Can too much of a good thing be bad for you? Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza seems to think so, for boxing fans at least. The cable giant’s president of sports and event programming believes that there’s an oversaturation of the sport by new streaming and cable services will hurt the “sweet science” over the long run.
“I have concerns that this is a business opportunity,” Espinoza explained recently to a crowd at the MGM Grand. “And what I mean by that is when you launch a streaming service, you need content and you need tonnage. You need hours and hours of content.” Although Espinoza didn’t name DAZN he was clearly referring to the streaming service as public enemy #1.
“It’s just, look, there are regional fights, there are national fights,” Espinoza continued. “And part of the problem is you’re tuning in, you’re not sure exactly what you’re getting. And when a viewer tunes in and expects to see something the quality of a Badou Jack or a ‘Tank’ Davis fight, and they’re getting something very different, [it’s] doubtful that they’re gonna come back and try it a second time.”
Whether you agree or disagree with Espinoza you should take what he says with a grain of salt as “the suit” clearly has a horse in the race as evidenced by name-dropping Davis and Badou as both boxers are set to headline Showtime’s December 28th card.
