By: Sean Crose
No doubt there are plenty of people out there enjoying Sunday’s Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul pay per view card. Many others, however, are unable to see the card – even if they’ve paid for it – because Showtime’s app is malfunctioning (or worse). Vague messages regarding things like server errors are popping up throughout the viewer universe, leading to fan anger and perhaps considerable trouble for Showtime, which is broadcasting the card live. As of press time, the card still wasn’t available to some customers. Even if the Showtime app somehow returned to its proper functioning level however, fans would have missed the undercard bouts regardless.
The truth is that Showtime may very well lose quite a bit of money on this fiasco, for refunds may well legally be in order. There’s also little doubt that the very famous Mr. Mayweather and Mr. Paul will be unhappy with all of this, especially when one considers many fighters are financially rewarded through a percentage of pay per view buys. Then there’s the question of Showtime’s reputation. The network is set up for other pay per view events in the future. And then, of course, there’s the black eye this whole things gives to boxing.
While people who follow the sweet science closely tended to roll their eyes at the exhibition bout between Mayweather and Paul, many were satisfied that the brilliantly promoted fight was bringing new eyeballs to the sport, as Paul is a huge presence on social media. So much for that idea, some might say. It’s not hard to see a large percentage of younger would-be viewers once again keeping away from boxing after experiencing a situation like the one many have been confronted with tonight. Hopefully those who will have gotten to see the entire card will have been satisfactorily entertained.
In truth, Mayweather-Paul seemed like a hard sell to begin with. Mayweather is well past his prime, and Paul isn’t exactly known for his ring skills. The event looked on it’s way to being a huge success, however, after a brilliant marketing strategy made Mayweather-Paul the talk of social media. People, to put it plainly, were curious. How curious people will be for boxing’s next major bout, be it novelty fight or a top tier event between contemporary powerhouses, now remains to be seen. Hopefully this will be the last time a broadcast apps falls apart when its most in demand. Boxing can’t afford too many nights like this one.
