While the idea of promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport embarking on a British invasion of American boxing isn't something that has necessarily taken the sport by surprise, Thursday's announcement certainly has potential to change the game. 

Hearn, of England, announced at a news conference in New York an eight-year, $1 billion deal with the Perform Group to air fights in the United States on their live and on-demand streaming service DAZN (pronounced DA-ZONE). The app will carry 16 fight cards per year from the U.S., along with an additional 16 emanating from the boxing hotbed of Great Britain, where Hearn has rapidly become the leading promoter representing fighters like Anthony Joshua, Kell Brook and James DeGale. 

The news, on the surface, seemed to only splinter the broadcasting landscape in America by adding yet another subscription-based platform for a boxing fan to purchase. Not only has premium cable networks Showtime and HBO remained leading providers for fights, promoter Top Rank signed a four-year deal with ESPN last August, which includes a large number of shows airing on its upsell ESPN+ streaming app. 

But a quick calculation of the financials involved quickly shows the alarming potential Hearn now has to become not just a leading global power but a sexy tease for any top American fighter currently unhappy with their promotional status. 

"I am so excited to shake up the world of boxing," Hearn said. "This is a groundbreaking moment in our business.

"America -- we have well and truly arrived, let the fun begin!"

Hearn's constant reference to his "war chest" on Thursday was apropos. He now enters the battlefield in terms of boxing promotion in the U.S., where he recently toed the waters with a pair of cards airing on HBO, armed with an average of nearly $8 million per U.S. show to attract big names and fill out the undercards with exciting bouts. 

When you consider that a typically strong HBO or Showtime card runs on a budget for rights fees at half -- or in many cases much less -- of that price, Hearn now possesses the kind of bankroll that will be difficult for critics, competitors or prospective fighters to ignore. 

"This is going to be a lot of fun. We're going to have a lot of great conversations with a lot of very, very good fighters," Hearn said. "We were dangerous without a platform and without money but with this deal, with the platform and with the money, oh my God. We are going to be causing nightmares in the promotional game over here and I cannot wait."

While Hearn made the announcement now in order to ramp up his recruitment of available fighters, he won't begin airing fights on the platform until September. DAZN, which also has former ESPN president and new Perform Group executive chairman John Skipper overseeing, has yet to officially launch in the U.S.

DAZN's monthly fee won't require fight fans to sign a longterm contract, according to Hearn. In addition to the 32 fights cards annually, the app will also stream the handful of Sky Sports pay-per-view cards that Hearn promotes in England. All cards streamed on the app will be broadcast in their entirety, including full undercard bouts.

One thing Hearn's new deal won't include, however, is Joshua, the unbeaten unified heavyweight champion, who has quickly became the biggest star in the sport. Joshua's U.S. deal with Showtime expired after his March victory over Joseph Parker and a bidding war with HBO is expected to take place.

"If you look at our track record and performs, we don't often fail," Hearn said. "There will be criticism and there will be naysayers in boxing. 'Oh, it's a new platform.' But don't worry. Look at the war chest."

The key in terms of how successful Hearn becomes in the U.S. now rests on which big names he will be able to sign. Hearn, who recently added Amir Khan to his stable, talked almost exclusively about seeking out fighters who don't currently have promotional deals. The obvious group he's referencing are those advised by Al Haymon. 

What's interesting is that Haymon launched Premier Boxing Champions -- backed by support from a $400 million hedge fund -- to similar fanfare in 2015, although the concept, featuring time buys across multiple major networks, failed to produce a longterm television deal in the end. Not only did the PBC face multiple antitrust lawsuits from rival promoters, the majority of fighters ended up back on Showtime, helping it to pass HBO as the nation's premier boxing network. 

Hearn's deal is different because isn't coming from his pocket or any forms of fundraising. Hearn not only provided fighters for a number of early PBC cards and worked well with Haymon, he signed top middleweight contender Danny Jacobs to a promotional contract as the face of his Matchroom USA expansion in 2017 and an exclusive deal to fight on HBO. With that said, Hearn appeared to take a jab at Haymon by mentioning how fighters who seek more available dates should come calling his way. 

Considering Haymon uses a small group of promoters on a fight-by-fight basis, allowing his fighters to remain free agents, it will be interesting to see how many of them chase the money to leave Showtime in favor of signing with Matchroom and DAZN. 

"The key for the fighters is not just the money, it's the ability to fight when they want rather than fighting once a year," Hearn said. "Championship fighters need to box three times a year. We can do that for these guys but more importantly we can build from the ground the young fighters coming through.

"We need to bring the existing world champions to the platform, as well. The guys who are on the verge of shots. It's going to be a massive recruitment process over the next two or three months." 

Boxing's current lot of free agents is topped by unbeaten multidivisional champion Mikey Garcia, along with a number of PBC fighters Hearn has recently shared interest in publicly, including Deontay Wilder, Jermall and Jermell Charlo, Jarrett Hurd, Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares.

"For fighters, it's open season," Hearn said. "Any fighter out there, any world-class fighter that doesn't have a promotional contact, that feels like they're not getting enough activity and wants to be promoted properly and wants to be involved in the big nights, we're here. And there is going to be a lot of interesting conversations going on over the next few weeks."

Depending upon what the monthly price of DAZN ends up becoming for fans, Hearn's new service may be able to fix the recent issue of fights not exactly worthy of PPV status ending up creating $60 price tags because networks like HBO didn't have the budget to pay for the rights fees to pay the fighters. 

Hearn referenced the pair of light heavyweight championship showdowns between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev, which died on PPV over the past two years despite proving to be exciting fights between two of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. 

"For example, Ward versus Kovalev, it would've been easy for us to put on our platform with the money I've got," Hearn said. "Not for pay-per-view, it's just for subscribers. [Gennady] Golovkin and [Danny] Jacobs would be no problem."

For all of its many wounds, boxing is healthy again and it's a sport where money talks and always will. No one in prizefighting is currently armed with more of it than Hearn and his new platform. Unlike the initial launch of the PBC, which hemorrhaged cash and failed to deliver upon its many promises, Hearn has eight years to become the biggest player in the U.S. 

That doesn't mean it's a slam dunk to work. While Hearn can certainly offer significant money up front, DAZN will be under pressure to acquire a paid viewership to rival the other premium networks. And without a U.S. television arm to aid in the promotion of fights, boxers are faced with the proposition of competing out of sight and out of mind from the mainstream and casual viewers. 

"Recently, we made our move into boxing in America but there were certain things that I needed in order to take boxing to a new level, to be able to build a stable that unrivaled -- in my opinion -- in the world of boxing, which is what we are going to do," Hearn said. "I needed a platform that would give me a huge volume of dates. Then I needed a lot of money — artillery — and we are dangerous with artillery, let me tell you. Now we've got it. We have by far the biggest rights budget in the sport of boxing." 

All things considered, Thursday's announcement has our attention.