Floyd “Money” Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao By the Numbers…

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

5 Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are two of the greatest fighters of this generation However, due to any number of circumstances, the two were never able to work together to find acceptable terms for which to fight Now, FIVE YEARS after the debate began over which of the two was truly the greatest fighter, boxing fans all over the world will finally see the two hash it out in the ring…

$330 million At 36, Pacquiao is an international superstar who’s pocketed more than $330 million in his boxing career and is the most famous person ever to come from the Philippines

$400 million At 38, Floyd Mayweather (nicknamed “Money”) has banked more than $400 million in his boxing career and notorious for flaunting his wealth

$8 million Muhammed Ali, arguably the greatest boxer of all-time, never earned more than $8 million for a fight. In 1980, in a fight dubbed “The Last Hurrah”, Ali made $8 million for his bout with current champion Larry Holmes. Holmes won in 10 rounds, the first time an Ali fight didn’t go the distance, and earned $2.3 million for his share of the overall purse.

$180 million Mayweather will earn a minimum of $50 million for the Pacquiao fight with a potential to earn $180 million (which includes PPV sales, gate receipts, sponsorship & merchandise revenue and closed-circuit ticket sales) Pacquiao is guaranteed at least $50 million with a potential payday of nearly $125 million

30 seconds Being dubbed the “Fight of the Century”, tickets did not even go on sale until less than two weeks before the fight. When they did, they sold out in just 30 seconds, in large part because just 1,000 tickets were made available to the general public.

15,500 The remaining 15,500 seats go to the fighters, sponsors and event promoters. Tickets will also be sold for the “weigh-in” event and are expected to command the highest demand in history for an activity leading up to the main event. Tickets are selling for $10 each with a limit of 10 tickets per person.

$350,000 As of Friday, April 24th, 151 tickets to the fight had been resold on StubHub, with an average of $6,136 paid per ticket. A source told ESPN.com that a person closely associated with one of the fighters was looking for $350,000 per ticket for an up-front ringside seat.

$74 million MGM, the host venue, is expected to generate a $74 million plus in ticket sales, potentially setting a new record for the gate at a boxing event (face value tickets range from $1,000 - $4,000 each).

10 In Las Vegas, only the MGM and its partner casinos have the rights to broadcast the fight live, known as closed-circuit venues. There are only 10 such venues and tickets for every venue are already sold out. Scalpers are expected to charge nearly triple the face value of tickets for closed-circuit venues as the fight nears. The average face value for these tickets reportedly ranged between $150-$200 each.

9.4 million Both fighters have a significant presence through social media channels Twitter: Mayweather has 5.5 million followers Pacquiao has 1.6 million followers Facebook: Mayweather’s page has 9.4 million “likes” Pacquiao’s page has 6.4 million “likes”

$300 million Mayweather holds the current record for most revenue generated through pay-per-view when his 2013 fight against Canelo Alvarez did $152 million in sales. Current estimates suggest the May 2nd bout vs. Pacquiao will generate nearly double that and shatter the record with $300 million in PPV sales. Contributing to that figure? Fans will pay a record $99 to watch via PPV…

$5.6 million Tecate will pay $5.6 million to sponsor the Mayweather / Pacquiao event, the most ever paid to sponsor a fight. They beat a $5.2 million bid from Corona, which has sponsored Mayweather's recent fights. To leverage their investment, Tecate has launched a social media & “rebate” campaign, offering to provide PPV buyers with a rebate by purchasing Tecate product for the fight.

$2.25 million Pacquiao is set to make $2.25 million alone from the sponsorships on his trunks, the highest total any boxer has made from the venture. So far, Manny’s trunks will feature logos from six different brands.

$0.00 Mayweather has been wearing Reebok shoes in training for this fight even though the company is not compensating him. "While we are not official partners at present, Floyd has been a longtime friend of the brand and he has worn Reebok footwear in the ring for years," said Todd Krinsky, Reebok's global vice president of classics and combat training.

$50-80 million Analysts expect boxing fans to wager between $50 and $80 million on the fight at Las Vegas casinos

$ 645 Las Vegas officials, based on research, estimate that each fight fan visiting the city for Mayweather vs. Pacquiao over the weekend will spend $645 EACH in non-gambling money (food, drinks, entertainment, cab fare, etc.)

$1,600 The rate on fight weekend at the MGM Grand, the fight venue, is running $1,600 on Friday or Saturday night. That's more than 13 times the going rate on Sunday.

$180 It isn’t just the hotels on the strip that are enjoying the excessive demand for rooms. According to thestate.com, there is a $180 room on the California-Nevada state line at Whiskey Pete's hotel and casino; a 40-minute drive from where the fight action will take place.

$12 million+ Estimates for the economic impact on Las Vegas for previous Mayweather matches range from $8.2 million to $11.4 million in visitor spending. Pacquiao fight fans have generated an estimated $9.1 million to $11.1 million in visitor spending for his fights in Las Vegas over the years. Although no formal impact studies have been conducted for the May 2nd bout, most expect the event to give the Las Vegas economy a boost of more than $12 million.

Discussion Questions Consider each of the four components of the marketing mix. How do they relate to the upcoming Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight? What are the various ways each fighter will earn money for this fight? Aside from the fighters, who else stands to benefit financially from the event? What is supply and demand? How does that concept relate to this boxing match?

Discussion Questions What is economic impact? What factors help determine economic impact for mega-events such as the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight? Who is sponsoring the fight? Why do you think they chose to invest so much to align their brand with the event? Do you think the economic and financial estimates for the fight will be accurate or do you think the anticipation for this event is over-inflated?

Sources www.abc7.com www.bleacherreport.com www.cnbc.com www.espn.com www.forbes.com www.fightsaga.com www.lasvegassun.com www.thestate.com www.twitter.com/danrafaelespn www.twitter.com/darrenrovell www.washingtonpost.com