Time Warner utilized its networks to promote its HBO PPVs. This time around Piers Morgan of CNN interviewed Manny Pacquiao. The network also ran HBO’s 24/7 series which aired its usual 4 week series up until fight night.

The Audience Network ran Pacquiao-Marquez I and II which were the best vehicles to promote this trilogy in my opinion.

Manny made his usual appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. This time he sang a duet with Kimmel. He also did his share of interviews for the fight including one on the Jim Rome Show. Although he’s a very nice guy, Pacquiao’s interviews are lost in translation as one can tell that he’s trying to be honest while trying to follow some media training. He comes off as a genuinely nice guy but he doesn’t really answer any questions.

The promotion of the fight included the traditional press tour. It also included this gem with Pacquiao interviewing Marquez.

Via Top Rank (H/t Bad Left Hook)

Sponsors

MGM Grand, AT&T, Smart and Tecate were primary sponsors.

As most big fights, Tecate offered its $25 rebate when purchasing Tecate beer. The rebate is offered only in certain areas.

Telecommunications companies must have seen this fight with the belief that many people from the Philippines and Mexico use its services to communicate with people in the United States and vice versa. Juan Manuel Marquez wore a Cablecom hat to the ring and Smart, a leading Philippines wireless services provider, was a primary sponsor.

Pacquiao’s fight night sponsors included Motolite, LBC, Cafe Puro, Uno, Ricoa, Phoenix Petroleums and a Nike-sponsored ring robe.

Its obvious that both fighters’ in-ring endorsements are based on the draw they receive from their countries. This rings true especially with Pacquiao as we see a lot of mainstream Filipino sponsors. Most of these sponsors (Motolite, Cafe Puro, Ricoa) have been with Pacquiao for a while.

Odds and ends

-What was Jalen Rose doing as an emcee to the weigh-ins?

-One of the better Face-Offs with Max Kellerman was played post-fight to hype the Cotto-Margarito fight. It was heated discussion and much animosity between the two. What HBO intended for these things. An interesting plug for the iPad during the Faceoff as well as Cotto used the iPad to show that Margarito may have had loaded wraps during their last fight. Really a great promo vehicle for the iPad as the photo was clear and Cotto easily used the feature to magnify the picture. Its indirect marketing at its best.

The NY Times reports on the economic impact Manny Pacquiao has on Las Vegas. Its a good read on how Pacquiao’s popularity has a trickle down economic affect on Vegas during fight weekend.

The third fight in the trilogy sold out within 2 weeks of tickets going on sale. Gross sales are expected at $11.8 million. The average ticket is more than 40 percent than that of the Mayweather-Ortiz fight. Of course, Ortiz was a relative no name so that may be one of the reasons for the disparity.

The Nevada Athletic Commission is also glad to see a Pacquiao fight.

Via NY Times:

The commission, (Keith) Kizer said, receives 6 percent of the gate, in addition to a $50,000 fee, good for $758,000, based on the projection. “One fight,” Kizer added, “basically covers our entire budget.”

The article presents some interesting details on how the Vegas travel industry has capitalized with different ethnic groups. For instance, the loyal Pacquiao fans brings high-end Asian gamblers to the Vegas tables. It also tries to book a Mexican fighter to fight during Cinquo de Mayo weekend.

Casinos made almost 29 percent more than usual when Pacquiao fought Shane Mosley this past spring. Pacquiao also has an impact on nongambling activities in Vegas where the average nongambling spending averaged $645.

More from the NYT:

By multiplying that (nongambling spending) average with the gate attendance, the visitors authority arrives at an “estimated nongaming economic impact” for each fight, usually in the range of $6 million to $12 million. When Pacquiao tangled with Erik Morales in November 2006 at the larger-capacity Thomas and Mack Center, the estimated nongambling economic impact was $12.9 million, the highest total in the past five years.

Payout Perspective:

It would be interesting to look at the Pacquiao affect compared to a UFC Vegas event. Of course, it was just this past January for UFC 125 where almost half the tickets were comped. Then again, Mayweather-Ortiz had its share of comps as well. Could the UFC ever have that much of an economic impact on Vegas with a megafight? Another question that arises is what will happen in the next couple years when Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather are retired and/or past their prime? Will Vegas look to the UFC as the premier “sport” event to center its tourism around or will we see a boxing superstar arise in the next couple years. Its definitely not a good sign for boxing when most of America does not know when the heavyweight champion is making title defenses. Or, where he is making them.

Certainly the nationalistic pride and international appeal of Manny Pacquiao has something to do with the boom in tourism during a fight week. Also, the fact Pacquiao only fights twice a year is another reason these events are heavily attended. For the UFC, we’re seeing a fight a month and the UFC has not established a true “must see” superstar; a fighter that people are willing to pay plane airfare, hotel and tickets to go see. In the coming years, we may see someone evolve into this for the UFC and it will be interesting see who it will be.

In prelude to the Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight, HBO will offer “Fight Day Now.” The show, which gets its take from NCAA Football’s GameDay on ESPN will be live from the lobby of the MGM Grand to offer hype for Saturday night’s fight.

The Sports Business Journal reports that “Fight Day Now” will air at 4 p.m. Saturday on the HBO Zone channel. The hour long live show is sandwiched between two episodes each of HBO’s 24/7 series. The live show and 24/7 reruns give the third fight in the Pacquiao-Marquez trilogy 6 hours of same day hype.

The live show hyping the Pacquiao fight hopes to garner the same buzz and fan frenzy as Saturday morning GameDays on ESPN.

Payout Perspective:

“Fight Day Now” will go directly against pre-UFC on Fox hype on Fuel TV so we’ll see which pre-show wins out. Honestly, if HBO ran Marquez-Pacquiao I and II prior to the PPV, it would be sufficient as in my opinion those fights (which are airing on the Audience Network) are the best vehicles of hype for this fight. The live show should capture the fan support for each fighter. Its an interesting programming move to sandwich the show between 24/7s. I think its a good move for those that love the 24/7 series. They’ll get the live show in between. However, not having the show on the main HBO channel might hurt viewership.

On another note, with most of the pre-fight hype shows, how much do they help with viewership. There’s only so much you can talk about with Pacquiao-Marquez. On the UFC side, one might argue that there is reason to have an extended pre-fight show considering the number of casual viewers that may give the UFC a try Saturday night. But, how much is too much?

Not only will the UFC be holding a big event Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao takes on Juan Manuel Marquez. The Toronto Star looks at the Manny Pacquiao brand and asks whether it has plateaued.

Earlier this year, Pacquiao and Top Rank consolidated his marketing team to focus on securing endorsements. Team Pacquiao and Top Rank   hired Lucia McKelvey as his deal agent. McKelvey previously represented Tiger Woods.

Since the realignment, Pacquiao has signed deals with HP and State Street Produce. Recently, he signed a $1 year, $1 million endorsement deal with Hennessy.

McKelvey touts Pacquiao as a likeable, global brand. He ranks 24th in BusinessWeek’s power rankings of most influential athletes but there is skepticism that the fighter may have reached the top of his marketing potential.

Via Star.com:

Pacquiao rose 51 spots in BusinessWeek’s power rankings over the previous year but analyst David Newman, who helped prepare the report, questions how much higher Pacquiao can climb.

“He’s really close to the top of his peak,” says Newman, VP of analytics at CSE, an Atlanta-based sports and entertainment marketing firm. “The life cycle of a boxer is not long.”

McKelvey, meanwhile, doesn’t see Pacquiao’s marketability leveling off, and estimates the fighter could earn up to $50 million outside the ring.

Bad Left Hook offers this:

…I would have to guess that his time as a high-level pitchman could be drawing to a close. The lack of a Mayweather fight (like it or not, that’s the bigger breakthrough that still hasn’t happened) and the fact that Manny’s planning to retire after 2013 are both ominous signs. Without boxing, he’ll still have some offers, but he’s probably not going to be Michael Jordan, endorsing Nike and Hanes forever.

Payout Perspective:

The article presents an interesting question on the Manny Pacquiao brand. It is also an example of what happens when an athlete does not have appropriate business representation. Pacquiao is getting endorsement deals now, but you have to wonder how much he could have earned. Pacquiao is definitely reaping the rewards of his success and a mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather could land bigger deals for Pacquiao.

ESPN’s Dan Rafael tweeted that the official PPV buys for September’s Mayweather-Ortiz fight at 1.25 million. The numbers were provided by co-promoters for the event, Golden Boy and Mayweather Promotions.

Via Ring TV:

Mayweather-Ortiz generated buys from 1.25 million homes with a value of $78,440,000 in pay-per-view revenue, according to statements released on Friday.

Mayweather has now appeared in the three biggest non-heavyweight pay-per-view events in the sport’s history, including Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya ($136,853,700), Mayweather vs. Ortiz ($78,440,000) and Mayweather vs. Sugar Shane Mosley ($78,330,000).

Bad Left Hook notes that the PPV revenue may be skewed considering the PPV price was $10-$15 higher than the norm: $69.95 (HD) and $64.95 (non-HD).

Payout Perspective:

The strong buy rate  and revenue shows that the event’s title, “Star Power,” was directed primarily to Floyd Mayweather. With Mayweather reaping the rewards of the event based on the unique payout from the fight, Mayweather likely cleared the estimated $40 million he would earn from the night.

Based on these numbers, I would argue that this would make a fight with Manny Pacquiao harder to make. Further, Mayweather would be in no rush to broker a fight with Pacquaio as he’s sitting on a $40 million payday. Both sides would want to take more than a 50-50 split and the fact Mayweather can point to his drawing power is evidence that he should claim more than Pacquiao. Then, there’s the fact that he would risk the chance of losing his undefeated record. Pacquiao would counter that his worldwide likeability would claim an international audience. Despite the skepticism, hopefully the sides can agree to a split and the fight will happen sooner than later.

The Nevada Athletic Commission last week announced the official gate and attendance for the Floyd Mayweather, Jr.-Victor Ortiz fight. The fight received a $9 million gate with 13,364 tickets sold which made it the 14th largest fight in Las Vegas history.

The Nevada Athletic Commission confirmed the numbers via email to MMA Payout.

Gate – $9,000,000

Tix sold – 13,364

Unsold – 3,052

Comps – 1,268

Payout Perspective:

Showtime’s Al Bernstein tweeted some reasons this fight might not have been a sellout: expensive tickets, Ortiz not a known name outside of hardcore boxing fans and the co-promoted fight at the Staples Center.

The Staples Center event, held in conjunction with Mayweather-Ortiz, was to enhance the SoCal audience by having people come watch live fights then watch Mayweather-Ortiz on the big screens at Staples. However, it could have harmed some of the live gate in Las Vegas if you assume that some fight fans would have taken the short flight or take the drive to Vegas. Still, 3,000 tickets unsold and over 1,200 comped seems like a big figure for tickets not purchased.

Despite these numbers, the PPV revenue could level this disparity although there are rumors that PPV sales may be weak.

Welcome to a special edition of Payout Perspective as we take a look back at Saturday’s fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas featuring Floyd Mayweather taking on Victor Ortiz.

Mayweather wins via controversial TKO

“Protect yourself at all times.” Oftentimes glossed over in instructions for MMA and boxing, Mayweather used this rule as support for his one-two combination to end the fight with Victor Ortiz. After a couple days, the consensus is that Ortiz was culpable for the outcome as much (if not more) than Mayweather and referee Joe Cortes.

All parties are at fault to a certain extent. Cortes is at fault for losing his ring. Dana White succinctly explained the issue in a couple tweets stating it was the ref’s fault. Ortiz forgot the “protect yourself at all times” rule in his daze to apologize. Mayweather took advantage of the rule. But still, he feigned a hug and then punched Ortiz. Of the three, Mayweather is the least culpable for the ending. Certainly Mayweather could have foreshadowed his attack by perhaps pushing Ortiz back and then attacking. But the two punch combo looked WWE-like if you couple Cortes head looking the other way.

Merchant vs. Mayweather

After the fight, Larry Merchant and Floyd Mayweather had another run-in which ended in Merchant putting himself over by stating that if he was 50 years younger he would fight him.  This was preceded by Mayweather telling Merchant what some people have had on their minds for years: that Merchant should be fired. Honestly, it was entertaining but not professional. The interview itself was not coherent and Merchant asked leading questions when it was not necessary. It was merely to evoke a response from Mayweather.  For Mayweather, he seemed to have a shorter fuse with Merchant (as the two have a history of not getting along)  than usual.

“Star Power”/HBO’s 24-7 Promotion

The fight theme, “Star Power” really  made no sense as Mayweather was the only star on the card. You could argue that Erik Morales and Canelo Alvarez are stars but that would be stretch. Morales is past his prime and Alvarez is a boxer that one day may be a star. Both had good wins but Mayweather was the star of the night.

This was the first time that Time Warner utilized its media muscle by including HBO’s 24/7 on CNN as well as having Victor Ortiz and Oscar de la Hoya on “Piers Morgan Tonight.” The fight was promoted throughout the Time Warner networks and online. In addition, Floyd Mayweather made a guest appearance on TBS’ Conan.

The HBO 24/7 series was made for Floyd Mayweather. Nothing against Manny Pacquiao, but Mayweather understands the drama as exemplified by the first episode confrontation with his father. The Victor Ortiz story helped keep interest in the series and its a shame that Ortiz’ antics erased the good PR he had from the show.

One of the things that is used time and again to promote these big fights is the face off between the two. This time it was HBO airing Mayweather and Ortiz talking with Max Kellerman as the moderator. Its hard to watch and I’d be interested to hear what others think of this format.  Does it sell a fight?

Sponsors

-DeWalt Tools, AT&T and Tecate were on the ring mat in Las Vegas.

-Notably, Erik Morales was sponsored by Under Armour.

-Tecate jumped on board in promoting the fight including a focus in the Southern California region. The promotion included a heavy investment of $800,000 in marketing and promotion of the event which included the event at the Staples Center. This was a calculated promotion that

Payouts, PPV and Tickets

-The NY Times had a report on the payout structure Floyd Mayweather had in place for the fight  which estimates that he would receive close to $40 million. In comparison, Mayweather Productions would pay Victor Ortiz $2.5 million. The Mayweather deal is interesting when looking at the risk-reward. While Mayweather used his own money for marketing the event, he’s receiving a healthy portion of the profits.

-Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports tweeted that initial reports of the PPV buys was 1.3-1.4 million which is below the initial hope of breaking the boxing PPV record of 2.4 million set by Mayweather-De La Hoya.

-While there was a push for the PPV, the MGM Grand was giving away tickets during fight week as the actual attendance was nowhere near a sellout. In comparison, Pacquiao-Marquez is a virtual sellout according to a tweet from ESPN’s Dan Rafael who spoke with Top Rank’s Todd DuBoef.

Odds and ends

-The price for the PPV rose $5 to $69.99. Its likely to be the same price point for Pacquiao-Marquez III. How much higher will it go for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight?

-Mario Solis did an admirable job of interviewing and translating at the same time when he interviewed Gomez and Alvarez post-fight.

-Best quote of the HBO 24/7 occurred in the first 10 minutes of the first episode. Regarding Mayweather going into his training camp, “…any impact the hiatus (15 months) will have on his skills will soon be determined, the swagger meanwhile remains untouched.”

-50 Cent, Ray J and Mr. Chop (from the reality series “King of Cars”) made cameos in the 24/7 series as friends of Mayweather.

The New York Times reports on the payout Floyd Mayweather is set to receive from his fight against Victor Ortiz Saturday. With all said and done, Mayweather could be paid $40 million.

In addition to his reported $25 million payout for fighting Victor Ortiz, Mayweather will receive a portion of the gate, concessions, souvenirs and PPV revenue.

Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions explained the structure to the NY Times.

Via NY Times:

To explain the business model, Schaeffer starts with a pie. A little more than half goes to the distributors (Time Warner, DirecTV, etc.). The balance goes to the network, HBO or Showtime, which takes its distribution fees and hands the rest to the promoters.
In this case, Golden Boy has one contract with HBO and another with Mayweather Promotions. But the money, less what distributors and networks take, is under Mayweather’s control; normally the promoter would control it.

In addition, there is the PPV revenue which Schaeffer includes other revenue streams from that:

Those streams include foreign sales for a fight broadcast in 168 territories; closed-circuit revenues (in 2,000 or so bars and restaurants nationwide, in theaters and in rooms at Las Vegas casinos); site revenue (ticket sales, merchandise); and sponsorships.

Its an unprecedented payment structure that rationalizes the opulence Mayweather flaunts.  But for the spoils, there is the risk as Mayweather, or Mayweather Promotions, must put up $10 million in expenses to market the fight.

Payout Perspective:

This is an intriguing structure for payment. It does involve some risk as the astronomical dollar figures would only come at the back end of the fight. Meaning, Mayweather is not guaranteed the reported fight purse until the final numbers are determined. Still, it shows that despite his bombastic persona, Mayweather is a shrewd business person.

Its amazing to see how much money and control Mayweather has over his own fights. It shows how different boxing and MMA is with respect to business model. Even though certain fighters receive a portion of the PPV revenue and/or gate, its not as much as Mayweather will receive for his fights.

The Sports Business Journal has a report on the Time Warner synergy in promoting the Mayweather-Ortiz fight set to go this Saturday. This was the first time that HBO received help from its other outlets to promote a PPV fight.

Notably, CNN ran HBO’s 24/7 series over its network as well as having Victor Ortiz and Oscar de la Hoya on “Piers Morgan Tonight.” Promotion of the fight was run during Anderson Cooper’s show on CNN and on TBS during its airing of Major League Baseball. More promos were shown online at SI.com, Time.com, CNNMoney.com and Forbes.com. Mayweather also appeared on TBS’ “Conan” on Monday.

HBO will also bulk up its boxing promotion by adding “24/7 Overtime Live” after the finale of the 24/7 series Friday. It will also include a 6 hour block of boxing as well as 24/7 reruns prior to the PPV Saturday.

In addition, the Audience Network (formerly the 101) on DirecTV has been playing reruns of Mayweather-Mosley and Ortiz-Berto.

HBO aspires to break the sports PPV record set by Mayweather-de la Hoya which did 2.4 million PPV buys.

Payout Perspective:

The article is an interesting look at what will likely be the new model for promotion of a big boxing PPV.  I’ve noticed that on DirecTV the PPV price for this fight has gone up $5 to $69.99 (for HD). The move was definitely fostered by Showtime taking Pacquiao-Mosley away from the HBO franchise this past spring. Not sure how the synergy is adding to the PPV buys but if you were to look at the box office, the extra promotion is not helping attendance as Bad Left Hook reports (via Dan Rafael) that the fight is far from a sell out as the MGM Grand is calling its VIPs to take tickets. Its unlikely that the PPV record will be threatened with this fight. However, the cross promotion of the fight across the Time Warner family is something we should see in the future.

Boxing promoter Bob Arum is not concerned about competition from the UFC on November 12th when his fighter, Manny Pacquiao fights Juan Manuel Marquez. Arum told ESPN that less than 5% of the UFC audience crosses over and that he’d be more concerned with competition if Fox aired a movie opposite the fights.

Arum believed that the UFC’s debut on Fox was no accident although Nov. 12th has historical significance for the UFC as it is the anniversary of UFC 1. White, a Pacquiao fan, acknowledged the competing events that night at the UFC-Fox press conference. It appears that the UFC on Fox debut will not interfere with the actual Pacquiao-Marquez main event.

Of course, Dana White fired back at Arum as only White can. He told Yahoo! Sports:

You had the ability, Bob Arum, to make boxing great. But the problem was, you were greedy. You’re a greedy pig, just like all the other guys who were involved in boxing. All you ever did was try to rip money out of it. You never invested a dime into the sport of boxing to make it great, to make it last, to create a future for boxing.

(H/t: Bad Left Hook)

Payout Perspective:

Arum’s comments about the competition from the UFC is part bluster and part ignorance. There is an obvious overlap in followers of the two sports. Arum’s dismissal of the UFC’ competition shows a level of disdain he has for MMA and although he does not admit it, a competitor for fan dollars. Perhaps Arum simply does not understand the sport of MMA or feels it is really not a competitor, but taking shots at the UFC is a definite sign that he is taking notice. Usually White is the one with the first verbal volley, but his response was biting and somewhat true.

Another issue here is the November 12th date. Did the UFC set the date on the same night as Pacquiao-Marquez III on purpose? Is the UFC trying to make a splash on network tv and steal the headlines while making a statement about the sport of MMA versus boxing? Or, was it pure coincidence?

ESPN reports that CNN will air replays of HBO’s 24/7 series for the upcoming Mayweather-Ortiz fight. The first installment of the four-part series leading up to the September 17th fight begins August 27th.

HBO’s parent company, Time Warner, is bringing in another of its networks to increase the exposure and reach of the series to promote the bout. CNN’s reairing of the series will be the first time that Time Warner has used another of its networks in this way to promote one of HBO’s fights.

Via ESPN:

“This is a proud day for the sport of boxing,” HBO PPV chief Mark Taffet told ESPN.com. “We are delighted to see those CNN letters associated with HBO Sports programming. It is the first of a number of exciting new initiatives across HBO and various Time Warner properties which will be unveiled in the coming weeks. The exposure of HBO’s ’24/7′ and boxing to the quality and breadth of CNN’s distribution base is simply outstanding.”

Additionally, ESPN reports that the Mayweather-Ortiz fight will be shown in movie theatres:

Mayweather-Ortiz, along with the rest of the Sept. 17 pay-per-view telecast, will be shown in HD in more than 380 movie theaters across the country under a deal between Golden Boy Promotions and NCM Fathom. The suggested retail price for tickets is $25, which is less than half of the price of the HBO PPV broadcast.

Payout Perspective:

As ESPN reports, CNN will be used in a similar way to promote Pacquiao-Marquez III in November. Its interesting to note the direction of CNN as it was once solely known for its commitment to the news. I am not saying it is no longer committed to the news, but it seems like it is competing more with other news networks. The 24/7 CNN replays should help promote the fight but it will be interesting to know if it would actual equate to PPV buys. The move to increase exposure does not seem to be targeted but more of a blanket promotion hoping to reach some casual fans. The CNN replays of the Mayweather-Ortiz fight should help gage the success of the replays for Pacquiao-Marquez III.

The Sports Business Journal reports on Tecate’s promotional plans for September 17th’s fight between Floyd Mayweather, Jr and Victor Ortiz which includes a big event in Southern California.

Tecate will be taking advantage of the fact that the fight is a day removed from Mexican Independence Day, September 16th.  The fight takes place on Saturday, September 17th. In addition to the fight in Vegas, Golden Boy Promotions will promote a fight involving young up and comer Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at the Staples Center the same day as Mayweather-Ortiz. Fans attending the fight at the Staples Center would have a chance to watch the Las Vegas fight and fans attending Mayweather-Ortiz would be able to watch the Alvarez fight. Additionally, a music festival featuring two well-known Mexican acts will perform at Staples Center.

HBO has committed to having a broadcast crew at the Alvarez fight in addition to the crew at the Mayweather-Ortiz fight. The PPV buyers would receive fights from both locations.

In addition to its usual national promotional campaign for big fights, Tecate will launch a huge promotional campaign in Southern California in support of the Staples Center event. For the marketing push, Tecate will spend more than $800,000 in radio, TV and outdoor advertising in Southern California alone. It will also offer rebates for the Staples Center event similar to the rebates it has offered for past big fight PPVs. The rebates will be placed at promotional displays in 10,000 grocery and liquor stores across the Southland.

Payout Perspective:

Tecate is a huge backer of boxing and extending its marketing reach for this fight seemed natural considering the appeal of Victor Ortiz, the return of Floyd Mayweather and the fight coinciding with the Mexican Independence celebration. The demographic in the Los Angeles area made sense for Tecate to collaborate with  AEG (the owner of the Staples Center), HBO and Golden Boy in producing an event in the area. The big investment in Southern California is a calculated marketing strategy considering the fact that Tecate generates 35% of its US business in Southern California (according to the SBJ article). With this big marketing push, it will be interesting to see the numbers in attendance at the Staples Center to watch Alvarez and then Ortiz.

Bad Left Hook reports that HBO has won the battle for distribution rights of Pacquiao-Marquez III. Time Warner, HBO’s parent company, will be heavily involvied in the promation of the November 12th fight.

Via Bad Left Hook:

As noted before, it appears that the greatest impact that Ken Hershman and Showtime made by “stealing” Manny’s last fight is that they’ve poked a lazy giant enough that it’s finally waking up. Pacquiao’s single fight with Showtime has been the biggest catalyst for change at HBO Sports.

I’m sure the folks at Showtime are disappointed that their relationship with Manny Pacquiao has turned into more of a fruitful flirtation than anything, but for boxing fans in general, a stronger, more aggressive HBO is good for all of us, and Showtime having a stronger presence in boxing made that happen.

More details from Boxingscene.com as it spoke with Bob Arum on the proposed promotion (via BLH):

Promotion on TBS, which could mean that Pacquiao will be on Conan and/or Lopez Tonight. They talked up his not appearing on Letterman and still preferring Jimmy Kimmel last time out, but there’s really no reason he can’t do those shows and Kimmel, since it’s nothing to do with network TV.

Promotion on TNT, which will include Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller. Boy, I can’t wait for Miller’s awkward forcing of personality. (I grew up a huge Reggie Miller and Pacers fan, but he is far from a natural commentator.)

Promotion on CNN, including Arum and Pacquiao on Piers Morgan’s show.

Repeats of HBO’s “24/7″ on CNN, which is a pretty big deal, but still seems weird to me for now.

Payout Perspective:

Although this is just the proposed promotion behind the fight, it definitely shows that HBO learned from its misstep when it lost the Pacquiao-Mosley fight to Showtime. It also showed HBO that it had to bring in parent company Time Warner to utilize its host of channels to promote the fight.

Certainly, the expulsion of Ross Greenberg from the head of HBO Sports was due in part to the loss of Pacquiao-Mosley despite denials that it had nothing to do with it. The loss of the last fight ignited the fire of HBO that it no longer had a hold over the big fights. As BHL points out, HBO’s offer to Bob Arum shows that there is a legitimate competition between HBO and Showtime over boxing. This is a good thing for boxing.

Boxingscene.com is reporting that HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg is leaving and an announcement is expected Monday. Greenburg’s departure is in large part to the company losing Manny Pacquiao to Showtime this year.

Although Greenburg downplayed the loss of Pacquiao, Bob Arum’s top draw on Showtime was a huge defeat for HBO Boxing despite a slight increase in ratings this year. With negotiations for Pacquiao’s next fight still up in the air between HBO and Showtime, both sides are making strong pitches to land the fight. The stakes for the fight are even higher with speculation that the network awarded the Pacquiao fight will also get the Margarito-Cotto rematch set for December.

From Bad Left Hook:

Adding Cotto vs Margarito to the Pacquaio vs Marquez deal — which is essentially what’s going on here — might make this a bit more of a race. Showtime may be able to come up with something bigger for Cotto vs Margarito than HBO can, which could help even out what is reported to be a monster offer for Pacquiao vs Marquez from HBO.

From an MMA perspective, Greenburg stepping down is a step in the right direction for MMA as it was known that Greenburg was not fond of MMA.

Payout Perspective:

The change at the top of the sports department at HBO is interesting considering the successful year it is having and the fact that the network is in competitive negotiations with Showtime to get two of the biggest fights of this year on its network. For the UFC, it can only hope that an executive open to MMA is placed at the head of HBO. With the departure of Greenburg, HBO could be another viable network for the UFC to jump to next year if a deal with Spike TV does not come through.

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Bad Left Hook reports on the bidding war taking place to air the November 12th Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight. Pacquiao’s legal counsel is requesting that Pacquiao have a say in choosing the network.

HBO has made a proposal to Bob Arum and Top Rank which Arum says is a blockbuster. Arum will now field Showtime’s proposal for the fight.

According to Bad Left Hook, HBO will win the battle:

HBO is rolling out the red carpet for the Mayweather vs Ortiz fight on September 17, and have the available money and resources to lock down the other “big event” fight this fall, which is of course the Pacquiao fight. HBO was stung by losing Pacquiao’s last fight to Showtime earlier this year, a move that stunned most in and around boxing, as Showtime had not put on a major PPV boxing event in years. The experiment was a success, but in the end it could simply result in HBO upping the ante and knocking Showtime back down a peg.

Payout Perspective:

It will be interesting who will win the bidding war. Bad Left Hook speculates that the bidding war could see Showtime throwing in a network TV fight on CBS in the future. HBO will be using all of the resources of Time Warner to promote the fight if it lands it. Arum estimated that the proposals would be around $15 million. While Pacquiao’s counsel has requested to have a say in the negotiations, its unlikely that Pacquiao’s input will block any potential deal.

Bad Left Hook reports on the promised promotional push for the September Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight. This will be Mayweather’s return to the ring after over a year away.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer promises a huge push promoting the return of Mayweather. The fight will be carried on HBO PPV.

Via Bad Left Hook (courtesy of Boxing Scene):

In the coming weeks, there are going to be a lot of these promotional elements in play that are going to be announced. The promotion is going to be running from pretty much now until the night of the fight. …. You’re going to have announcements of different promotional tools being used, many of them new to the sport of boxing. It’s going to be interesting for fight fans, sports fans and the general public to really be part of that experience going into the fight.

Golden Boy hopes that HBO and Time Warner will go all out in promoting the September bout. It is banking on the fans tuning in to see the return of Mayweather. Ortiz is a young, Mexican American fighter that is coming off an exciting fight with contender Andre Berto.

Via Bad Left Hook:

The push begins Tuesday in New York with the first of just two media events on a mini-tour to hype the fight. The second date will be in Los Angeles, but otherwise it looks like the press tour is being scrapped in large part to focus on other forms of promotion.

Payout Perspective:
It will be interesting to see the type of promotional tools used for this fight. Scrapping a media tour seems counter to making a big push to promote the fight.  But, Golden Boy definitely hopes to surpass the PPV buys from the Pacquiao-Mosley fight. And it will look for HBO and Time Warner to give it an assist in putting together a huge promotional runup to the fight. The fight has intrigue as Ortiz is a definite threat to defeat Mayweather. That being said, most hope that Mayweather defeats Ortiz which would (hopefully) mean a fight with Pacquiao in 2012.

The Sports Business Daily reports that ESPN 3D is adding boxing as live content for its 3D channel. “Friday Night Fights” will have 5 editions on ESPN 3D this summer.

The article points out that not only will a successful run of  Friday Night Fights this summer help the 3D network, it will help with the revitalization of boxing.

ESPN had a test run of boxing in 3D in February and decided to go forth with more this summer. The telecasts are produced as a single telecast in 2D and 3D with one set of announcers. The article points out that the sport of boxing allows for this production since there are less frequent switching of camera angles.

If the summer run is successful, ESPN could look into more boxing in 3D. The 3D Friday Night Fights will begin June 24th and end August 12th.

Payout Perspective:

This is good for the sport of boxing as it seems to have experienced a resurgence in good fights this year.   I think the one drawback with 3D is the need to purchase a special television (with 3D capabilities) and glasses for all viewers. This is not cheap. While I am not yet on board with the 3D concept, I have not seen boxing in 3D. It may be the wave of the future and could be good for boxing in drawing more positive attention to the sport. It will be interesting to see the viewership of Friday Night Fights in 3D and see if it picks up over the summer.

You may recall that the UFC aired its last Versus show in 3D. I am not sure whether the UFC will bring it back in the near future, but if it does it will likely happen after it signs a new television deal.