Business of Sport: DAZN helps KO uncertainty for Taylor-Serrano II in Croke Park
Golden tickets: Katie Taylor celebrates her victory at Madison Square Garden with Eddie Hearn and Brian Peters. Pic:INPHO/Matchroom Boxing/Ed Mulholland
DAZN — the $4bn sports streaming service that owns the rights to Katie Taylor’s fights — has moved the possibility of a Taylor-Serrano clash in Croke Park a step closer
DAZN confirms that a record 1.5m subscriptions - across 170 markets worldwide - were sold for last Saturday night’s fight in Madison Square Garden - with more downloads of the service in Ireland than for any other sports app on IOS or Android. It is estimated that four people watch each subscription, meaning an estimated 6m viewers across 170 countries worldwide made Taylor-Serrano the most-watched female fight in history.
Fears that a Dublin rematch would be incompatible with the platform’s valuable US audiences were dismissed in comments by DAZN to The Pitch.
When asked if such a fight could take place in Ireland despite the late-night demands for a fight in the US, DAZN’s Global head of platform communications, Fred Mellor, emphatically responded: “Of course. We are huge believers in, and admirers of Katie, and will continue to support her dream to fight (Serrano) again, in Ireland."
The Department of Sport has also declared its wishes for the bout to proceed. Minister of Sport Jack Chambers told The Pitch that it was his expressed position and “hope such a bout can be organised”, in comments which may be designed to allay fears expressed by Eddie Hearn earlier this week that he had concerns about “political problems” preventing the fight.
It’s not clear, but it’s likely that Hearn was talking about the fallout around Daniel Kinahan — who has now been shunned publicly by world boxing — following sanctions and a warrant by the US Treasury Department.
With Kinahan seemingly out of world boxing, the Government has the comfort to publicly support professional boxing which has been tarnished by the alleged Dublin cartel boss and his involvement in the sport — although never with Katie Taylor.
Minister of State Chambers said he hoped Katie Taylor could bring her “undisputed ability and prowess in the ring” to Ireland for a rematch.
“It would be absolutely fantastic to see the two fight again in Dublin, in front of Katie’s home crowd, where she would receive phenomenal support and I hope such a bout can be organised,” he said.
Such a fight taking place here can only happen through a confluence of various interests, and with the broadcaster, promoters, fighters, and venue all in lodge, the chances of a Taylor-Serrano fight taking place are growing.
Political support is also key, particularly in a country which does not have a record in staging such mega boxing events, and will certainly add confidence to all.
Croke Park has still not been contacted by any sides involved in the fight but is enthusiastic about such a proposition.
In comments to the Irish Examiner this week, Croke Park boss and GAA Commercial Director Peter McKenna said the “mood music” around such a fight happening was hugely positive.
With no special permits or permissions required for sporting events at the venue, and with the GAA season ending much earlier this year, the stadium would be available for dates in August and September.
The Pitch has been informed that the Aviva Stadium will not be declaring an interest in staging the event, leaving the way open for GAA HQ as the only outdoor option.
Hearn did not comment further when his Matchroom Boxing firm was contacted, but Government support should certainly soften his view which was unusually pessimistic from the normally assured master-promoter.
“There’s been some political problems within boxing, we haven’t done shows there, there hasn’t been a lot of boxing, there’s a lot of aggravation and hoops to jump through,” said Hearn.
However, in the same interview on ‘The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani’ he added: “This is Ireland’s greatest ever fighter, maybe their greatest ever sports star. How can she not fight in Ireland? She deserves it so much.”
It now seems that such a fight taking place falls squarely on Hearn and Amanda Serrano’s ‘Most Valuable Promotions’ partner, Jake Paul, coming to a deal which is fitting for all.
SPORT IRELAND’s sponsorship of the Irish Open, at a cost of €10m to the Government, remains unaffected by Horizon’s elevation as headline sponsor.
The statutory body has confirmed to The Pitch that the deal remains in place, despite the arrival of the long-term commercial partner and a sizeable increase in sponsorship valuations to the tournament over the next six years.
The Irish Open, which will take place at the K Club in 2023, 2025, and 2027 will see the values of its overall sponsorship reach more than €50m, with an additional €70m in PR and media enhancement to the DP World Tour event and its host courses.
Sport Ireland has sponsored the Irish Open since 2016, entering the market with an initial €250k investment, rising to €500k and then increasing to €750k for its third year.
For the first three years of Irish Open sponsorship — which doesn’t include the 2017 or 2020 competitions, which were held in the North — statutory investment from Sport Ireland and Failte Ireland was worth a total of €3m. Figures released to The Pitch show that Sport Ireland exclusively took over this investment in 2021 with a €1m payment per annum, which will stay in place until Ryder Cup year 2027.
Sport Ireland stated that its sponsorship “arrangement was in place prior to Horizon being named as headline sponsor of the event, and is independent of all other sponsorship arrangements for the event”.
It added: “Sport Ireland entered into this sponsorship agreement with a view to promoting the sport of golf in Ireland.
“In coordination with Golf Ireland, Sport Ireland has used this opportunity for positive exposure of competing professional players who have been previous members of the Team Ireland Golf Scheme and the associated development pathways of Golf Ireland.”
Meanwhile, Sport Ireland will today dedicate approximately €11m in High Performance Programme and International Carding Scheme Funding, as it publishes its Tokyo 2020 Games Review.
For jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, all the talk is about a quadruple. But in the boardroom at Anfield, and at FSG in Boston, the conversation is all about a doubling of value for its headline sponsorship.
Reports in recent days have stated the cost of the club’s shirt space will be increased from €47m to €95m when the current deal with UK bank ‘Standard Chartered’ runs out at the end of next season.
According to Mailsport’s valuation of the new sponsorship deal, Liverpool will lead Manchester City in shirt sponsorship — City’s deal with Ethiad Airways is valued at approximately €80m per year for the current Premier League champions.
Manchester United are third with a €55m per year deal with tech brand TeamViewer, while Tottenham Hotspur through AIA (insurance) and Arsenal (Emirates) both charge €47m per year.
Chelsea and their frustrated partner ‘3’, who despite ending their deal in the wake of the Ukraine invasion by Russia, continue to feature on club shirts, were also tied in with a €47m deal.
Matej Kraus, who is in charge of Research at Sponsor.Online — a leading professional football sponsorship platform partnered by Christian Karembeu — expects ‘Standard Chartered’ deal for Liverpool to be extended.
“Liverpool, through the incredible success of their own brand and now a third Champions League final appearance in five years, have the most perfect leverage to ask for a premium for their rights,” Kraus told The Pitch.
