Premier Boxing Champions
Live Event and Network Broadcast Series
There was a time…when every kid knew the names of the best fighters in the world. Ali…Frazier...Leonard…Duran. Boxing was primetime…and the world came to a standstill with the sound of the opening bell. Young and old gathered ‘round…glued to the action with voices like Cosell and McKay making the call.
Thirty years have gone by since the last network primetime televised bout…but in 2015 the game is changing. Championship boxing is back in primetime…and it has a new name…Premier Boxing Champions (PBC). The PBC was created for television by Haymon Boxing and is set to deliver boxing back to the masses in a way like never before.
Boxing is the original king of combat sports…but after thirty years of pay per view…how do you bring these great athletes back front and center…to take their rightful place as mainstream legends.
To make PBC stick…the team had to put the best fighters in the ring, packaged with a modern day television and live arena experience like nothing else in sports.
Deals were struck for 45 dates…all to be broadcast live across 5 networks…NBC, CBS, ESPN, NBCSN, and Spike. Along with the broadcast design, a travelling live venue experience had to be created… the equivalent of mounting a major rock and roll tour. With the first fight drawing near, the team quickly brought on one of the nation’s leading executive producers, Michael Marto of Executive Visions Inc.
With over thirty years of producing complex integrated platforms combining live event production and network broadcasts, Marto is one of a few with the credits for such an endeavor. Sizing up the challenge, he methodically assembled a PBC dream team including…broadcast and live experience designer Bruce Rodgers of Tribe Design, a star in the world of Super Bowl Halftime shows and major rock shows… audio visionary Mario Educate, founder of Onstage Audio and Media Solutions… Lighting Designer John Featherstone of Lightswitch…and set fabricator Eric Eastland of All Access.
Collaborating with PBC and network executives, Marto and the team dug-in to create an experience to match PBC’s grand vision.
Says Marto, "We believe if we're going to turn this sport back into something that resonates with the coveted 18-49 television audience, the viewing experience has to be extraordinary, like the NFL or the Olympic games. To do that, of course, you have to start with great fights. But it’s also everything we’ve built around the fights that creates a completely immersive experience, one that works for the live audience, and translates directly to the television audience as well. This is the new modern Gladiator Dome and it is wrapped with modern technology. Your senses will be engaged right from the start.“
Hanging high above the arena floor is an imposing LED scoreboard, surrounded by two colossal ringed structures…one built of hi-res LED panels for dramatic visual effect, and another to support the hundreds of intelligent lighting instruments and 32 HD cameras to track the fight from all angles.
Entering the arena, fighters emerge onto a giant stage, referred to as the “Wall of Thunder”… surrounded by lights, LED panels and a cascading walkway that leads down to the arena floor.
Sound plays a huge role in the experience. Key pieces of the broadcast and live event are branded by a custom PBC soundtrack, scored by preeminent film composer Hans Zimmer of Gladiator, Batman and Pearl Harbor fame. Says Marto, “We couldn’t settle, we had to create a musical theme worthy of what we were trying to do…and Hans Zimmer was the only guy I could imagine pulling it off.”
"With all of the senses peaked, fans will have the sense that something epic is about to unfold, with all the grandeur of a major sporting event.”
All of the pieces are in place for a new day in boxing, a culmination of dreams that could land the PBC right into the hearts and minds of mainstream sports fans.
Please review our PBC Insights and Ideas story.
