NBC Sports Will Present Boxing in Prime Time
The NBC Sports Group is heading into boxing with the powerful adviser and manager Al Haymon in a multiyear deal to be announced Wednesday. The first show will be presented March 7.
NBC is expected to carry five cards in prime time and six on Saturday afternoons, said an executive familiar with the details. The remaining nine shows will be on NBCSN in prime time.
Floyd Mayweather, Haymon’s best-known fighter, will not be involved. He is strictly a pay-per-view boxer under an exclusive contract with Showtime.
Instead, NBC and NBCSN’s stars will be Adrien Broner (29-1); John Molina (27-5) and Robert Guerrero (32-2-1) as well as two 140-pound titleholders, Danny Garcia (29-0) and Lamont Peterson (33-2-1).
Boxing, once a staple of broadcast television, is a cable and pay-per-view sport, with HBO, Showtime, ESPN, Fox Sports 1 and NBCSN, which had a boxing series through last year, the primary networks.
The biggest money in boxing is paid to put marquee fighters such as Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao on pay per view. Two years ago, Mayweather moved to Showtime from HBO for a pay per view deal.
NBC’s plan is to get into boxing with a limited investment. In what is called a time-buy arrangement, Haymon Boxing will pay at least $20 million annually to purchase time on NBC and NBCSN to show bouts that will feature Haymon fighters, the executive said. NBC will produce the shows, with Al Michaels hosting the NBC prime-time bouts. Sugar Ray Leonard will be an analyst for some of the cards.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/s...ime-time.html?smid=tw-nytmedia&seid=auto&_r=1