September 2010. The World Series of Boxing is coming. INTRODUCING THE WORLD SERIES OF BOXING A NEW WAY FORWARD FOR AIBA PROFESSIONAL BOXING For more information, e-mail: wsb@aiba.org AIBA 2009 An AIBA property
THE WORLD SERIES OF BOXING IS COMING Boxing is one of humankind s original forms of athletic sport. Boxing blends raw athleticism, heritage, artistic craft, honor, glamour, and a tradition in popular culture as a story canvas for the struggles and triumphs of life. Boxing boasts millions of devotees. It has competitors and fans in every corner of the world. Yet the sport has not gained from a self-sustaining structure. Aspiring boxers start in grassroots clubs, where the best become sponsored by national federations. Through these federations, boxers can make their ways to the pinnacle of the sport of boxing: the World Boxing Championships and the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, moving into the professional ranks has meant giving up the chances to compete for your country in future World Championships and Olympic Games. September 2010 will signal a new beginning in the global boxing world. It marks the launch of the World Series of Boxing (WSB), which is initiated by the International Boxing Association (AIBA). The World Series of Boxing will be the only professional series in which boxers will retain their Olympic eligibility and federations will receive a return on their investments in boxers. The World Series of Boxing will crown both individual boxers and city-based teams as world champions. The WSB boxers will compete within teams across three global regions: Europe, Asia, and the Americas. AIBA s vision for the World Series of Boxing is to preserve the best of the new style of professional boxing while removing its negative elements. The WSB will reunite the broader boxing world and its grassroots foundation, provide a bridge between Olympic boxing and professional boxing, and help the sport of boxing reclaim its noble position in sport at all levels. As the IOC recognized world governing body for boxing, with 196 national federations, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) has formed WSB SA. AIBA and IMG, the world s premier sports, entertainment and media company, have also entered into a comprehensive commercial partnership, including a minority equity stake for IMG in WSB SA. This partnership will combine AIBA s expertise and authority in world boxing and sports management with IMG s sports marketing expertise, global reach, and extensive media rights business in order to help ensure that the World Series of Boxing reaches devoted boxing fans around the world.
COMPETITION The World Series of Boxing will be an annually recurring, global competition featuring franchises in three regional conferences: ASIA, EUROPE, AND THE AMERICAS. Each region will initially be comprised of FOUR CITY-BASED FRANCHISES, and each franchise will field a SQUAD OF 10 BOXERS across the FIVE WEIGHT CLASSES designated by AIBA. WORLD SERIES OF BOXING STRUCTURE The competition will be comprised of THREE PHASES: A REGULAR SEASON of league matches between franchise teams, A PLAY-OFF SERIES, and, finally INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS for each weight class. TEAM COMPETITION Teams in each region will compete against each other during the regular season. Each team will play its regional rivals four times twice at home and twice away resulting in a total of 12 matches per team. Each match will consist of five individual bouts, including one at each weight class. The top team from each of the three regions, plus a fourth (2nd-best finisher) team will face each other in a play-off format to determine the World Championship team. INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS The individual championships for each weight class will take place after the conclusion of the play-off series. The top two boxers in the regular season will compete for the individual title of World Champion. THE FIVE WEIGHT CATEGORIES Bantam Light Middle Light Heavy Heavy AS A PROFESSIONAL BOXING LEAGUE, THE COMPETITION RULES AND REGULATIONS WILL INCLUDE: Each match between teams will consist of five bouts (one per weight class). each bout will consist of five rounds. Rounds will consist of three minutes in length. each evening of boxing will last approximately two hours, which is ideal for television programming and for the spectator experience. a manual scoring system will be used with three judges operating a 10 point system; the scores will be announced at the end of each bout but there will not be any live scoring during the bout itself. The referee will play no part in the judging. The boxers will not wear vests or headgear. The glove weights will be 8 oz. and 10 oz. (depending on weight categories) the ring size will be the same as for AIBA competitions americas europe asia 4 teams 4 teams 4 teams winner winner play-off Series/final individual championships winner + best 2nd place finisher THE INAUGURAL SEASON OF THE WORLD SERIES OF BOXING WILL TAKE PLACE DURING 2010/2011 Sep Dec 2010 Regular Season Jan 2011 Play-Off Series Feb Mar 2011 Exhibition Matches Apr 2011 Individual Championship Bouts OFFICIALS Professionalism, impartiality and fairness of the referees and judges will be critical to the success of the World Series of Boxing. The WSB will appoint a pool of referees and judges in each of the three regions, and these officials will be the only officials entitled to participate in judging and refereeing WSB matches in that region for each season. WSB will choose the most qualified AIBA referees and judges, educate and train them in the WSB competition format at the AIBA boxing academy and manage them centrally in order to ensure impartiality.
B OX E R S The World Series of Boxing will be the only professional boxing league that allows professionals to retain their Olympic eligibility. Under certain conditions, other boxers who turned professional after Beijing 2008 will also be eligible to take part in the WSB. Amateur boxers are traditionally trained and developed by national boxing federations around the world. These national member federations operate under the umbrella of AIBA and have access to top amateur boxers in each country. As such, franchises will have priority rights to draft top boxers in their respective countries. Aspiring boxers around the world will now be able to compete professionally without having to sacrifice their dreams of competing on behalf of their countries at the Olympic Games. The WSB program will provide competitors with reliable income and a guaranteed schedule of bouts, which will help each boxer to grow and mature his style and technique.
FRANCHISEES The franchisees will enter into a franchise agreement with the World Series of Boxing SA (WSB SA) including the following provisions: The ownership in perpetuity of a WSB franchise Annual franchise fee payable to the WSB SA THE WORLD SERIES OF BOXING will be organised on a city-based FRANCHISE SYSTEM. Obligations regarding the engagement by the franchise of a specific number of boxers, trainers, and team management Obligations regarding the provision of training facilities and medical support to a minimum standard Arrangements regarding the travel, accommodation, and other costs, which will be met by the franchisee Details regarding the franchisee s share of the centralised commercial rights Obligations on the franchisee to ensure that the venue for the matches has a WSB look and feel, which will be developed by WSB, including specific venue standards, the use of large closed-circuit video screens, pre- and post-bout entertainment and other aspects of the promotion of the matches The commercial rights of the WSB will be divided between the franchisees and WSB SA. The intention is to provide franchises with a fair distribution of revenues, while allowing individual franchises the freedom to manage and maximise the commercial potential of their own WSB franchise. In total, this mechanism is designed to maximise the total revenues for the entire competition, resulting in the greatest revenues for each franchise. The split of commercial rights between wsb and the franchisee is as follows: WSB SA Media/Broadcast Rights Digital Rights Title Sponsorship/Presenting Rights Betting/Gaming/Video Gaming Rights Play-Off Final and Individual Championships All Rights FRANCHISEE Promoter s rights (home matches) Tickets Catering Concessions Local Sponsorship Corner Posts Ringside Banner Boxers Robes/Trunks Round Cards Entrance Tunnel Interview Backdrops Other Rights Hospitality Licensing Merchandising FRANCHISEE REVENUES Ticketing - six home matches per season Sponsorship - derived from the sponsorship rights available to each franchise Hospitality - from packages sold by franchisees to home matches Prize Money a prize fund will be split by teams which participate in the play-offs Licensing & Merchandising - from the sale of apparel and other merchandise Exhibition Matches matches organised by the franchises during the off-season Centralized Rights - share of WSB central revenues from the sale of broadcast and media rights, centralised sponsorship rights Revenues will depend greatly on location, since regional appetites for sponsorship rights, commercial and TV rights, and tickets will vary. FRANCHISEE COSTS Boxer Renumeration a salary and prize money for each successful bout Management and staff salaries Training and medical costs Marketing and promotional costs Venue rental fees Travel and accommodation expenses for away matches FRANCHISEE SELECTION The criteria that will be used by the WSB in selecting the franchisees will include Financial security Potential of home market to generate media rights fees Experience of organising sporting events and in managing professional sports teams Long-term business commitment to WSB Access to appropriate training facilities Potential spectator or fan base for home matches A detailed franchise prospectus will be circulated to potential franchisees in March 2009. This will detail specific rights and obligations of the franchisees as well as the potential costs and expenses of owning a franchise.
THE WORLD SERIES OF BOXING AND NATIONAL BOXING FEDERATIONS The World Series of Boxing aims to provide great benefit to national boxing federations that will play a critical role in the development of the WSB. Each federation will reserve and determine which boxers to offer to the WSB, which will then finalize the terms between the boxers and franchise organizations. Federations will receive a predetermined, annual commission fee for each of their boxers who participate in the WSB, with AIBA providing additional development assistance to these federations. As the World Series of Boxing aims to create a new way forward for professional boxing, the growth of the WSB will directly benefit national federations by helping to grow overall interest in boxing. A healthier sport will enable federations to encourage more grassroots participation, to gain enhanced support from their respective governments and National Olympic Committees, and to return a share of their boxers professional success to the foundation of boxing in their countries.