"So it’s really being able to take what was done so successfully at the roots of boxing in movie theaters, on a very small scale and being able to scale it out across the country at a price point that is very affordable for the fans based on the ability of the technology to deliver," continued Diamond. Most major pay-per-view events now run between $49.95 to over $60 if you get the Hi-Def version of the telecast. According to Diamond, a ticket to see one of their boxing events at the theater "can range anywhere from $15 and up."
The pricing of these events are key. While there are inherent advantages to ordering the fights from home (such as not having to leave your living room and, of course, beer) and the luxury of being able to DVR or TiVo the card you purchased, the reality is that pay-per-view prices are climbing every year.
"I think the bottom line is it’s affordable, convenient, family friendly; there’s not a bad seat in the house," Diamond pointed out. "And in every instance, every event that we’ve done, what it does, it engages fans that are not only the core boxing fans but casual fight fans, who as we’ve seen over the last couple of fights that we’ve done, become much more engaged with boxing again. So whether it’s boxing or a concert or whatever, those fans are having an experience that’s beyond their expectations in a movie theater and coming out energized about it. It’s like seeing a great movie. People see ’Avatar’; they walk out saying, ’Oh, you gotta see ’Avatar.’ It’s the same thing that happens in these events. People go in; they have this experience and they go, ’Gee, I forgot how great seeing boxing was. It was incredible.’”
What has been regained is the communal feel of gathering around an event.
"We’re seeing it; it happened with the Metropolitan Opera over five seasons. We’ve seen it go from the core opera audience to a very younger skewing audience, now, that comes to the movie theater with people lining up at 8:30 in the morning on the west coast to make sure- because we don’t have reserved seating in the movie theaters- that they get a seat and they’re bringing their families and friends. It is an event. It harkens back to the old days when going to the movie theaters was an event," said Diamond.
Fathom does much more than boxing; they are in their fifth season with the Metropolitan Opera. They have shown major concerts involving the likes of The Rolling Stones and Bon Jovi and theater events like the reprisal of “The Wizard of Oz.” They’ve even done live, national town hall events featuring Warren Buffet.
Diamond says, "The great thing about this network is that it can provide really amazing programming for local communities in movie theaters where folks really want to gather and have that, ’like you’re being there’ experience."
Talk to any old-school boxing fan and they will have a story of going to an establishment to watch a fight like Ali-Frazier and ten minutes before the main event- the screen goes blank, which then causes a riotous scene. You can laugh at that kind of stuff now but that was the chance you took back then.
Fast forward to 2010 and the technology has improved by leaps and bounds.
Diamond says, "The difference is that in the old days, boxing in movie theaters, what would happen was a satellite truck would literally be driven up to the theater, wires would be run in from the street into a projector, wired in by hand and then unwired. This is all a network that is fully digitally-interconnected from one network operations center here in Colorado. All of the content is then transmitted via secure satellite to the theaters and, the reality is, the technology is all high-definition secure transmissions. The chances for any issues going to 500 theaters are very minimal."
And coming next will be fights cards shown in 3-D. "It’s something that’s in the future," said Diamond. "We just finished doing the last four World Cup matches in 3-D. I think you can expect to see a boxing event in 3-D, very soon."
The idea of taking fights back to the theaters was re-launched for last September’s fight between Floyd Mayweather and Marquez. Golden Boy Promotions and Fathom have forged a tight working relationship.
"I felt there was a perpetual pay-per-view audience or a fight audience which we sort of ignored," said Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions CEO. "Those people which are staying home and inviting friends over and doing a barbeque, that’s a traditional pay-per-view audience. Then you have those, of course, who are going to see it live at the venue. Then you have a third group which goes to restaurants and bars and sees it through one of the closed-circuit feeds. But then you have these people- couples, singles or whatever- who don’t really buy the pay-per-view at home. They’re still sports fans and they are religiously going out on Saturday nights with their girlfriends or boyfriends to the movies. You have the movie crowd.
"I just felt that we were missing out on that,” he continued. “This is another demographic which we could show them the fights. That was one reason. The other reason is that these movie theaters have a tremendous power by marketing these events. Actually many of my friends have told me that they’ve seen the TV spots or the trailers in the movies. It’s impressive when you sit there. I experienced it myself; I went to see a movie with my family in Pasadena. You sit there and bang; suddenly, there’s the trailer of the fight that really markets the event to a much wider audience."
Schaefer has a point; throughout the country, every day, millions of consumers go to movies and those fight previews will be shown to them right next to the next romantic comedy preview.
It’s not clear just how this has impacted pay-per-view numbers (which is perhaps the most critical economic factor in making the sport’s biggest events) and just how well received the showings at have been at the local cineplex. But it looks like this is here to stay.
"I hope so, that we can continue to do that," Schaefer told Maxboxing on Thursday afternoon. "I love it and sometimes what has worked in the past can work in the future as well. It’s not like everything has to be new to be different and I think it it’s emerging, the older elements, especially in such a traditional sport like boxing, to merge these older technologies with the newer ones."
Diamond believes that this vehicle can help bring the sport of boxing back to the national consciousness.
"One of the goals around this is to bring boxing back to the mainstream in the way that it was back 30 years ago. We’re seeing that happening in theaters, where fans who don’t have access to HBO pay-per-view are coming to movie theaters or fans who want to take their kids to see a fight and don’t necessarily want to go to a sports bar because it’s not the right environment for their kids," he says. "Everybody is winning in this because the opportunity for the awareness of boxing is rising because fans that weren’t expecting to see boxing at theaters are going, ’Wow, did you know that fight’s coming up at the movie theater?’ and then going and having this experience with their friends and families.
"It’s great for the sport and I think what it’s doing is re-energizing the core base of boxing but, also, much like we’ve seen in every other program, we’re getting to the fans that live in movie theaters, which are fans of all types. They’re going to all different types of movies and there’s a whole generation that may not be connected to boxing, if you will, as I was in the days of Ali and Frazier and going to these amazing fights with Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard. Boxing was at the forefront in its heyday.
“But boxing is still there, you’ve got a community that isn’t really connected with it as voraciously as years past but once they experience it, now they can be again."
Diamond doesn’t just look at this as a perspective of someone who puts on theater events for a living.
"The most exciting thing for me, I’m a die-hard fight fan. I always have been. I remember when Sonny Liston lived in Denver and guys like Ron Lyle fought. I remember him fighting some heavyweight fights that were just classic, let alone the Ali fights," said Diamond (and any guy that can reference Ron Lyle is OK with me)." And it’s really been discouraging over the last decade to not see boxing showcased on major networks. And even the USA Boxing team used to be something we all followed.
"Here is a chance to reconnect boxing to its roots in this country- and it’s happening in movie theaters."
LOCATIONS
To find out where the nearest participating theater is for Marquez-Diaz II, you can click on this link (Go near the bottom of the page and near the orange tab that reads, “BUY TICKETS,” type in your zip code and you will be given a listing of theaters nearest your area):
http://www.fathomevents.com/Upcoming/Locations/All/07/31/10/sports/event/marquez_vs_diaz.aspx
Just checking out a few locations near my office in Montebello, the Edwards Alhambra Renaissance 14 is charging $15 for the fight, while the AMC Puente Hills 20 and the AMC Santa Ana are charging $25.
CSAC
I was able to talk to Bob Arum on Thursday, who told me that in regard to Antonio Margarito that, "We requested an expedited hearing and the ABC has directed California to give him the expedited hearing and after the hearing- up or down- he can apply for a license in any state."
According to Lance Pugmire of the L.A. Times, they have been granted that hearing for August 18th. In other developments, it looks like the November 13th bout against Manny Pacquiao will not land in Las Vegas, according to Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/pacquiao-margarito-fight-won-t-happen-at-mgm-grand-garden-99664254.html
I wouldn’t mind going back to Dallas and “Jerry’s World” again at all.
RADIO
I taped an interview segment for “MMA Nation” with Luke Thomas that will air this Sunday night (9 PM EST) on 106.7 “The Fan” in Washington D.C. And no need to panic, I am talking boxing and very little MMA (just a few things about James Toney) during my segment.
The world has not come to an end.
WEEKEND FLURRIES
Arum says that Miguel Cotto could very well be back in action on Dec. 4th and three candidates have emerged: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Vanes Martirosyan and Alfredo Angulo. Give me “Perro” all day and every day of those three choices...So Floyd Mayweather is meeting with Don King over lobster (Some really big lobster at that, too)? I’ll say this; Arum, ironically enough, gets along much better with DK, nowadays, than Golden Boy/Al Haymon...One of these days very soon, I will go to a movie theater and watch one of these fights...Great to have “Jersey Shore” back but get Angelina outta there; she’s a major league buzzkill...”Master Chef” with the great Gordon Ramsay is already in my regular rotation. This show looks very promising...I still can’t believe the Padres record...RIP, Lorenzen Wright...This week’s edition of “The Main Event” features Pugmire and trainer Ronnie Shields...I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
