With the recent announcements that NBC and SpikeTV are entering the world of televised boxing to compete with boxing staples Showtime and HBO, the battle for the top spot has never been bigger. While all of this is going on Fuse and NUVOtv also are well positioned to compete thanks to the hot reality television show Knockout.
While Al Haymon, Golden Boy, Top Rank, and Mayweather Promotions control most of the real estate in boxing and the hundreds of millions of dollars that comes with that control, it is the revenue from sponsorship, gates, pay-per-view and merchandising that makes the networks and sponsors affiliated with these companies the big winners. These top tier promotional companies control the present PPV superstars. The kingpin of course is America’s top paid athlete Floyd Mayweather Jr and then all of the other big names like Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez, Miguel Cotto and the list goes on. It is at the top where the control of the sponsors begins.
Let’s step down one notch and leave the world of hundreds of millions and billions and focus on the one to five million range. The elite doesn’t play in this space but the focus in this space is so much greater.
There really isn’t any reason why the major powerhouses should deal with hundred thousand dollar sponsors and there is no reason for them to use their precious time and energy in being creative and putting media deals together that have several smaller revenue streams. Why should the the elite deal with the smaller advertiser for their televised live events when when they have contractual obligations to their fighters to pay their purses and need premium sponsor’s revenue to do so?
So what about the level in the one to five million range? What can be done? Sponsors don’t really seem interested because the smaller shows don’t have much name recognition which decreases the viewership. That is the way it was until now. The biggest boxing game in town now is on NUVOtv and the reason why is because the Knockout series is packed with great names to attract the true boxing fan which will lead to a bigger viewing audience.
The show will have very competitive live fights. There will be interest in the event due to the growing fan base that follows the show. The fighters are introduced to the world by great trainers and former superstars such as Roy Jones Jr. Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Ruben Guerrero, Yoel Judah, and narration by Al Bernstein along with interactions with the current crop of boxing’s up and coming and superstars.
From a programming and network standpoint, Knockout truly is genius. If NUVOtv/Fuse play their cards right, they will soon move up to the elite level.
Over the past 36 months Knockout Executive Producer and Creator Steven Marcano has brought boxing to both NUVOtv and WealthTV (now A.W.E.). Season 2 of Knockout looks to be another hit for Marcano and NUVOtv.