The old adage “this town isn’t big enough for the both of us” didn’t prove to be true during a three week stretch in Las Vegas. Boxing, the sport everyone likes to leave for dead, proved to be alive and well if you make the right fights.
In this case, Mayweather-McGregor and Canelo-GGG couldn’t have been more different. One was built up as a spectacle that would hurt boxing, the other as a fight for the dreaded phrase “real boxing fans”. Amid all the crying, complaining and predictions of doom was two fights that did very well proving all the critics wrong. Boxing has room to attract casual fans and, even new fans along with giving us veteran boxing fans an old fashion fight between two superstars in their prime.
This is a good sign for the sport. In today’s markets, it’s no longer enough to cater to the most ardent fans. The market shows that sports needs to continue to evolve with a fan base that doesn’t have the same outlook as the fan bases of 30 years ago. It’s why boxing might be primed to be starting another renaissance in part because of Floyd Mayweather’s fight with McGregor.
It’s estimated that Mayweather-McGregor will have over 4 million pay per view buys. Not bad for a fight that no one was supposed to watch. Canelo-GGG was a complete sellout and, according to the LA Times, had 1.3 million pay per view buys. Those are extremely strong numbers especially when you consider how close the premium priced events were to each other.
Outside of the NFL, today’s consumers wrap themselves around events. No longer are they watching 162 baseball games, 82 NBA or NHL Games. More and more the viewing habits focus on a particular day or event. This has helped the NFL tremendously. Fans are able to focus on Sunday as the “NFL” day even though there are single games on Thursday and Monday. That singular focus plays into the appointment viewing habits of the younger generation.
This plays right into the hands of boxing. Long criticized for the number of pay-per-view events, it might turn out to be the sport’s strength. It plays straight into a generation that is getting used to a singular focused, ‘pay-to-play’ way of consumption. All the major sports have some type of pay package. The outrage behind this being part of the business model has long died down. Add the fact that more boxing is on outlets like ESPN, FS1, etc and the sport is back in business using a model it adopted long ago.
Also, I expect boxing to get a boost from the NHL and, in the near future, the NFL being in Las Vegas. This will attract even more casual sports fans to a city that is the home of boxing. This exposure could play a big part in the rebirth of the sport.
Boxing in nowhere close to fading away ala horse racing. In fact, the sport might’ve been ahead of it’s time. Either way, boxing can look back on that three week stretch in August and September and see that their future is so bright, they have to wear shades.
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