🎉 My 3 Economic Sporting Predictions for 2024

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If you are reading this today thank you so much for being here. I am excited to bring you more insight in 2024 so Seasons Greetings to you all. Today we dive into my three predictions for 2024.

Happy New Year.

REDICTION #1: BOXING

In my humble opinion, it would be an absolute tragedy if Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury end their careers without fighting each other.

After a very lean 15 years of Heavyweight Boxing in the Klitschko era, we have got to a point where the two best heavyweights are both British, both brilliant PPV sellers and are both in their prime at the same time.

It’s an incredible opportunity for British Boxing and an absolute bank-breaker for everyone involved.

To put this into perspective, since the year 2000, the Top 10 highest selling boxing fights worldwide have been:

1. 5.77m — Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao: May 2, 2015

2. 4.30m — Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor: August 26, 2017

3. 2.72m — Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson: June 8, 2002

4. 2.45m — Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.: May 5, 2007

5. 2.40m — Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton: December 8, 2007

6. 2.20m — Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Canelo Álvarez: September 14, 2013

7. 1.83m — Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker: March 31, 2018

8. 1.75m — Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton: May 2, 2009

9. 1.63m — Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko: April 29, 2017

10. 1.60m — Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr.: November 28, 2020

This man AJ has two fights in the Top 10. He is also #11 on this list just out of shot!

I do not think for a second that an Undisputed Heavyweight Title Fight with Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury does less than 2m PPV buys. Infact, my true hunch is that fight pushes towards 3m PPV buys.

It’s a golden goose. And I can’t wait to see it.

But it won’t be this year.

The fight was signed, we must remember that. An agreement was in place for the two to fight each other in the Summer of 2021 but the WBC ordered that Tyson Fury fight Deontay Wilder a third time and that fight killed the AJ fight temporarily.

Since then, AJ has lost twice. Fury gave Dereck Chisora a pension payoff and then almost messed everything up against Francis Ngannou. The cracks are showing and these guys are too rich to have the same level of hunger and discipline they needed 4 years ago.

Fury still has to come through Usyk. AJ has to get the IBF belt also. After all that Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn still have to figure out how to get this fight on.

This is a Wembley stadium fight which is always difficult as stadiums are typically only free in the summer so there are many hoops still jump through to get this on.

So when does it happen?

I want to be wrong but my guess is Mid-2025.

PREDICTION #2: FOOTBALL

My second one may be a bit dramatic but it speaks to the state of football at the highest level across Europe.

We have lived a charmed life for an entire decade where the cost of borrowing money was extremely low for almost everyone globally. Many companies grew a lot in this time and many founders built their fortunes.

Since then, the cost of borrowing money has increased sharply and this has put a significant strain on the fortunes of many football clubs. A few examples:

- Everton

I made a video on this recently but Everton are in a bad way under Farhad Moshiri. Reports suggest he has lost over £400m as the owner of Everton and were saved from extreme financial measures by staying in the Premier League in May.

It remains to be seen how they fare if a buyout doesn’t come soon.

- Lyon

Since being taken over by John Textor Olympique Lyonnais are in a very tough spot. They have lost €165m across the last two seasons and currently sit 4th bottom of Ligue 1.

They will not get European football this year and are running out of young talents to sell having already sold the likes of Malo Gusto to Chelsea last summer.

Dire straits for them.

- Inter Milan

Worst of all might be Inter Milan. On the pitch, things seem great. They are top of Serie A and qualified for the latter stages of the Champions League. Off the pitch, things are not so rosy.

They are owned by a Chinese company going through severe economic problems back home. They have amassed €400m of debt and are struggling with repayments. The San Siro is iconic but it is falling apart.

All this leads me to say my prediction is that one of the clubs in the five major leagues will file for bankruptcy - with the above clubs as a few leading candidates.

I have often asked myself if big football clubs are too big to fail. This year, we shall find out.

PREDICTION #3: MEDIA

The final one starts with some perspective from over in the US. See below a selection of active US Athletes with prominent podcasts:

• NBA - Paul George “Podcast P”

• NBA - Draymond Green “The Draymond Green Show”

• NFL - Travis Kelce “New Heights”

• NBA - Carmelo Anthony “Brooklyn at 7pm”

There are many more too. But we can stop at 4 for now. Now see a list of retired US Athletes building media empires:

• NBA - JJ Redick

• NFL - Pat McAfee

• NBA - Matt Barnes

• NBA - Stephen Jackson

None of these include LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and the many others with production companies making movies, getting nominated for Emmy’s and building IP every year.

It’s thriving over there at the top level. As such there are so many smaller independent platforms growing too.

Over here? I love what Rio Ferdinand is building with FIVE. It’s more than a podcast, he is building a media house putting on different creators and shows each week.

That leads me to make a simple prediction. The landscape for sports media in the UK takes several more strides forward.

And with it platforms like The Long Play take further strides too!

God willing.

Happy New Year everyone.