top of page
RING CITY USA
Ring City is a streaming/broadcast platform for a new generation of fans and fighters who are using social/digital media to grow boxing into the third most popular sport in the world among young internet users (2021 Global Web Index Survey). With NBC Sports, ESPN and Twitch as our primary distribution partners, we created a 7-show pilot season that peaked at 2.4 million global viewers in 2021, crowned three world champions, and built a brand known for the most competitive fights in boxing.
THE SITUATION
Over the last decade, boxing took a back seat to UFC/MMA platforms because it lost its "competitive edge." In 178 bouts televised or streamed in the US from June 1 to December 31, 2020 the odds-on favorite won 160 of those fights. Boxing on ESPN, Fox, Showtime and DAZN had become "showcase" spectacles, where established fighters padded their records against underdogs with no chance of winning. UFC usurped boxing as the ultimate combat sport because it delivered the one thing boxing promoters feared the most: competitive, even-odds fights on network and cable TV.
THE BRAND CONCEPT
How do you give fight fans the competitive bouts they so desperately want -- bouts where you don't have to wager $1000 to win $100 on a prohibitive favorite? You find up-and-coming contenders who have reached a point in their careers when they need to step in the ring and "fight tough" ... fight someone of equal talent, equal experience, equal potential to fast-track their path to Madison Square Garden, to title bouts, and life-changing purses. Instead of creating another "Tier I" brand built on Vegas money grabs, we created a brand for hungry young fighters who are ready (and incentivized) to compete for a 50-50, legitimizing victory that elevates them into title contention.
A BRAND UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE IN BOXING
We created a visual identity that draws inspiration from gyms like Freddie Roach's Wild Card Boxing Club in LA, Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, Kronk in Detroit. A look and feel that captures the heart and soul of the sport, and distinguishes Ring City from the big city/bright lights of Vegas. We then launched in the parking lot of Wild Card Gym for three events in November 2020. Broadcast on NBC Sports in the USA, ESPN in Central America, and on Twitch globally, we created an overnight sensation in the boxing world: a platform that was born in the gym, that understands the sport's day-to-day realities, the real-world consequences of every win and every loss, and the life-changing opportunities boxing creates. A brand that understands why these men and women fight for a living.
LIVE ON NBC SPORTS AND TWITCH
In our pilot season we elevated every main event winner into the Top 10 rankings, crowned three World Champions, and had main event upsets in 3 of our 7 events. We proved our hypothesis that competitive fights can draw as many (if not more) viewers than showcasing stars in one-sided mismatches. We created what many in the fight game call "The Ring City Movement," where we've become the competitive standard by which fights on other broadcast platforms are measured.
A 365 DAY A YEAR CONTENT MACHINE
There's more to being a developmental platform than just staging fights ... there are the back stories, the profiles, the anecdotes that make fans care about the fighters who step between the ropes. There's context -- within the sport and outside the sport -- that makes specific bouts matter. Our social channels deliver a constant stream of profiles, life-stories, victories and defeats that define each boxer's career. Unlike other promoter-exclusive broadcast platforms, we cover the sport as a whole, with an objective, non-biased perspective on the fight game, and how the business of boxing affects real lives.
PROMOTING THE RING CITY BRAND
MERCHANDISE & WEBSITE
Credits: JEFF HUGGINS Head of Brand & Creative Content, FRANK SAMUEL CEO, ASHLEY ANDY Head of Social Media, LAUREN BAYER Executive Producer, CRIS LOGAN Head Designer, SOPHIE KORNBERG Editor, MIKKO MABANAG Content Creator, ANDREA JANETOS Designer, CURRAN BHATIA Broadcast Commentator, CHRISTIAN WINTERS Video Director, ALISON BROWN Producer, DAVID GIBSON Producer, MATT CELLI Director
bottom of page