TOP RANK?S BIGGEST CHALLENGE: PRODUCING PACQUIAO-VARGAS PPV
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 09 Sep 2016
For the first time since Senator Manny Pacquiao emerged as a world boxing superstar and a pay-per-view phenomenon, the major producer HBO refused to broadcast his coming fight with WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas.
HBO declined to handle the airing of the bout because it was two weeks away from the Andre Ward-Sergie Kovalev fight on November 19. Another reason is the college football season and the US presidential elections in November 8 which could grab the viewing interests of the television enthusiasts.
Pacquiao surfaced out if retirement to face Vargas, who has not been a boxing household name. Plus there are speculations that Pacquiao came back to prizefighting for the money, which the lawmaker vehemently denied and reasoned out that the motive of his return was his passion for boxing.
The former eight-division world champion has said that he needs to go back to his profession because he intends to share his fortune to his constituents and does not wish to become a corrupt public servant.
?It?s just exciting, it?s empowering, it?s wonderful,? Top Rank president Todd duBoef said of the company producing the PPV of the Pacquiao-Vargas bout. ?We don?t run it up the flagpole to see what one of our network partners think. We typically, on all of our fights, do all the commercials, all of the artwork, all of the stuff ourselves in-house. Everything you?ve seen is generated in-house anyway.?
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told Ringtv that they can save 7.5 percent if they directly negotiate with television companies like CBS, NBC and ABC. "The distributor charges 7.5 percent and actually enters into three contracts with Direct TV, Dish and with in-Demand," said Arum. "We do those contracts ourselves. In other words, they negotiate them but we do them ourselves, so why would we pay 7.5 percent to anybody if we can get all of the publicity and the promotion from others by supplying it to networks that have a much bigger audience then say an HBO."
The 84-year-old promoter is planning to highlight the fighting senator?s works at the Philippine Senate and other interesting stories that could rival or even surpass the popular ?24/7? by HBO. He is planning to put up a team of announcers that could compete with HBO?s popular announcers Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman.
A gigantic challenge indeed and if Top Rank hurdles the huge test of airing the Pacquiao comeback successfully, then Arum and company could use the same formula in their other featured bouts without the involvement of big producers like HBO and Showtime in the PPV business.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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