VALUE FOR MONEY?
Yet again, the issue of pay-per-view is causing boxing fans to feel cheated
The PPV row that will not go away
IT is terrific that Anthony Joshua, the owner of three of four major heavyweight belts, is in action this weekend. The return of one of the world’s most famous athletes, after the most difficult year British boxing has ever endured, should only be a cause for celebration.
Not only that, fans will be in attendance. Every promoter deserves praise for the mountains they have climbed this year. Furthermore, every fighter who has risked their careers and reputations by competing for less pay in alien environments should be championed to the hilt. The fights we’ve had and the fights still to come speak of a sport doing all it can to thrive in exceedingly difficult circumstances.
Boxing, from the inside looking out, is ending the year on the kind of high that was unthinkable only a few months ago. But many of the fans who essentially pay the wages of everyone who works in the industry do not feel the same way.
The pandemic not only threw the sport into chaos, it left an entire world on its knees. Positivity of any kind is hard to come by. There have been more than one-and-a-half million reported deaths attributed to coronavirus and even more find themselves unemployed and their finances in disarray. The palpable sense of doom has affected everyone in some way.
It was predictable, then, that Sky Sports’ decision to price Joshua’s pay-perview defence against Bulgarian veteran Kubrat Pulev at £24-95 would be met with significant outcry. It’s five pounds more than Eddie Hearn recently indicated it would be and five pounds more than Dillian Whyte-alexander Povetkin cost in the summer.
When speaking to Boxing News in October, Hearn addressed the fans’ concerns that the cost of pay-per-view would continue to rise regardless, particularly with a Tyson Fury-joshua showdown in the offing for 2021.
“I would think that [Fury-joshua] would escalate to £24.95 or whatever it is on an absolute one-off basis but certainly there are no plans to increase the price point of the pay-per-views,” Hearn said on our weekly podcast. “That would quite frankly be a p**s take and I’m not here to take the p**s, I’m here to deliver value and I think the price point is right for the product that is being delivered.”
Many fans, particularly hardcore fans who religiously pay a premium, believe that Hearn is now taking the p**s. Hearn has continued to stress that he doesn’t set the price points and Boxing News
understands that to be completely true. But the buck has to stop somewhere. Both promoter and broadcaster open themselves up to criticism when the promoter becomes the voice of the broadcaster, particularly when that
promoter is entrusted with managing that
broadcaster’s annual boxing budget and then goes back on a promise to fans that the cost will not increase.
It’s the same promoter who will be championing DAZN’S entry into the UK market in the coming weeks. The streaming giants will initially charge just £1.99-a-month (and for that you can watch Canelo Alvarez-callum Smith), which is a far more palatable fee. It’s the same promoter whose long-term deal with Sky Sports is up for renewal in 2021. Forgive us if we’re a little suspicious about the mixed messages.
The concern with raising the price is not just that many won’t be able to afford it. It’s where those fans will go instead. The rise of illegal streams will continue. The long-term implications of that shouldn’t need spelling out any further here.
However, what shouldn’t be forgotten is how insanely difficult managing any kind of business has been in 2020. Everyone everywhere is looking nervously at their accounts and trying to balance the books. Snap decisions are being made as the New Year draws near and the extent of profits and losses become clear.
The argument from Sky Sports and Hearn that the world is now a very different place is indeed convenient. But it’s also true. Joshua events generate millions from gate receipts. This fight will attract 1,000 fans compared to the usual 80,000. The £5 increase can be reasonably justified if one looks at it with only their accountancy hats on. But the sums should go deeper than that, even if they get increasingly hard to solve.
If the current landscape is the reason to increase costs, that same landscape must also be blamed for the disintegration of the undercard, which at the moment boasts only one contest (Bakole-kuzmin) where the winner is not already a foregone conclusion. That very same landscape is also why so many punters will find it hard to afford the cost of the PPV and, furthermore, it stops friends from coming over and sharing the cost. The financial goalposts therefore need to be aligned. Or is it to be accepted that the pandemic will both dampen the quality and raise the price?
The only way you, the consumer, can truly object is by not paying if you don’t deem it worth the money. Ultimately, as Hearn will tell you until he is blue in the face, the choice is yours.