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BUYING AND SELLING TITLE FIGHTS The continual bidding war for world title fights between a handful of promoters and television companies is intense and participated in by a few insiders, some think by design. They reach compromises which often result in covert side agreements and "co-promotions" for future fights between other fighters they have under contract Transparency Needed - Without Exception The Nevada State Athletic Commission has "open law" Statutes which require disclosure of managers' contracts and fight contracts between fighters and promoters. That's good. A Remarkable Exception to Transparency Contracts between promoters and television are a statutory exception. Why? One can only guess. The statute is a shocker. A glaring inconsistency with open law statutes is NRS 467.137. It is titled, "Promoter and network to file copy of contracts for television rights; records of accounts and other documents; assessment of fee for license; confidentiality of contract." Further down, NRS 467.137-4. prohibits the Nevada Commission from disclosing the terms of these contracts. It states, "Each contract filed with the commission pursuant to this section is confidential and is not a public record." This is more evidence that these huge fights are perfect content for a well publicized free-market auction, open to the media. Fractionalized Bidding by Country PurseBid.com will offer opportunities to auction country-by-country for the pay-per-view rights -- bidding by all the world's promoters, hosting venues, and television companies. A geographically fractionalized auction for champions and top contenders makes sense. David Tua has more pay-per-view value in New Zealand for his fights, whereas Lennox Lewis would draw lower bids in New Zealand. Bidding for Lennox Lewis fights would be higher in England than David Tua. A Klitchko fight would certainly auction well to German bidders. Tyson's fight with Danish Brian Neilson, a relative unknown in the U.S., did not qualify for pay-per-view in the U.S., but was a record pay-per-view success in the Nordic region. Fractionalizing pay-per-view rights is the thrust of an auction of pay-per-view rights by country. Integrity A few promoters and one major sanctioning organization have admitted in depositions to rigging purse bids and suppressing the competition. PurseBid.com will offer software for ensuring secure transactions and honest arms-length deals, and unleash very broad market forces resulting in much larger purses for fighters. This will encourage all major fighters to become free agents. PurseBid.com should receive strong support from Senator McCain and Senator Reid on the Senate Commerce Committee and the sports media -- maybe even the Wall Street Journal. These marketplaces will benefit the boxing fans and everyone in the boxing business. Consensus Sports writers' stories and heart-wrenching testimonies by fighters provide strong objective evidence that there is a special need for World Champions and contenders to have access to honest and open free-market forces. PurseBid.com will provide broad access to world markets with the efficiencies of an auction. FightersOnline Home PurseBid Home |