Boxing writer: "steep price discounts and ticket giveaways" at Barclays & MSG already pointed to downturn; pandemic makes it worse

Boxing maven Thomas Hauser, in a 6/21/20 essay titled Will Boxing Fans Come Back To The Arenas?, noted that, even before the coronavirus pandemic ended public events, fights around the country weren't selling well:

Arum knows of what he speaks. When Tyson Fury fought Otto Wallin at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas last year, there were more comps (3,898) than tickets sold (3,577). Recent fights at Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center saw steep price discounts and ticket giveaways. Canelo Alvarez (boxing's biggest draw) fought his last two fights in Las Vegas with empty seats in the arena.

Note: I haven't been following boxing closely, but when boxing debuted, then arena CEO Brett Yormark gave away 1,000 tickets but claimed "we did not comp."

Going forward?

Hauser thinks that attending future boxing matches will be a low priority for a public facing financial pressure, especially since it lacks the narrative of team sports.

Moreover, he writes, "realistically speaking, many sports fans won't return to arenas until there's an effective vaccine to combat COVID-19."

That could be a year away, or far, far longer. And Hauser warns:

Sports are addictive for their fan base. It's hard to shake an addiction, but it can be done. The more time goes by, the more fans will adapt to life without sports and say, "I can live without attending a fight."

Then again, as one fan tweeted in response to Hauser, "Humanity is through worse pandemics than Covid 19 and life always continued eventually."