Boxing Perspective: No National Broadcast In Canada?

This past Friday, August 15, 2008, a boxing gala took place on the grounds of River Cree Resort and Casino in Canada.

What was so special about the boxing event held in the Edmonton suburb of Enoch, Alberta? It was the first time that a pay-per view service provider broadcasted a boxing event nationwide in Canada.

Hennessy Sports, a British promotional company, made a deal with Super Channel to broadcast the gala from Alberta. The concern here is the inefficiency of Canadian promotional companies to take a proactive measure to secure a deal with a nationwide pay per view channel provider.

This has long been a problem in Canada, which is full of small and scattered boxing
promoters across the country.

The big promoters such as G.Y.M., Interbox and Orion Sports Management, are content with local broadcasts and the occasional nationwide coverage from the Canadian Television Sports Network.

In Canada, there are large regional boxing promoters that carve a niche for themselves in a specific province.

From Quebec, there is Groupe Yvon Michel (G.Y.M) with current boxers Jean Pascal and Joachim Alcine, and also Interbox, with current boxers Lucien Bute and Adrian Diaconu.

From Western Ontario, there is Orion Sports Management with boxer Steve Molitor and from Edmonton, there is K.O. Boxing Promotions with boxer Jelena Mrdjenovich.

Then there are the smaller boxing promoters that carve a small niche for themselves in the cities across Canada.

Why does Canada not have a national boxing promotional company?

The answer stems from a lack of interest by the regional promoters to involve themselves in unprofitable regions. The big market cities in Canada for boxing are found in four of the ten provinces.

There is no interest for Interbox to open offices nationwide if there is not enough market space for them in Ontario. Canada does not work like the United States or the United Kingdom, in that boxing is not yet a profitable venture.

It took years for G.Y.M and Interbox to become profitable and even now, there is growing interest in UFC and other forms of combat sports.

Super Channel is Canada’s only national pay-per-view television network. The broadcast company is owned by Allarco Entertainment, based in Edmonton.

For many years now, TSN and local channels had been the only medium available for promoters to showcase their athletes.

Last weekend, Hennessy Sports took advantage of the promotional situation in Canada to broadcast their fightcard, headlined by English boxer Darren Barker, to a Canadian audience.

Promoter Mick Hennessy is proud of the deal with Super Channel and this partnership could very well change the way boxing fights are transmitted in Canada. According to Sandy Perkins, V.P. of Programming for Super Channel, the company has a vision to offer a range of new and on demand sporting events that was not before available to Canadians.

Super Channel is available on all digital media outlets such as Express Vu and Star Choice across Canada, and this ensures the company with a viable audience for their exclusive programming.

This was not the first time that Hennessy Sports has ventured into Canada. On March 19, 2007, G.Y.M. and Hennessy Sports teamed up to promote a bout in Montreal. The only television station that was present to broadcast the gala was Radio Canada.

The local television channel had the capacity to broadcast the event regionally, which means that people outside of the province would not be able to see the event.

I was present at the gala and I remember the disappointment around ringside when it was announced that the match would be transmitted at a later date due to a hockey game.

The lack of interest in broadcasting the event nationwide made me realize how small the Canadian market really is when it comes to boxing.

This television deal between Super Channel and Hennessy might just change the landscape and force the promotional companies to expand their market share and enter into the agreements to broadcast events nationally.

If Hennessy Sports can venture into uncharted waters and expand it’s audience, so should our Canadian promoters.