There was a short commercial on NBC this weekend during the Pittsburg Steelers and Baltimore Ravens playoff game advertising boxing coming to the network in March. The advertisement was extremely vague and it made no mention of potential fights, locations, or even promotions/promoters, but it’s clear that the ad was in reference to NBC’s deal with Al Haymon.
The ad has sparked a ton of new claims and rumors began flying soon after the commercial aired. There have even been reports that the NBC boxing ads will get airtime during the Super Bowl, which is being broadcasted on NBC this year. If there is any truth to this then it would go a long way in NBC proving their seriousness towards the Haymon venture, as well as the confidence they have in the product.
NBC has already proven their assurance by guaranteeing Haymon dates on the national network and not just NBC Sports, although there are dates on NBC Sports as well.
Haymon is somewhat of a recluse when it comes to the media and he has been more than secretive when it comes to this NBC deal. However, NBC as a machine will want to start promoting and advertising their product soon, securing dates with locations and actual fight cards, because unlike Haymon they make use of the benefits of advertisement.
We’ll know soon how deep NBC’s ties are and how committed Haymon is to bringing big time boxing back to network TV.
