Show PROMOTION VENTURES EARN TEX RICKARD THE REPUTATION OF A PLUNGE 1 r. r Give the Pu it ft Wa ts Is s Tex's Motto r Curiosity Is the Key to Successful Promotion Are Great Help HelpS Newspapers a S By Tex ex Rickard Richard J mE E open air arena is the place the place the only place place to to hold a af aj j f 1 big championship fight Following my ray experience in inU inG U G Goldfield with the Nelson Gans-Nelson fight that idea sunk into my mind I have never got over it I have staged other big bigin ht in Madison Square Garden and in baseball parks but c 0 th the real place Js s a specially built Jarena t r ena n 1 r The arena means more than th the tho conS con- con S of or handling the crowds crowd and Independence of halls and par parks s It throws a a. glamour around the big blk fIghtS fIghtS' fight S' S that nothing else approaches It Is Isery r c ery very difficult to associate boxing with uJ iny tny other sport The mind of the theS must be centered on a fight 5 S fand tind d nothing else There Is s some me of S th old Roman gladiator Idea abo about t It Thousands Thousand of oC people will go for hundreds hun hun- hunI I of miles mUes to an arena buIt for S. S a a definite purpose when they might consider a hall hail or a park a R. sort of convenience where they could go or not Fight fans like all alt humans like to go to trouble to witness a big sporting event They like to make It a an occasion a. bl bi big mark markin In their e experiences ex ex- c of the e year S pt t Harvard yale S For example a If the e football game gamo was held In Madison m Square Garden there would be a lackor lack of or zest In getting to it U. There would be no necessity to plan parties partle ar arrange arrange ax- ax S range motor trips and so no A big bis sporting event must be a R. sort of or mecca to which people can Journey from allS all S parts of the tho country countr I can feel teel this Idea better than I can express It U. I Iv v think my readers know what I mean In all aU sincerity the consideration of how much or how little I might iro- iro fit In a big fight tight never cau caused ed ma no S A much concern Always Alwa's that was secondary sec sec- S In fact I did not go Into the fight Bright game with the thought of ot mak mak- makin making I S in log ing money As I have related I 1 v was as I spurred Into the Johnson Johnson-Jeffries fight tIght by a a. Joking cartoon printed In Ina It was a a San Francisco newspaper of or a Jackass braying Where Is Tex Rickard 1 TEX TALKED OF OFAS OFAS AS A PLUNGER In other words m my ny pride was touch touch- 5 ed I wanted to prove that I could put on another l big lg fight and get away with It Tho The fact tact of bringing one of these bese affairs to a successful conclusion bat bat- sion slon gave me Immeasurably more than the actual profit Of or course course I did not want to be a sucker Nobody does I 1 have known men of great wealth who didn't need an anyS any S more money and never would be In need of It to work night and day for tor weeks on a deal Just to show that S they stilt still had a punch were punch were not riot riotS suckers S So you can Imagine the feeling of accomplishment that came over me after lafter we wo had successfully staged the t Johnson Jeffries-Johnson fr UW fight In spite of all i the early difficulties I By this time I was getting a a. reputation reputation tation as a big plunger in events The sums I had offered as purses were looked upon as out of reason I 1 remember very well veil being lectured In Ina ina a a. friendly way by Bat Masterson the S sport writer and others Bat t pointed t hi g out that all my efforts or most of them went toward fattening the purses of ot fighters and of ot others who got In on the side while I barely got put ut with the skin of ot my teeth In a a. way Masterson was right My profits were not enormous but I always i-always went on the theory that big business and small profits was better bette than han little business and a bigger percentage per- per of profits I 1 still thing that thatis is the real way to do business I do donot not rt-not not like a a. piker Shoot everything to toG inake G the affair a big success and the inal settling nettling up will take care of ot It- It elf la Is my ny principle P 4 A l lot t of r J people f seem em to have the idea that I had given up everything to to go into the fight promotion busl- busl ess That is 19 not true I kept my other enterprises going all the time Up until I took over Madison Square larden the fight business was a sort 2 pf f sporting sideline with me It was iny recreation eJI It was a big bi game ed erne ofle I liked to P play I studied d It and andied Dandled my cards card accordingly cURIOSITY S THE KEY The he main maln thing I have found Is to ascertain as near as possible what the and the the- public want and tr try end nd satisfy them as 23 nearly as bie Ie c. c T Notwithstanding a prevailing Idea IdeaS S hat the grude fight ht wUl wUI attract Unusual un- un usual usual attention 1 I do not bell believe eve it rhe he public likes to look on a fight as asa a big s sporting event likes to regard 1 the fighters l rs themselves s as being I sportsmen rt rte e I have made mado d a a. point Oln as I I have mentioned before of oC seeing I that hat my fighters were friendly before and nd after aCter the fight The public lIk likes S S 'S that i Im I'm sure The Tile next step was to assist the newspaper men In what mate- mate ial they wanted Oddly enough there J is as much Interest If not more in tn the preliminary arrangements arrangement for a big fight as in the spectacle itself I never r attempted te to direct ct publicity U I ga Give t the newspaper r men a an and they will make the event In a hundred different ways as Never In my life have I told tolda sought a u newspaper to a write ft man I have what discussed i I c thought Jh Jha mat mat- a he S ers very ver frankly with them but to at at- emp Influencing their opinion would v 55 ie e foolhardy Be Besides ldes that kind of publicity wouldn't be worth a nickel hey know what the public wants to toS fread S cad ead T Though I always alwa's was an inveterate 4 newspaper ne reader I never fully realized rea- rea to what extent they would go for tor news about a prize fight until our 5 Nelson Gans-Nelson affair at Goldfield I had expected publicity of course courseS but It S had never ne occurred to me that hundreds hunS hun hun- of newspaper men would come from all all' over the United States State at the expense of Df their papers to do this One day I Imet met the circulation manager manager man man- ager of ot one of the biggest New York I papers i I i 4 5 Tell me I asked him why do newspapers devote devoto so much more moreS S. S space to O a championship I prize I fight S rt yC fog than to any other one event v In the news of ot the da day WHAT THE PUBLIC THINKS WhY its it's because the public wants ants to read about it Do you OU know he explained to me that a big champion champlon- l hIP fight Is the biggest circulation getter getter We have hate The only thing that It is n. n big murder trial In Ini i there is plenty of scandal IS I S ont know exactly how to analyze this thia I ut but u I know its it's true I have handled circulation for twenty years ears I yen ven- ven-I ven I S. S Ure ure to say that a a. m majority of people remember the Sullivan Corbett fight ifor tor instance with just as much clearness clearness clear- clear ness as they do the sinking of the battleship le I Maine l Jn in eH Havana gh harbor bot This brought to my mind the fact that hat our attempts to get Carpentier over here during the war occasioned ns s much daily dally interest as the battles being fought rought Even In those days of oC J I trouble and arid distress new 1 news of or a a. pros pros- I prize fight caught the public eye Now with this tremendous aid given freely I really realty dont don't see how a man roan could guess wrong on the suc sue ce cess of a fight figh t. t But as I said at the start t it takes a great open air all arena to center the i interest Tomorrow Tomorrow- Tomorrow The The Shortest and the Longest Fights S Copyright 1923 In U. U S S. S and Great Britain Cuba Japan and South AmerIca Amer Amer- lea Ica ca by North American Newspaper H Al- Al ance All rights reser reserved |