Ok, this is just my thoughts, I think it boils down to the guaranteed money for either boxer. I'm not sure of the numbers but we haven't seen 1 million buys for a long time isn't it? And then the PPV is going to be expensive in this one, like $80.00. Is fans willing to pay that much or would rather look for other venues to watch it for free? (just like the majority of us here). So the networks maybe can't guarantee how much they are going to give them in terms of the PPV. Even the Canelo fights are not that generating at least 1 million PPV, he is the cash cow right now. So this could be in the tune of like 500,000-600,000 which might fall to the expectation of networks.
It is really about the money. We are not even sure if Crawford and Spence already agreed on the purse split. What you mentioned might be the main issue here. I read an interview with Bob Arum last week and he also mentioned the ongoing issues with boxers' purse guarantees. The problem with illegal streams. And the current covid and Ukraine war that put the world economy into crisis. I know a lot of people hate Bob Arum and I am not also a fan of Arum. But what he said were facts. Imagine Canelo received more or less than $50 million and another $5 million to Bivol. And the fight only generated 500,000 PPV buys?
Right, it's all about the piracy - illegal streamers that really hurt the PPV numbers of some of the great fights in the last couple of years. And it's really hard to crack them, I mean they are all over the social media so even as hard as the networks trying to sue and bring them down legally, it will be very hard. So the money might not be enough for this two, as they are elite and demanding more. But how can promotion and network do that if the PPV numbers will not do good? In the past, Manny can have some unknown dance partner and still generated a good PPV numbers around 300,000 to 500,000 buys.
They cannot eliminate those illegal streamers as they are everywhere, however, they can still make a lot of money because people living in developed countries can certainly afford to buy a PPV, so why would they rely on the illegal streams that can be interrupted anytime. Also, this PPV is not available worldwide, so some has no choice but to look for illegal streams just to be able to watch the fight.
You have seen the numbers already, many have posted that even Canelo can only get 500,000 buy at the state of the economy around the world. It's not just who can afford to watch and buy at $80.00, it's about this fight reaching the boxing fans as this is one of the most anticipated fight. But since the whole world right now is suffering, people losing jobs, nation on the recession, inflation and everything that $80.00 is going to be huge for us. Yes, it might not be available worldwide, but the numbers are dropping so hard because of illegal streamers that networks are not making the money they used to have. So in effect they offer for boxers are also suffering.
@harizen - not sure about the solution, but years ago, Bob Arum has to deal with Hatton and Pacquiao. And so there is a contention above the guaranteed purse. And he said, this is according to him, he has to pay at least $1-2 million from his own pocket (he didn't tell which boxer it is), just to get the fight going. And so again, we hated Arum but his match and cherry picking fights for his cash cow, but at least this guy is very intelligent and knows when to step in to make the fight happen, (for sure just like what he did on the Floyd and Manny fight, the biggest PPV ever).