Boxing just can't draw crowds anymore in the US

GrantZilla wrote:Boxing went through a rough summer with a light schedule. November was suppose to revive things before the end of 2010. Manny Pacquaio brought in a huge crowd of 41,000 to Cowboy Stadium, but four other solid U.S. fight cards featuring high-level fighters did horribly at the gate. What's the problem?

Five of the top 10 fighters in Yahoo! Sports' boxing Top 10 were featured on four cards and they only combined to draw just over 19,000 fans. The next UFC pay-per-view card in Montreal is expected to draw over 21,000At 4,100, the Andre Ward-Sakio Bika fight in Oakland was least attended. In the scaled-down Convention Hall in Atlantic City, only 5,500 witnessed Sergio Martinez's spectacular knockout of Paul Williams.

And in Las Vegas, the "Fight Capital of the World," 4,818 watched Juan Manuel Lopez down Rafael Marquez. Two weeks later, 4,920 showed up to see Juan Manuel Marquez rumble with Michael Katsidis in Sin City.

So why were the numbers so low in Vegas, Oakland and A.C.?

Has boxing done too much damage over the years to be repaired? Is it a matter of poor promotion? Does the sport only care about its television audience? In the case of Las Vegas, have the casinos spoiled promoters with overblown site fees?
http://sports.yahoo.com/box/blog/box_experts/post/November-was-a-blockbuster-boxing-month-where-w?urn=box-290834

wtf is up with these yahho guys in comparing ufc with boxing? i bet my house that card in montreal doesn't bring 21,000 people. matter of fact when has ANY ufc event brought that many people in?
to add to that how nay people were there to watch the bute fight or even the lemieux fight in montreal?

Yeah, it was dumb to compare it to gates in other countries. Boxing can bring in big gates outside the US.

Shit, how many people going to be at Wlad's fight? 50k?

But in US, it sucks. Iole does bring up valid points though. Promoters suck right now at actualy promoting fights. Most people didn't even know these fights were on, except us hardcore fans.

Having fights in casinios during a bad economy. Vegas right now is ground zero for the Recession. Having East Coast fighters fighting on West Coast and vice versa.

And fighters being total un-accessible to media and fans. Guys like ali, SRRL, ect had open training camps to media and fans.

GrantZilla wrote:Yeah, it was dumb to compare it to gates in other countries. Boxing can bring in big gates outside the US.

Shit, how many people going to be at Wlad's fight? 50k?

But in US, it sucks. Iole does bring up valid points though. Promoters suck right now at actualy promoting fights. Most people didn't even know these fights were on, except us hardcore fans.

Having fights in casinios during a bad economy. Vegas right now is ground zero for the Recession. Having East Coast fighters fighting on West Coast and vice versa.

And fighters being total un-accessible to media and fans. Guys like ali, SRRL, ect had open training camps to media and fans.

i had to post some shit regarding those yahoo writers. they are obviously not real boxing fans yet the dumb asses at yahoo have them there writting. i mean how do they mention the ufc event in montreal yet forget to mention those two sold out fights for bute and lemiuex in the same venue just says it all. fuck yahoo

Can't they adjust the pricing or something to get more live fans. Those numbers are terrible. I've seen more fans at high school football games.

I do know that a lot of sports in the US have had attendance issues because it's become so comfortable to stay home.

Gumby wrote:Can't they adjust the pricing or something to get more live fans. Those numbers are terrible. I've seen more fans at high school football games.

I do know that a lot of sports in the US have had attendance issues because it's become so comfortable to stay home.

that's exactly my point is not only boxing is EVERY sport. the nfl is facing attendance issues...THE NFL!!!!! becuase people would rather watch the games at home than pay a lot to watch it at the stadium and pay about 7 for a beer.

Anyone think maybe because its
1. Around the holidays and people are not spending
2. The economy sucks ass

Rum Capital wrote:

GrantZilla wrote:Yeah, it was dumb to compare it to gates in other countries. Boxing can bring in big gates outside the US.

Shit, how many people going to be at Wlad's fight? 50k?

But in US, it sucks. Iole does bring up valid points though. Promoters suck right now at actualy promoting fights. Most people didn't even know these fights were on, except us hardcore fans.

Having fights in casinios during a bad economy. Vegas right now is ground zero for the Recession. Having East Coast fighters fighting on West Coast and vice versa.

And fighters being total un-accessible to media and fans. Guys like ali, SRRL, ect had open training camps to media and fans.

i had to post some shit regarding those yahoo writers. they are obviously not real boxing fans yet the dumb asses at yahoo have them there writting. i mean how do they mention the ufc event in montreal yet forget to mention those two sold out fights for bute and lemiuex in the same venue just says it all. fuck yahoo

+100
Wonder if UFC has paid them for the press they get?

draws depend on names. I bet no UFC card has ever had more in attendance than the Margarito-Mosley, Pac vs Clottey and Margarito cards. Boxing is only exciting when the best of the best face off. November was one of boxings best months in a very long time.

Rum Capital wrote:

Gumby wrote:Can't they adjust the pricing or something to get more live fans. Those numbers are terrible. I've seen more fans at high school football games.

I do know that a lot of sports in the US have had attendance issues because it's become so comfortable to stay home.

that's exactly my point is not only boxing is EVERY sport. the nfl is facing attendance issues...THE NFL!!!!! becuase people would rather watch the games at home than pay a lot to watch it at the stadium and pay about 7 for a beer.

Good points, but tickets for fights are absurd. 4 grand for ringside seats?

Soonermark890 wrote:Anyone think maybe because its
1. Around the holidays and people are not spending
2. The economy sucks ass

Agreed. Look, we go back and forth with this subject all the time, yet the world seems to stop when Manny fights. I'm not a Pactard, I'm just stating the truth. When was the last time we had a star that took the imagination of Hollywood and had fans like "George W. Bush." This man has crossed over in a way no modern day "non American" figther has, and that includes Julio Chavez. The last "non American" fighter that had a major effect on USA fans was "Roberto Duran."

The lack of quality boxing shows is the problem. These shows, if done right, intoduce new and exciting talent. ESPN is not good at putting on boxing cards or picking announcers. We can say this is a subjective matter, but "Teddy Atlas" is hard on the ears and the eyes, sounds rather ignorant and confused at times and has horrible fight forecasts. He also makes derogatory comments on certain fighters for reasons I suspect are strictly personal (See James Toney and Manny Pacquiao.). It's not that hard of a job to bring back "USA Tuesday Night Fights." The people at "USA" don't give a damn about boxing but the show gave a great platform for a weekly boxing show that can be easily imitated.

I don't think the problems are that deep. The economy (as noted by Sooner) and poor decisions made by powerful networds have led to a downfall of quality opponents. However, boxing has always needed that one incredible star to survive, and right now we have one.

Soonermark890 wrote:Anyone think maybe because its
1. Around the holidays and people are not spending
2. The economy sucks ass

agreed. But you have to have an area that has a built in fanbase for a fighter. Boxing needs to be rather regional/local. They put PW and martinez on with no strong local draws. When Fernando Guerero can draw 2000 in Salisbury Md for FNF cards because of local promotion then I believe there is still a place for boxing.

The Montreal card will easily sell out, GSP is on the card and he's facing Koscheck who insulted the entire nation the last time he fought there.

[quote="Rum Capital"]wtf is up with these yahho guys in comparing ufc with boxing? i bet my house that card in montreal doesn't bring 21,000 people. matter of fact when has ANY ufc event brought that many people in?
to add to that how nay people were there to watch the bute fight or even the lemieux fight in montreal?[quote]

There were only 1,700 people at the Lemieux fight; they cut off the Bell Centre and only sold tickets for a small section of it. Could have sold more easily, not sure why that was done.

There were about 12,000 in the house for the Bute vs. Brinkley fight.

I expect they'll get a big crowd for the UFC card there, mostly for GSP as it was said. Dunno about 21,000 though.

This article is skewed. Like Sooner said the economy is bad. The other thing that stood out was the mention of a scaled down Boardwalk Hall for the Sergio Martinez Paul Williams fight. They refer to the venue incorrectly first of all and that right there tells me the article is bogus. Its an obvious slam article to discredit boxing and the state of the sport. Like Grant and others have stated in the past boxing must ween itself off of pay per view and get back to network be it broadcast or basic cable. Basic cable is the obvious go to. Subscriptions combine with advertisement revenue make boxing or any sport lucrative. Promoters pay the fighters and no scripts are needed. Which is why sports are so lucrative. PPV makes fighters and promoters richer which is why we see them so much. They do however make the sport less available to fans.