By: Hans Themistode
Engaging in a big fight is like no other. Whether it’s the UFC, WWE or in this case boxing, fans will always show a level of interest when it comes to combat sports.
With the help of Joe Hands Promotions, they will ensure that not only hardcore fans, but also casuals will get the opportunity to be informed on the biggest fights of the year.
Joe Hands Promotions has partnered up with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) to distribute pay per view commercial fight content. This isn’t just a one time deal either. Both sides came to an agreement that will last for quite some time.
Nothing like this has ever been done in the sport of boxing and Joe Hands Promotions were ecstatic to be apart of such a monumental arrangement.
“This is a historic time for our company right now,” said Joe Hands Jr. “We just celebrated our 48th year in business and what better way to commemorate than with a deal that has never been done before.”
So what exactly does this deal mean for you? The consumer. Well, it means everything. For fans, they will now gain the opportunity to see pay per view events in not just their homes but in various sports bars across the world.
The promotion that will be given to some of the biggest boxing events of the year will now reach new heights.
“Usually we would do one offs and then move on to the next one, which would be roughly six months later. We were kind of an event to event promoter, but the people at PBC are doing such a terrific job of stockpiling great talented boxers that they are able to sustain and commit to doing a certain amount of fights every year. There stable of fighters and commitment to high quality pay per events made this partnership come to fruition and it just made sense.”
Taking one fight at a time is a common theme in the world pay per view promotions, but there is a down fall to it.
“Doing one fight at a time sometimes doesn’t allow every chain restaurant to get involved because they don’t have room in there budgets but when we can go to them early with a set number of fights than they jump on the opportunity. What a package deal does is it provides security, not just for us but for the PBC as well. We can now go to our chain restaurants early and tell them hey we have all of these fights coming up in the next few months, so now they get the opportunity to make a budget for it, as opposed to having a one off.”
Have you ever been to your local bar and wondered, why don’t they show more big time fights? They might offer one or two a year, but typically a boxing calendar has much more than that. Sometimes a sports bar just isn’t afforded the opportunity nor the proper budget to fit a specific fight into its schedule. Now, Joe Hands Promotions they can ensure that more sports bar are given the opportunity to show big time fights.
“We essentially want to sell the PBC fights as a subscription series, so that people know that there are a certain amount of fights coming every year. That makes their entertainment schedule in bars and restaurants much easier for them. They can commit knowing that there are a certain amount of fights coming. This is the first time we have been able to do that.”
The partnership between Joe Hands Promotions and PBC is something that they have been progressively working on.
“We promoted one particular fight for the PBC and it gave us both a chance to engage with one another. We have a very strong foundation of chain restaurants that support our events. When we did that first fight I think both sides were pleased with the results and from there, instead of doing a one off we both decided to go with a package deal.”
Promoting a pay per view event takes much more than simply putting together a few commercials and hoping that fans will see and automatically feed into them. Instead, it takes careful planning in order to make an event successful. Although boxing is the main topic because of the association with PBC, Joe Hands Promotions has years of experience with other combat sports and the results speak for themselves.
“We encourage the chain restaurants that we are associated with to promote these events in a specific way but offering them a helping hand in what has proven to be the most effective way. We emphasize the importance of putting it on their social media accounts and what to say as well. We also give them a timeline on what they should do in terms of ok, the fights are getting closer this is what we should do in order to get more awareness about this fight. But it isn’t just about us, we also get the fighters to shoot commercials promoting the fights which plays on a loop at every sports bar that is associated with us and it just gives people that constant reminder. It’s all about brand awareness. Seeing the PBC, WWE or UFC logo by millions of people that go into these establishments give fans a chance to always reminded of a big fight that is coming up.”
Although pay per view events are of the utmost importance, fights which take place that aren’t pay per view level are significant as well.
“When a fight is on Showtime network, we have a contract to sell the Showtime subscription series which is a boxing series. The pricing is different because those fights aren’t pay per view caliber but they are very good. Those subscriptions are critical because it allows customers to see that our chain restaurants show just about every event, not just big pay per view fights.”
It’s clear that Joe Hands Promotions has crossed their T’s and dotted their i’s in terms of covering all their bases. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. For years, they have provided some of the best promotional value that you will ever come across. In fact, it was Joe Hands Jr’s father, Joe Hands Senior, who ushered in a new way to watch championship level fighting decades ago.
“My dad is 83 and he is the chairman of our company. What he has done for the boxing business is incredible. When he started this business, back in the 1960s and early 70s when people wanted to watch a championship level boxing event, it was my dad who came up with the idea to start putting these fights on closed circuit television and movie theaters around the country. People would pay 20 bucks to come and see the fight at the theater because there was no pay per view television at the time. My dad was really the first pay per view guy in the theater. If it wasn’t for my dad starting that concept in the early years it would have never became what it is today.”
It’s clear why PBC has decided to have Joe Hands Promotions in their corner. The work that they have been able to do has always been top notch and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
With combat sports being accessible at an even higher rate, there is one thing that fans can’t help but be frustrated with.
Finding a bar which shows these events can be a pain. Calling your local bar to simply find out if they will be airing your favorite contest on the night can be a long process as well. Luckily for you, Joe Hands Promotions has you covered in that regard as well.
“If you go to the Joe Hands Promotion website, we have a bar finder on there, you click in the city or the zip code of where you are and immediately locations will pop up to areas that are showing the fight.”
With tons of fights at the fingertips of fans all around the world, all that needs to be done now is to sit back, relax and enjoy the violence.
