Major broadcaster ITV back in boxing properly again it was announced tonight which will have majorly positive implications for the sport.
For a major TV company like ITV to do a deal to be properly back showing professional boxing is a tangible indication that the sport of boxing has gained considerable popularity once again, to the point that they see it as a venture worth doing for the masses.
Furthermore, for boxing not to be shown on pay per view on their main platform in the UK shows that they have been able to secure significant enough rights fees that were not thought to have existed in the not too distant past to stage quality professional match ups.
While these fees are not known or the dynamics of the deal as of yet, ITV have put out an advert that they will be showing the World Boxing Super Series on September 16th on their ITV 4 platform:
Coming up on @ITV4… pic.twitter.com/xZD4OJRczB
— ITV Sport (@ITVSport) September 4, 2017
This is what the sport has needed for a long, long time.
What’s more is this news follows similarly big news last week in the US that ESPN will be showing 16 major boxing cards per year as part of a new deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank.
I remember when I started our own platform here at BoxingNewsAndViews.com a little over two years ago telling people that this day would come.
When big broadcasters would be back in the sport of boxing and that boxing would no longer be just a niche sport shown on pay per view mediums.
Well, humbly speaking of course, I take great pleasure in being right 🙂
This is great news for fight fans who will continue to see more and more of their favorite sport now on major TV networks and platforms on both sides of the Atlantic.
This just goes to show that if promoters put on the fights that fans demand on a consistent basis like they have been doing for the most part in 2017, which has been a great year for boxing to be fair, that the powers that be in the TV world sit up and take notice.
Simply put, there is demand for boxing once again outside of just boxing fans.
Expect more and more new fans coming to the sport once again off the back of today’s and last week’s news in the US.
(Top image source and credit: ITV Sport Twitter)
