What if they held a boxing card, and nobody came? Plenty.
Promoter aiming for pay-per-view at Ancaster Sports Centre after lucrative September streaming from Convention Centre
Dan Otter’s real eye-opener was about other people’s eyes. It turns out they don’t have to be in the same building as the athletes they’re watching.
Last September, his Three Lions Promotions company experimented with pay-per-view streaming of a sold-out boxing card at Hamilton Convention Centre and he was stunned by the returns.
Nearly 6,000 viewers bought in, at $29.99 per.
That financial windfall has prompted Otter to plan a boxing card in front of no fans, and hardly anybody else, on June 27, likely at the Ancaster Sports Centre.
It would be a PPV event livestreamed by Three Lions’ own contractor, but Otter says he’s also had discussions with over-the-air sports networks short on real-time programming.
The plan all hinges, of course, on health and safety approvals from governmental regulatory agencies. Thursday’s phase of provincial back-to-business rollouts excluded contact sports.
“We promoted the PPV in September for only a week,” Otter said. “We didn’t know it would work, and we didn’t want to hurt our live gate with it. On this one we need the fans, but we don’t need the gate sales to make the money.”
The UFC began holding PPV events with no live audiences last weekend and Otter sees a similar opportunity for boxing.
“It did take away from the atmosphere but the fans got to watch it,” he said. “Not my No. 1 choice, but if we can’t have 2,000 people, this could be the forerunner of how to do it for boxing. It could be the first show worldwide.
“It’s safety first, absolutely. But boxing is one of the sports that could come back quicker than most, because it takes fewer people to stage it.”
The office of the Ontario Athletics Commission, which oversees combat sports as part of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, confirmed to The Spectator that the June 27 date has been reserved for Three Lions in Hamilton, an important step in final sanctioning.
The commission would also have to approve the fighters. Undefeated pros Jessie Wilcox of Hamilton and Ryan Rozicki of Cape Breton will headline the top two bouts on the card which will also include Carolyn Redmond of Guelph and Wilcox’s younger brother, Bradley.
All have significant regional followings critical to PPV success.
Commissioner Luke Kotyk emphasized that health safety is the paramount consideration and said, “it’s too early to tell” if the province’s return to business would progress quickly enough to accommodate the Hamilton event. On pandemic matters his commission follows the directions of other provincial ministries.
Sam Barrih, one of the owners of Ancaster Sports Centre, closed since March 16, has reserved the June date for the boxing card. He says the 25,000-square-foot air-structured dome has plenty of room for large spaces between all humans involved. Excluding the three in the ring.
Barrih estimates that fewer than 30 people, including doctors, would be involved and they would enter at intervals, one at a time. Once the ring and production equipment are installed, a cleaning company specializing in decontamination would re-sanitize the entire building, including the equipment.
“The focus would be absolutely on maintaining health and safety,” Barrih said, “Following all the government mandates that will be in place, then going above and beyond them to keep everyone safe.”