In Yahoo! Sports’ final review for the year that was in boxing, Kevin Iole suggested that boxers were paid too much. The comments reflect several known issues in the world of sports journalism including the fact that esteemed journalists are constrained by the things they cover.
Certainly, there is a need to be measured with takes in sports. Access is paramount for “insiders” and if you have followed the trajectory of the likes of Brian Windhorst, Josina Anderson, Mike Florio, Adam Schefter and the like they have the scoop due to their relationships with agents and front office people. Specifically, Windhorst who made his career by covering and getting close with LeBron James’ inner circle.
Recently, MLB reporter Ken Rosenthal was released from the MLB Network due to his criticisms of Rob Manfred in 2020. Rosenthal has other jobs and opportunities so we shouldn’t feel too bad for him, but it does show that the journalists that report on a sport cannot be so independent in their takes.
Also, this from NBA writer David Aldridge:
I worked for Turner Sports, which operated NBA TV & https://t.co/tv9kc58LDa in partnership w/the league, for 14 years. You know what David Stern did when I wrote or said something he didn’t like? He called me up and cussed me out. But he didn’t go to my bosses & try to fire me.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) January 4, 2022
So, journalistic freedom may not be so free.
Enter the world of writing in combat sports. Many internet trolls and skeptics already demonize MMA and Boxing reporting as trolls living in a basement. There are many rumors abound on social media. Of course, a lot of these reports eventually resurface in articles of ‘mainstream’ sites after they are ‘shined’ with a couple key quotes from people in the industry.
Kevin Iole has been known to write pieces which serve those promotions and individuals he covers. That is not a knock on the writer in general. But it is a comment on the presentation of what he writes when not doing a feature or report on a person or event. The same could be said for the likes of John Morgan at MMA Junkie. Certainly, Morgan seems like an all-around good-guy that loves the sport. But, there’s a reason why he always gets the first question at Dana White press conferences and it’s not because he presents hard-hitting, adversarial coverage on the sport.
Iole states in his piece, “Too many fighters in the sport are vastly overpaid. It’s great for them, but hurts the sport as a whole because it’s difficult to make fights.”
I would invite everyone to read the article and section in total but this sentence alone is astounding giving the current state of combat sports pay. If you have been following the finances of the fight game you know boxers at the top of the card make a great deal more than those at the bottom. Even then, some boxers are compensated by their promoters and the reported purse doesn’t mean much to them (e.g., Brandun Lee). But, the line suggests that boxers (and maybe their representatives) are the problem for asking too much. When, in fact, it is a promoter that is paying the amount. and they are as culpable (and maybe even more since they are looking at profit margins) as fight camps for declining a fight due to the money.
Iole suggests incentivizing the fighter to perform based on bonuses for hitting certain numbers at the gate and/or television viewership. While he does make an egalitarian suggestion that promoters do not keep the money it would not pay fighters but “redistribute” it among those others who draw it does not address the first part. Promoters would likely keep money if they don’t have to pay fighters (See UFC).
Moreover, the suggestion relies on numbers that are sometimes hard to access (i.e., television ratings and gate receipts). It also relies on attendance of fans, which, as we know has been disturbed due to the pandemic. In addition, relying on television ratings presupposes that the promoters are thinking in the best interests of fighters when entering into media deals. I do not believe fighters are at the table when a promoter negotiates with DAZN, ESPN, FOX or any other outlet. If there is a redistribution of revenues, one alternative is for fighters to get a split of the sponsorship and marketing deals (maybe PPV although that is not certain). That would seem like the best way to address this “redistribution” without relying on an unknown variables such as attendance and tv ratings.
I give credit to the suggestion by Iole but this piece rings too hollow in the belief boxers are paid too much and the “redistribution” presupposes that promoters and network execs will do so. The “free market” allows for fighters to get paid as much as a promoter wants to pay them. It is unfortunate that boxers at the bottom of the card are not paid more money but that again is on the promoter and the fighters’ representatives to come up with something for the fighter. The pay scale is always changing for fighters and it goes without saying that they are putting the most on their line (i.e., their health) when they fight. This is, and will always be the conundrum for fight sports. Fighters at the top want to make as much as they can at the likely expense of those up-and-coming fighters that are paid minimal wages.
From a cynical point, I think Iole’s suggestion seems to serve a certain segment of his stakeholders. To say fighters are overpaid is a jarring statement that he paints with a broad brush. As someone that also covers the UFC, its clear what he sees (and should know) about that company’s business structure which pays a nominal amount of its overall revenues to fighters despite having financial success.
It also is another example of how mainstream popularity is paramount for writing on a national basis. Moreover, it pleases a portion of the audience that relies on good publicity.
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