Top Rank President on boxing bubble: ‘There's no wiggle room when it comes to safety
Top Rank President Todd duBoef joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel to weigh in on the state of boxing amid the pandemic.
Video Transcript
- Sports has had a lot of challenges getting back on the field, or in the boxing ring, in the case of our next guest. But we are seeing a boxing bubble that has actually meant a return for boxing. Top Rank Boxing became one of the first sports to return to work in June inside a bubble in Las Vegas. Let's talk about how it's been going with Todd duBoef. He is Top Rank president. He's joining us from Colorado.
So you guys have had what, about a dozen fights since you came back? How has it been working out? How have you managed to keep the participants coronavirus free? And what kind of precautions have you needed to take out-- give us sort of the latest status report?
TODD DUBOEF: So I mean, we've matured already. We're over about seven weeks into it. We still have the bubble set up. We're not doing-- we're going to be coming back to the bubble in the next two weeks.
We actually were able to bring live fights immediately starting June 9 to ESPN, and it was a real difficult, arduous task. It couldn't have been done without the state of Nevada and the MGM. And the key was this high throughput lab, the quick results on the testing, where we could do the testing very quickly and get the results within four hours.
We did, over the last six weeks, probably 3,000 tests. Probably had about 12 positive tests that came back. Largely most people were asymptomatic, but when you enter that bubble, it's something unlike anything. It's-- it's eerie. It reminds you of the state that we're in. But right now we're-- the travel ban makes it a little more difficult with some of the athletes, trying to get guys from foreign countries into the United States. But we're still up and running and ready to fire away.
- Todd, I was curious what the boxers are saying about what it's like for them. You know, I realize they're focused on knocking the other guy out, but, you know, it's a whole different world for them without the kinds of loud noises you would get with the packed arenas.
TODD DUBOEF: It's eerie for all of us. You go in there, and it's-- you know, if you're in that-- we actually-- we're-- we're piping in fans' engagement back into the arena with this Hear Me Cheer app, because it's so quiet. And really we created a studio.
The fighters-- I think one of the biggest issues for the fighters is they don't have entourages. So they only had-- we allowed them to bring themself and two other people from the corner, because you know, as we see, you know, the-- the amount of people that are gonna be in an environment only increases the probability of having infection or-- or having somebody with the virus. So we went-- they're-- they're happy to be making a living at this point where it's hard to get people back, but it is a very different environment.
- I just wanted to ask you about any kind of feedback that you've gotten from the fans in terms of just making it more interactive, making it a little bit less weird. I mean, I've seen MLB games where they've got cardboard cutouts of people in the stadium. I think that's maybe one extreme, but what else have you experimented with or thought of doing?
TODD DUBOEF: So what we did was a couple of things. So fortunately, we didn't have to go to a stadium. You know, when you go to a stadium or big arenas, you have this voluminous environment that you have to fill.
So we-- if you watch the NBA, I think the NBA has done a wonderful job of creating a glorified studio. We did the same thing. We amplified the audio-- amplified the audio so you can really hear the punches. You could hear the corners kind of going-- you know, talking to the fighters and talking, you know, very clearly-- and the punching impact.
And then we kind of surrounded the ring because it was a studio. Now we created a studio. We surrounded the ring with really robust LED panels, and that kind of created a different more depth than seeing these big swaths of empty seats, which is kind of, you know-- makes it feel disconnected.
- I want to know if you guys took a inspiration-- and, you know, forgive me if this is kind of strange, but from professional wrestling with the way they're dealing with the lack of crowds, right? They've kind of managed to shrink the size of their arenas to make it appear as though there's less space, and it's a more intimate setting. Is that something that you guys looked at prior to this?
TODD DUBOEF: Yeah, we knew exactly how to do it. And fortunately, the WWE's lighting director does our stuff, too. So he kind of knew. He had a preview of coming attractions. They had done a couple events previously, and we learned from it.
We used more-- more robust and integrated LED panels surrounding that space so that-- you know, remember, the announcers are not ringside. They're not-- they're calling it from their homes. They're calling it everywhere.
So we would call up to, you know, a screen that had all of them engaging. We actually had a gym that we built next door in the studio. And you would get-- we would show the fighters actually training while fights were going on, because this environment that we created was an office, a cafeteria.
It was a gym, a studio. We had a game room. And that's what a bubble really is. The "New York Times" immersed with us early on, and they did a terrific piece on what it was like to be in.
- Todd, I want to ask you, speaking of previewing coming attractions, Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder fought for the second time in February. That was a record breaking match in terms of gate receipts. They're scheduled to fight, what, in December, I believe? Is that still gonna be going on? And by that time, do you think there will be fans there?
TODD DUBOEF: Yeah, that has been the question that has been-- we've been grappling with ever since we rescheduled the date to October into December. We're-- it's scheduled now tentatively for December 19. We have both the MGM on hold and the Allegiant, which is the new football stadium, on hold with the hopes that, if we could get ourselves to a place where we're doing some type of ticket sales, that we could have some social distancing, where you're putting 15,000 people in a 60,000 seat arena.
But, you know, I think, you know, certain jurisdictions are gonna be embracing and be more-- be able to have the latitude to sell tickets quicker. And I think that's what we're seeing across the board. Ideally, we'd love to see that revenue stream fill in, which would be the live gates. As you know, the-- their last fight set the all-time heavyweight record with just about $17 million. It's a hard number to walk away from, and it's a hard number to look at when the fighters are participating in the revenue.
- I guess how do you ensure that fighters and their, you know, I guess, people in their corner, people they interface with are staying in the bubble and not exposing themselves-- not going out to bars? I mean, we've seen, you know, what happens when a bubble appears to be done right with the NBA, and then what happens when there's no bubble at all with the MLB, and the possibility that it might not even make it through the season. So how do you ensure that the boxers and their, I guess, contributors or-- or their-- their corner people--
TODD DUBOEF: Their corner man-- yeah, their corner man.
- Yeah, they actually stay safe?
TODD DUBOEF: Yeah, right. Everybody their man whether-- so what we've done is-- the little bit of the difference is we don't need to-- we were doing two fights a week. So we were-- we were in a rotating schedule. So you entered the bubble for about a four to five day period, and then you're out, right?
Where the NBA, they're actually living there for a couple months, so it's-- it's a bit of a situation. So we took over 120 rooms in a whole section of the MGM Grand, and we monitor it with cameras, security, and police. So once you enter, you got your test. You were quarantined in a room. If you were-- you pass. You're now in it. You get processed with a wristband, and you go forward.
If at any time we see somebody leave the-- the bubble parameters, they're-- they're escorted out, and they're no longer allowed into it. So there-- it doesn't matter who it is. We had to escort the father out of a fighter who trained his son, and his son was in a-- in a fight, and he didn't have a trainer. But he broke the rule. He felt it would be kind of nice to go play a little at the tables one night, and he didn't-- then he compromised himself. His fighter-- his son still had a fight.
So we've-- we monitor it carefully. There is no wiggle room. We do not have room for wiggle. If you-- you pierce that bubble, you're gone. It's it. No wiggle room there.
- Gotta to save the gambling for after the match and the bubble is done. Thank you so much, Todd. Todd duBoef is president of Top Rank Boxing. Great to hear about what's going on there. Appreciate it.
