By ALAN SNEL
Everyone knows the room rates double on the Strip when there’s a mega boxing event such as the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor spectacle Saturday.
And even artists and stores are looking to cash in.
Check out this artwork of the two combatants that is selling for a cool $8,000 at Suite 160, a sneaker boutique/urban streetwear store at The Shoppes at Mandalay Place on the Strip not too far from T-Mobile Arena.
Store employee Jessica Moreno said Yard$, the artist who goes by blackcardart_ on Instagram, worked through the night until 4 a.m. to finish the Mayweather-McGregor art piece.
“He was really inspired,” Moreno said. “He was on a roll.”
Both fighters arrived Tuesday for a media event.
Store manager Areeba Moten said the store also sells the Floyd “Money” Mayweather ballcaps with the “TMT” logo for $40 and the T-shirts with the Money message sell for $38.
Let’s hear from Moten about what the sales will be like this week.
Moten recalls that a little more than two years ago when Mayweather fought Manny Pacquiao in a so-called “Fight of the Century” May 2, 2015 that there was a line of customers extending out the door and into the mall. There were so many customers that employees were selling T-shirts and Money Mayweather logo gear out of bags and boxes before they can even place the items on hangers.
“When it starts this week, it will be crazy,” Moten said.
Across the mall was the “Art of Music” store, where music, sports and pop culture memorabilia is sold and where baseball hit king Pete Rose sits waiting to sign Reds memorabilia.
A framed poster of Mayweather and McGregor, signed by both, sold for $1,895 Tuesday, said Janice Soderberg Weyrich, vice president of retail for the store that has two other locations at the Mirage and MGM Grand Las Vegas.
The store is trying to get another signed and framed fight poster by Thursday, Weyrich said.
The fight will be an economic gusher, with the total event revenues approaching a staggering $1 billion. The big moneymaker is the pay per view, with UFC President and McGregor promotionist Dana White predicting at least 5 million PPVs at $100 a pop.
Plenty of tickets are still available on the secondary re-sale market, with hundreds of tickets available on StubHub, each ranging from $1,640 to $17,043.
Contact LVSportsBiz.com founder/writer Alan Snel can be reached at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com