Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao purse could hit $300m
Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao purse could hit $300m with pay-per-view buys expected to double 2.4m record
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will meet in Las Vegas on May 2
The boxers have been expected to share a purse of $250m in a 60-40 split
But pay-per-view sales could add another $50m to the fight's pot
Promoter Bob Arum believes there will be 'four to five million' PPV buys
Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao is the fight which just keeps on giving. Especially to Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
The initial projection of a purse split of $150million to the Money man and $100m to the PacMan has just been upwardly revised by Pacquiao's promoter.
Bob Arum is now predicting a '$300m distribution' to the protagonists - $180m to Mayweather and $120m to Pacquiao under their 60-40 percent agreement.
Floyd Mayweather could earn $180m from his May 2 fight with Manny Pacquiao given the huge public interest
Pacquiao will receive 40 per cent of the purse, which could hit $120m on projected record pay-per-view buys
Those figures are based on Arum's firm expectation that this, the richest fight of all time, will not just break the pay-per-view record in America – but double it.
He says: 'We are looking at four to five million buys. The interest is amazing, even from people who do not follow boxing, even people who don't follow any sports.
'Wherever you go everyone is talking about this fight.'
They are also bending his ear for tickets in the 16,000-capacity MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 2.
Arum has already told a host of A-list celebrities: 'No comps this time. The demand is so huge that the only answer is everyone has to pay.'
The only free ticket promised by Arum is for female UFC star Ronda Rousey, who he heard was preparing to spend all her career fight winnings thus far on a seat as close to ringside as that amount could buy.
Promoter Bob Arum believes there will be between 'four and five million buys' of the fight on May 2
Pacquiao, pictured working out in Minila, has already started preparing for his fight with Mayweather
ickets are expected to be priced from the lowest at $1,250 to upwards of $6,000 for a seat at ringside.
But it is unlikely any at all will go on general sale. Purchases may well be restricted to those holding a $250,000 credit line, or higher, at the MGM group of casinos on the Strip.
Although there will of course be a thriving black market at eye-watering prices.
Speaking at an ESPN fights night in New York state, Arum said: 'One guy offered me a hundred grand for a ticket.' Then he joked: 'I told him he could have my seat for $200,000.'
The double-up factor will begin with the Grand Garden taking $40m at the box office, compared with the previous high-mark of $20m for Mayweather v Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in September 2013.
But it is the pay-per-view TV sales – with rival networks HBO and Showtime sharing the broadcast – which will generate most of the revenue.
The record number of buys stands at 2.4m for Mayweather v Oscar De La Hoya eight years ago.
Oscar De La Hoya's fight with Mayweather in 2007 holds the record for the most pay-per-view buys at 2.4m
Pacquiao was last in action when he dominated Chris Algieri over 12 rounds in Macau in November last year
Naturally the charge has risen substantially since then, probably to $99.95 per subscription.
Thus Arum's five million buys – along with such ancillary income as TV rights overseas, including Britain - would make this 'The Half-Billion Dollar Fight'.
That would generate $200m to be shared among the likes of the local broadcasting stations, the MGM hosts, the promoters, the undercard fighters and so on.
As for the $300m to the two best pound-for-pound boxers in the world, Arum says: 'Floyd loves cars and he could buy so many as to satisfy very dealer in Las Vegas. A lot of Manny's money is going to charity in the Philippines.'
Each to his own – and the Las Vegas sports books are bracing themselves for seven-figure bets on Mayweather, the favourite, and Pacquiao, the under-dog
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by KIDWCKED
