Bob Arum: “It’s Very Hard To Sell Tickets!”
Despite the recent unsurpass-able brick wall that the coronavirus has placed in the path of all boxing events, over the last few months boxing remains on a steady uptick. Mega platforms such as FOX and ESPN have injected a much needed shot in the arm to the combat sport. Along with this, new upstarts in the field like DAZN have brought boxing to countless new viewers via their app platform.
However, regardless of the platform used to view the prizefights, the initial problem that promoters face is making the public aware of the event itself.
THE CHALLENGE OF PROMOTION
In what began in a rant over why SHOWTIME was still in the boxing business, veteran promoter Bob Arum, while speaking with Fight Hub TV, raised the vexing question of how one sells tickets to the event.
From our current technologically savvy era back to when Lewis “Tex” Rickard was hustling tickets, the essential challenge remains the same. How does one drum up enough interest for fans to dig down in their pockets and place cash on the counter for tickets? Especially when, here in the United States, the sweet science does not get nearly enough of the attention that boxing advocates feels that it should.
“It’s very hard to sell tickets! We’re in a situation where we don’t have a fucking newspaper that covers the sport. In the UK, every newspaper has a full time boxing writer, every single one!
“Here there is not one newspaper in the entire friggin country that has a full time boxing writer, not one! So how the fuck do you sell tickets?!
“You sell tickets by getting people’s attention for a fight that is a 50/50 so they can gamble on it. They can come to the arena and root on their bet.”
Hopefully, if boxing maintains its current upward momentum in the states, the sport will garner more and more critical attention from the masses and news publications. Yet, it probably would be safe to say that we’re years off from getting the same love and support that is freely given in the UK market! This doesn’t stop us from dreaming and hoping though!
By: Bakari Simpson
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