With the Mayweather/Pacquiao megafight right around the corner, interest in boxing, even from the most casual fan, has reached a fever pitch. Every aspect of the card is wide open for dissection, and one of the most intriguing is the amount of money that sponsors are pouring into this event.
In a statement made to ESPN, Top Rank president, Todd duBoef said that contracts with five title sponsors will add a record-breaking $13.2 million to the card’s bottom line. To put into perspective just how staggering that number is, the previous estimated record for sponsor dollars is believed to be in the range of $3.5 – $4 million, also from previous Mayweather fight cards.
The official beer sponsor for the event is Tecate, a company known for sponsoring many of Pacquiao’s fights. Their bid of $5.6 million beat out Mayweather’s usual beer sponsor, Corona, who came in with a losing bid of $5.2 million. Tecate’s brand director, Gustavo Guerra told ESPN,
“We have been sponsoring boxing since 2007 so we have been associating ourselves with boxing and been waiting for so many years for a fight like this. We know in the past we have had great fights but nothing is going to be compared to what is already called the fight of the century. We wanted to increase our brand awareness and we will achieve it with this fight.
It is like the Super Bowl of boxing, a gigantic sporting event. It’s good for us. It’s about credibility. We cannot have the luxury of being out of this fight. This is very important for us.”
Three movies will be promoted, Terminator Genisys and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation under sponsor, Paramount Pictures, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Southpaw under the Weinstein Company. The Mexican Tourism Board is also sponsoring the fight, and the Filipino telecom company, Smart Communications has also signed on with their contribution.
The minimum sponsor bid was set at $1 million, and viewable elements that will display logos are the time clock, tale of the tape and the CompuBox stats.
Keep your browser locked on Bloody Elbow for continuous event coverage leading up to May 2nd.
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