In a town that's both fond of and famed for its superlatives, the upcoming and long-awaited showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is expected to break a lot of "biggest" records. What's being billed as the "richest fight of all time" will likely see a payday in the region of $120 million for Floyd "Money" Wayweather, who'll net 60 percent of the purse, and his opponent won't do too badly, either, with an expected take-home of $80 million. With that kind of price tag, we can only hope it's a great fight, although how many rounds it will go remains to be seen. As the -200 favorite put it at the recent press conference, "You get to this level, where you're making nine figures in 36 minutes, and you have to be a winner." Mayweather's predicting that he'll KO Pacquiao by the fifth.
It's not only the fighters who come with big-ticket prices, however. Quite literally: The May 2 bout is slated to be the most expensive in history to watch, whether in person or from the comfort of your favorite armchair. Officially, the cheapest seats at MGM Grand Garden Arena started at $1,500, rising to $7,500 at ringside, although many will pay a lot more than that, no doubt: The last time we looked, floor seats were going for $33,000 apiece on re-seller sites. According to promoter Bob Arum, not even members of the A-List celebrity crowd can expect to get their usual freebies, with the likes of Jack Nicholson, 50 Cent, Will Smith, and Leo DiCaprio being routed to the MGM box office, since it holds the largest block of seats (a good few of which likely will be distributed as comps to high rollers, but you're going to have to be in the ranks of the genuine Belugas to qualify for this ticket, with a minimum line of credit of $250,000, from which your casino host will expect to see some serious action generated during your stay.
For those either unable, or disinclined to attend the fight in person--as former mayor and notorious sports bettor Oscar Goodman has stated applies to him, in light of the anticipated craziness--don't expect any breaks if you're hoping to catch the action on TV. The cost of the pay-per-view package had't been announced at the time of this writing, but it's expected to be in the $90-100 range, or approximately double that of a typical UFC-championship fight card and the highest of all time for ANY fight. Revenues from TV are expected to break the current record of $150 million, which dates back to Mayweather's 2013 fight with Saul Alvarez, while the total-buy record of 2.4 million, which dates back to Mayweather's 2007 bout against Oscar De La Hoya, is also expected to be smashed. In total, it's anticipated that this fight will gross in excess of $400 million.
That doesn't even count the financial fallout from the event in the host city, which can anticipate a massive day for its race and sports book (on what is already a big one in the sport-betting calendar, thanks to the Kentucky Derby). Similarly, when it comes to hotel-room rates, these are expected to reach new heights, with the fight falling at an already popular time of year, just as pool-party season is ramping up. The day the fight was officially confirmed, a computer glitch at host property MGM Grand led many to believe, erroneously, that all rooms were already sold out. That wasn't the case back then, although it is now, but even prior to Mayweather's official confirmation announcement on Shots.com that "what the world has been waiting for has arrived," MGM Grand's room rates for May 1 and 2 had risen to $615/night, based on informed speculation and hype alone.
While, with optimal configuration, MGM Grand Garden Arena can accommodate just under 17,000, many MANY more fans are expected to descend on Sin City to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the experience of at least being in close proximity the live action. Hence, room rates constitute yet another aspect that's likely to see all-time highs. We checked back last Friday and can confirm that not only is MGM Grand totally sold out, but so are Mandalay Bay, Cosmopolitan, and The Delano, which we picked at random. Via our Hotel Deals feature, we did find availability at the Tropicana and Excalibur, but on Friday we found we were already looking at nightly rates of $764 and $550, respectively. "Deals" such as they were, were located just off the Strip, including $285/night at Palace Station (an LVA exclusive) and $475 at the Stratosphere; downtown at the Golden Nugget, it was up to $509, so you may live to regret passing up that $400 room after all.
