【新闻】阿鲁姆是迫使HBO退出拳击的幕后操盘手么？

dadd杜冷丁

周四，人们一直在问阿鲁姆，他是否会像一些拳击迷一样取消订阅HBO节目么，因为这家付费有线电视网已经宣布不再播出拳击节目。

阿鲁姆告诉BoxingScene；“人们对我说，‘你现在要取消对HBO的订阅么？我说，‘见鬼，不会的，HBO有很多娱乐节目，这就是人们想要的。继承(Succession)是我见过的最好的节目之一。即使他们没有继承这些好节目，如果他们只有约翰·奥利弗的话，这也是值得的”。

现年86岁的阿鲁姆承认，HBO对这项运动的巨额投资帮助他的顶级推广公司保持了大约30年的盈利。多年来，他曾多次公开与HBO的多位高管发生争执，自上世纪90年代中期以来，顶级推广经常从这家高端有线电视网络获得七位数的许可费，并帮助打造了许多超级明星，比如梅威瑟，霍亚，帕奎奥，和库托。

这位名人堂的推广者越来越沮丧，因为HBO在拳击方面的投资不如从前，也无法提供展示其拳手所需的日期数量。他还经常与HBO首席执行官纳尔逊就潜在的拳手匹配问题发生争执。15个月前顶级推广与ESPN达成了独家内容协议，阿鲁姆将公司的拳手都带到了ESPN，这是对HBO拳击品牌衰落的又一次毁灭性打击。。

由于与ESPN合作，阿鲁姆曾经多次预测HBO不久就会退出拳击行业，所以周四宣布这一消息时他并不感到意外。

阿鲁姆说；“他们为这项运动做出了重大贡献，让拳击存活了几十年。但显而易见的是，在ESPN和福克斯的关注下，HBO觉得自己在娱乐领域可以获得更大的收益。这是一个娱乐网络，它不是一个体育网络。我曾经说过，付费网络在拳击中没有一位置，所以这并不奇怪”。

Arum: HBO Has Great Entertainment, Not Canceling Subscription

By Keith Idec

People kept asking Bob Arum on Thursday if he, like some boxing fans, would cancel his subscription to HBO now that the premium cable network has announced it will no longer broadcast boxing.

“People said to me, ‘Are you gonna cancel your subscription to HBO now?,’ ” Arum told BoxingScene.com. “And I said, ‘Hell, no! HBO has great entertainment. That’s what people want.’

“Succession is one of the best shows that I’ve seen. And even if they didn’t have Succession, and Sharper Objects, which is great, if all they had was John Oliver it would be worth the price.”

The 86-year-old Arum acknowledges that HBO’s heavy investment into the sport helped keep his promotional company, Top Rank Inc., profitable for roughly 30 years. He had numerous publicized spats with various HBO executives over the years, but Top Rank regularly received seven-figure license fees from that premium cable network and helped build such superstars as Floyd Mayweather Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto since the mid-1990s.

Arum’s decision last year to take his company’s fighters to ESPN, with which Top Rank struck an exclusive content deal 15 months ago, was another damaging blow to HBO’s diminished boxing brand.

The Hall-of-Fame promoter grew frustrated because HBO wasn’t investing as much money in boxing as it once did and couldn’t supply the amount of dates Top Rank needed to showcase its fighters. He often butted heads with HBO executive Peter Nelson regarding potential matches as well.

Since partnering with ESPN, Arum repeatedly predicted HBO would get out of the boxing business before too long. He didn’t know that announcement would be made as early as Thursday, yet he wasn’t surprised.

“They made a major contribution to the sport,” Arum said. “They kept it alive for decades. But it became obvious, with the interest of ESPN, the interest of FOX, that HBO felt that they could get a bigger bang for its buck in entertainment. It’s an entertainment network. It’s not a sports network. I’ve said for a while that the premium networks didn’t have a place in boxing. So this isn’t surprising.”

mmmm王小雅

我估摸这东西还是看庄家，HBO内尔森是主因，