This Saturday night’s welterweight unification superbout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao has all the earmarks of being the biggest, most profitable boxing card in history. Part of that profit margin will come from the live gate, and ticket prices are at a premium that only the rich and famous can afford.
The MGM Grand Arena’s 16,800 seats were so exclusive, that only 500 were offered to the public, and those sold out in seconds. According to Yahoo Sports, there are even two state senators that will have to attend from Washington, because of ticket pricing and scarcity.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, a former boxer who reportedly helped nudge negotiations for the fight along when a dispute about ticket distribution issues threatened the event, is going to watch from Washington.
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, an ardent fight fan who would have loved to go, will be watching from afar.
With the face value of ringside seats at $10,000, “It’s just a little pricey,” said McCain spokeswoman Julie Tarallo. And boxing fan or not, he’s still a member of Congress — no freebies allowed.
With a varied assortment of high profile entities such as HBO, Showtime and the Wynn Resort snapping up hundreds of tickets each for the stars of their shows and VIPs, the ringside area will likely be a who’s who of celebrity names. One man who will be paying his own way is Manny’s promoter, Bob Arum, who paid $10K for his ringside seat.
With fights of this magnitude, big spenders are aplenty, and Manny Pacquiao is one of the biggest. He snagged a $3 – $4M block of seats to hand out to 900 members of his entourage. That’s right folks, he has an entourage of 900. Brokers on the secondary market were trying to re-sell tickets for a whopping $344K each and rooms at the MGM Grand went for $1600/night. To say this fight will be breaking records is an understatement of epic proportions. Is it Saturday yet?
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