NBC is airing the debut episode of "Premier Boxing Champions" Saturday night, and while the net hopes the series "sparks a revival for the sport, it isn't making any guarantees about its ratings performance," according to Anthony Crupi of AD AGE. This weekend's inaugural broadcast "should easily out-punch the usual run of sleepy Saturday repeats, but NBC won't be setting a ratings target for its advertisers." Boxing manager Al Haymon's organization, which is creating a unique atmosphere for the event, "will handle the advertising inventory in and around the fights, pocketing whatever it takes in," while sports marketing agency SJX Partners "will look after the actual transactions." The net's "PBC" package "is a straight time buy, and sources estimate the cost per broadcast at $1 million a pop." NBC Sports Group Programming President Jon Miller said, "There's not a lot of inventory out there to sell, (because of) the way fights are being formatted." He added fans "will see very few commercials" during the broadcast, as it is a "sponsor-driven model." Crupi noted not having to "shoulder the burden of ad sales takes a lot of guesswork out of the game for NBC." Miller: "How would you even price it?" He reiterated that the rate card for prime-time boxing "is three decades out of date" (ADAGE.com, 3/4).
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: NBC Sports Exec Producer Sam Flood said that he hopes the net can "help build on a resurgence in the sport that was underscored recently" by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao agreeing to fight. Flood: "We see this as an opportunity to get what was a stable American television viewing back into the spotlight. As great a job as HBO and Showtime have done, they're limited in number of households. We're going into every house that has a television with the fights on a Saturday night." Flood called it "event television," with Al Michaels, Marv Albert and Sugar Ray Leonard participating in the broadcast (USA TODAY, 3/6). On Long Island, Neil Best writes Saturday's card "features solid matchups that will appeal to avid fans," but lacks the sort of "household names that drove boxing in its free-TV heyday." NBC's mission is to "introduce casual viewers to the fighters and to invest us in what becomes of them" (NEWSDAY, 3/6).
