For roughly over a month, British promotion Boxxer had been speculated to end up with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) after the promotion’s contract with Sky Sports ended in June.
As was revealed earlier today by Boxxer, this broadcasting deal has come to fruition and will see the promotion feature their fights on BBC Sport and the BBC’s streaming service of iPlayer ― the former being purportedly free to view on general television.
“BBC Sport and BOXXER today announce a new broadcast deal that will see live, world-class professional boxing return to Saturday night primetime television and BBC iPlayer on a free-to-air basis,” Boxxer’s official statement regarding their new broadcasting arrangement reads.
“Selected undercard fights, features and behind-the-scenes content will also be available across BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport social channels.
“The new deal opens boxing up to all audiences, making the sport more accessible than ever. Full details of the first fight, undercard and BBC Sport presenting team will be announced in the coming weeks.“
On the surface, the partnership between Boxxer and BBC seems mutually beneficial. With the BBC being free-to-air on television in the UK, the chance of more people tuning into Boxxer’s events makes it bound to be able to drum up exposure for their fighters.
With the pay-per-view (PPV) model already seeming die out when it comes to at least Riyadh Season and The Ring shows, the move by Boxxer, led by chairman Ben Shalom, to partner with the BBC might pan out for the best.
However, the lack of PPV shows would mean less earnings for Boxxer’s fighters; a prospect that might see Boxxer’s most prevalent boxers move to rival promotions such as Queensberry Promotions and Matchroom where there are chances for higher paydays.
Both promotions still employ the PPV method to host their most prevalent shows and further have access to a wider pool of opponents they can match their fighters with given they are tied to DAZN ― through which multiple other promotions are tied to, easing the matchmaking process.
But in regards to Boxxer’s position, this promotional relationship becomes infinitely more complicated as the net of opponents for its own fighters will inadvertently become limited, with Boxxer’s rival promotions retaining the ability to stifle the promotion by refusing to work with them unless under favorable circumstances; a position Boxxer has placed itself in due to numerous instances of foiling purse bid ceremonies.
Some of this fallout could be averted by merely adopting a PPV model, something that might be implemented or might not. A model based on solely free-to-air shows would mean Boxxer being willing to make less of an income, which ties into the assumption that fighters would depart quicker in search of higher earnings.
Compared to Boxxer’s prior partnership with Sky Sports, live-streaming is now possible through BBC’s iRadio, but still pales in comparison to the money that could be made with PPVs, making it unlikely Boxxer would rely on free-to-air shows and almost forcing them to use a combination of all three broadcasting types to remain afloat as a competitive promotion.
And therein lies both opportunity and chaos.
Boxxer has been granted three methods to broadcast their events but will need to employ a keen strategy to ensure full profitability, which signifies that its earlier attempts will center on expanding their audience on free-to-air television that might come at the cost of their better-paid fighters leaving the promotions’ fold.
A long-term strategy could see Boxxer recoup this loss by being able to create new stars, but relies very much on consistency and, most importantly, the ability to produce career-defining fights for its roster. Recent appearances of some of their fighters on the Riyadh Season and The Ring cards has proven Boxxer has the ability to cooperate with other promotions to give its fighters the opportunities they deserve, but pertaining to purse bids the promotion has a steep mountain to climb when it comes to being able to be worked with regularly.
As more details regarding this partnership will be released over the next few weeks, and a clarification on whether there will be PPV events, Boxxer will need to thread carefully to ensure it can lead itself into a disastrous turn, or a bright future where it can compete evenly with its most staunchest rivals.
