Rich Marotta, former KFI radio host and now Reno’s sports know-it-all and relaxor in chief, said during a recent KFI Tim Conway segment that thousands of seats are still available for the Mayweather Vs. McGregor fight on the eve of what could be one of the biggest Pay-Per-View payouts in history.
People seeking tickets to attend the mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, soon learned it was going to cost them, big time, with nosebleed ticket prices for the event trending at a whopping $2166 on StubHub. Seats for the first bowl are going for $5450, while premium floor seating would run you an astounding $20,000 to $79,000 for ringside seats.
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The LA Times put it this way;
“Ticket prices set for their Aug. 26 fight are at one of the highest price points in sports history, and both fighters are counting on those attending to do the same. Officials connected to the public sale of tickets said, as of late last week, 3,000 seats remain, with brokers and ticketing agents estimating 4,000 more are still available to buy on their secondary market. That’s potentially as many as 7,000 tickets to go less than three weeks before fight night.
Don’t cry for Team Money just yet as even if seats are left empty when the opening bell rings, the PPV take is sure to make up for any soft-sales ticket losses.
Forbes reported it had doubts the fight would eclipse Mayweather’s last blockbuster vs. Manny Pacquiao;
“Calling Mayweather vs. Pacquiao a financial success is like referring to Muhammad Ali as a well-known boxer. It and he were much more than that. Back in 2015, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao produced a reported $600 million plus. As lofty as that total was, expect Mayweather vs. McGregor to do even bigger numbers when its broadcast on Showtime pay-per-view.”
Oscar De La Hoya, who is known not to be a Mayweather fan, also weighed in, “This money grab fight is a promotion to see how much can be made off one night. When you see their commercial, hear [the participants] talk about the gate … it’s all about money,” said Oscar De La Hoya, the fight promoter and former six-division world champion staging a competing Southland fight card that same night and the Sept. 16 middleweight title match between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. “Yes, this is a business, but everyone’s forgetting about the fight, which Mayweather-McGregor is not.”
Does size matter? Mayweather-Pacquiao took place at the MGM Grand, which holds a little over 17,000 for boxing. Mayweather-McGregor will be held at The T-Mobile Arena which holds about 20,000. Three thousand seats may not seem like a lot, but even if it’s on the cheap side, that could mean an additional $4.5 million at the gate–and that’s assuming the prices are similar to what they were for Mayweather-Pacquiao.
SI.com reported that despite the mismatch, one of the biggest reasons this fight has felt inevitable is because of the money. Each fighter could earn payouts of more than $100 million, according to Yahoo Sports. On TV, the match is likely to exceed the record-setting 4.6 million PPV purchases for Mayweather-Pacquiao.
Forbes summed it up on a positive note, “The common factor in all of the most lucrative boxing events in history is Mayweather and he is going to rewrite the record books again.”
In the end, we will learn just how many tickets were sold to the live event as Mayweather is sure to be outside the venue operating a tally counter.