This week’s Crawford-Porter pay-per-view will be something different. Instead of buying through the regular PPV channels of cable, dish, apps, etc., fight fans can only purchase Crawford-Porter if they’re ESPN+ subscribers.
Promoter Bob Arum explains.
“ESPN+ has a platform now that has 19 million subscribers,” said Arum. “And when ESPN+ has the exclusive pay-per-view rights and they can publicize it and constantly email their subscribers, they’re doing huge numbers.
“How do I know that? Because while they haven’t had any exclusives yet in boxing, they have had UFC exclusively for a couple of years now at least. And the UFC numbers on pay-per-view are huge because of ESPN+ which has it exclusively.
“Now there are two ways to put on the fight if you’re going pay-per-view.
“One, ESPN+ is just one of the platforms so its incentive to really promote is not that great.
“Two, the other platforms don’t do particularly well anymore on pay-per-view, so we thought, and I’m sure it’s going to work, that going on ESPN+ exclusively, we will do in this fight UFC kind of pay-per-view numbers – which can be as low as 500,000 and as high as 1.5 million.
“That’s our goal and I really believe both Terence and Porter are in for a big big surprise when they see the pay-per-view results.”
The PPV price is $69.99.
So, the logic is: a benefit of paying for a monthly subscription service is that you have the “privilege” to spent additional money for a Pay-Per-View event?
Well said Gary
This fight is boring on regular tv and not only are they making this a ppv but now this crap let me tell you how it’s going to go, porter will bull rush / wrestle and Crawford will pot shot and move to victory. Don’t waste your money and enable promoters to keep throwing trash fights on PPV. Fury VS Wilder PPV, now THAT was worth every penny
WHY WOULD ANYONE PAY FOR SOMETHING THEY CAN READ ABOUT 1 MINUTE AFTER IT HAS CONCLUDED AND WATCH ON YOUTUBE FOR FREE A WEEK LATER… THIS I’VE NEVER UNDERSTOOD…WATCHING BUD CRAWFORD I UNDERSTAND BUT SHAWN PORTER… GOOD MAN BUT NOT WHAT I’D CALL PAY PER VIEW MATERIAL AT THIS LATE STAGE OF HIS CAREER
Chip, you make a good point. Sooner or later, everything leaks onto the web for one’s viewing pleasure. Patience is the key to victory.
Agree about Porter but don’t think Crawford is either the ability may be there but the personality and opposition does not warrant ppv. But almost every fight with a few exceptions these days does not warrant ppv. Crawford Spence ok but not much else.
This is why I gave up watching UFC events at home, I don’t need another paywall to watch fights…I’m already paying for showtime, DAZN and a few other channels so…I can miss the occasional top rank card live, like I have been since ESPN+ started affecting boxing. I’m waiting for them to stick the CFP behind this paywall any year now.
Yea fk u Bob Arum and fk you too ESPN!
This trash exclusivity stuff will take you one place, to bankruptcy. ESPN+ pretty much sucks as service anyhow and it is THE REASON I no longer order any UFC ppv! Taking boxing there is a huge mistake.
I remember years back Arum had a big fight maybe De la Hoya Chavez but he took it off ppv and put it back on closed circuit in theaters. Remember him saying he did it because of all the pirating that was going on
Yeah their first fight in 1996.
I remember asking Arum how that worked out for him and he said it was surprisingly successful. You know damn well if it was successful he would not have gone back to hone ppv he would have kept everything on closed circut.
Lol its common knowledge when Arum opens his mouth he’s lying.
What’s the cost?
You would think the more ppv availability cable satellite etc would be more beneficial for promoters as more people would have access to buy it. But for whatever reason they must be financially better off for them to have this one solely on ESPN+. Also you would think they would make ppv more accessable to streaming services i think the only one that offers ppv is sling.
I have the older Apple TV and ESPN stopped being shown on it out of the blue ..I can’t even screen mirror ESPN app from my phone to the tv..it’s a joke ..not going to pay to watch it on my phone
I don’t understand why people are so upset? They can make the fight $199.99, big deal. Use technology to your advantage and watch the fight. I don’t care what Dana White or Bob Arum are talking about.
Mr Hawn why dont you explain to the people that are not tech savy how they can do that and maybe they will
This is so Fucked up in forcing us loyal boxing fans to subscribe in order to watch the fight?! So I’m going to be charged 2x in order to watch the event?? Totally messed up!!!!!!
I was really looking forward to this fight. Will NOT subscribe just on principal. I hope they take a giant dump PPV hits wise, and I bet they will because of this greedy insanity.
If you’re on the fence about ESPN+, then take or leave my opinion. I currently subscribe, but I think of canceling every time I watch. The fight cards are loaded with low level mismatches that truly waste a boxing whore’s time. Unfortunately, the conundrum is we all (at least on this site) love the sport, so we just waste our day. And now, instead of rewarding your loyalty they want 70 more dollars. They suck and I’m probably (not) going to cancel
Crawford keep the jab going an keep moving from round 1-12 do what you do best an thats out think the opposing man cause after this fight you have nothing to prove to the people you an Spence go enjoy yall family time
Thanks Gary, my thought was DON”T pay to watch this fight if you have ESPN+. If they want to keep throwing us more PPV’s with junky undercard and we already pay a monthly fee for ESPN+ then that’s it. I rarely buy a PPV-only if there are 3-4 god title fights and if there are no other options (theatre, or other places showing it)
DAZN is doing it right, most events, and often Hearn will pack the cards better, makes it work the monthly or annual subscription.
Really this is no different than other ESPN ppv shows it just isn’t available for other services to offer the ppv. Just someone having an idea to sell more subscriptions for ESPN+ because Top Rank and ESPN think they can get more subscribers this way (doubt it) not an ESPN + thing but more Top Rank
ESPN+ is trash
I won’t be watching