By ALAN SNEL
UFC President Dana White told LVSportsBiz Monday that pay-per-view buys for Saturday’s Mayweather-McGregor boxing match topped 5 million and that the final numbers will be ready Wednesday.
“Destroyed every record and still growing,” White said of the PPVs for the fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Mayweather beat McGregor with a TKO in the tenth round.
White said the fight’s international appeal in countries such as the UK, Australia and Spain made the fight event a record-breaking moneymaker.
Saturday’s PPVs number will shatter the old record of 4.6 million and more than $400 million in revenue from the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in May 2015. Gate receipts from that fight also generate a record $72 million.
The gate numbers from Saturday’s fight were unavailable Monday. But the it’s believed to be more than $80 million.
LVSportsBiz.com offers three takeaways:
The four-city promotion tour to sell this boxing match was silly and contrived, and three cities too much.
Boxing and MMA are two different sports and the oddity of an MMA star stepping outside the cage into a boxing venue created the marketing fascination. But let’s not go down this road again.
Attendance was 14,623 — way below a sellout. Ticket prices were too high. There was interest among people to attend, but they were priced out.
Contact LVSportsBiz.com founder/writer Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com