Zuffa Boxing's debut event at Allegiant Stadium changed the game for boxing fans worldwide. The Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight drew more than 70,000 spectators to the venue and got over 41 million live views on Netflix.
This fight marked a big shift in how boxing gets broadcast. Instead of using the traditional pay-per-view (PPV) model, Zuffa Boxing partnered with Turki Alalshikh and TKO to stream the event on Netflix. The goal? To make boxing more accessible to fans around the globe.
The PPV era in boxing had its peak in 2015 when Floyd Mayweather fought Manny Pacquiao. That fight raked in over $600 million and still holds the record with 4.6 million PPV buys. Other big names like Tyson and De La Hoya also thrived in the PPV model. More recently, the Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia fight in 2023 was the only bout to crack the all-time top ten PPV events list with over 1.2 million buys.
Two months before Zuffa Boxing's big debut, Turki Alalshikh made a bold statement:
"No more PPV... The PPV model has damaged boxing and we will no longer support it. We are with boxing fans"
Chael Sonnen, a well-known analyst, pointed out why Netflix's figures carry weight. As a publicly traded company, Netflix must report truthful data to its shareholders and the public. This contrasts with the often inflated or estimated PPV numbers in boxing.
For fans, this new approach means easier and cheaper access to big boxing events. The industry will need to adapt as the revenue map and business model of boxing shift. We'll likely see less reliance on PPV and more openness to mass streaming models in the future.
As records get rewritten, boxing looks set to enter a new era. The focus will be on making fights more accessible to viewers worldwide. It's a knockout move for fight fans everywhere.
