Via Craig Daly: Top Rated promoter Bob Arum doesn’t see how the fight between Terence Crawford and Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence can be done this year without someone subsidizing.
It’s too risky to start the fight because of the purse strings for IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight champion Spence (28-0.22 KOs) and WBO champion Crawford (38-0.29 KOs) .
The number of pay-per-view purchases required to cover “fees” will be enormous, and Arum believes that piracy in the form of illegal streams will limit PPV purchases.
One theory Arum has to beat piracy is to lower the price of PPV from $80 to $20, but he’s not sure that will work. If PPV purchases don’t increase, even less money will be available to cover the cost of giant wallets.
With Spence and Crawford, they’d rather have guaranteed wallets than take their money from pay-per-view, which would be risky, especially if the two don’t advance their fight a enthusiastic way.
Spence & Crawford have laid-back personalities, and they don’t have the stellar personalities of fighters like Keith Thurman and Ryan Garcia to get boxing fans excited.
Piracy hurts pay-per-view
“It gets tremendous interest from boxing followers, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into pay-per-view revenue, which is the biggest source for copyright infringement,“Bob Arum said to Fighthype about the war between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence.
“The PBC has to look at it and say, ‘Hey, we’ll put it on, we’ll give you good guarantees, but you have to really live the opposite. ‘
“Unless someone wants to subsidize that war, I don’t know how it’s done,” Arum said.
There is little chance of Crawford and Spence agreeing to receive their money through PPV as they know that boxing fans can choose to save their money and watch the match on an illegal pirate stream instead. pay 80 dollars.
With the cost of gas going through the roof, some fans couldn’t afford the $80, especially when Canelo Alvarez fought a DAZN pay-per-view in September against Gennady Golovkin.
“If we reduce the cost per view to $20 or $25, that’s what we started with pay per view. Will people give up stealing signals and pay to watch the game legally? ” Arum said.
Many boxing fans will choose to buy the Spence vs. Crawford on PPV should the price drop to $20, but unfortunately PBC is unlikely to make that move.
That’s a viable number compared to the hefty $80 price tag, as it won’t have nearly the same impact on fans’ pockets.
One problem that makes today’s fans less willing to buy PPV is the shoddy pads that are constantly packed with matches.
Promoters usually just place a good fight on the main event card, and then his unsuitability relates to their prospects on the bottom card. Fans get very little value for their money, especially when the main event becomes a dull affair.
