First off, before I get started, I am by no means claiming to be an economist, financial advisor, or business manager, but I am finding something very hard to understand here. Promoter Bob Arum has said, that in order to maximize the revenue for the highly anticipated “Mega Fight” between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, he proposes that a temporary forty five thousand seat stadium be constructed. He claims that as a result of staging the fight in this stadium, an extra thirty million dollars of revenue can be generated. My question is where would all of that money come from?
Obviously we know that the live gate would be more than if the fight were held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which seats roughly around seventeen thousand, but thirty million dollars more? That seems like quite a stretch to me. You would have twenty eight thousand extra seats with the outdoor stadium, but how much would the average seat price cost? My guess is that the seats wouldn't cost as much as the ones at the MGM Grand. Generally when a fight is held at a large stadium the cheapest seats are far less expensive than if the fight were held in an area such as the MGM Grand. For the sake of argument, I’m going to be generous and use an average price of one thousand dollars per ticket for the outdoor arena. That would generate an extra twenty eight thousand dollars. Let’s throw an extra fifteen thousand for merchandise and concessions which would make for a grand total of forty three thousand dollars. That’s a far cry form thirty million.
It could be possible that Bob may have some financial backers willing to construct the stadium and who are also willing to make an investment in the fight as well, but would that amount equate to an extra thirty million dollars?
Big fights generally end up in casinos for a reason. Casinos pay large sums of money to have fights staged at their venues. They know that big fights attract the high rollers. That means that all the rooms in their hotel will be booked. It also means that a lot of money will be gambled in their casino as well as their sport book. Then you add in the revenue made from the hotel’s restaurants and merchandise sold and at the end of the day the casino ends up turning in a huge profit. I’m pretty sure that the site fee that the MGM Grand is willing to pay for this fight is large enough to make all the parties involved happy.
Another question that I have is why was the idea of having the fight in this temporary make shift stadium only recently just brought up? Two years ago Arum had no problem having the fight at the MGM Grand. Why all of a sudden the change of plans?
I agree that both side’s refusal to actually sit down and formally negotiate this fight is a big reason why it hasn’t been made yet. A big part of that is because of the egos involved and I understand that. This isn’t the first time that it’s been hard to make a big fight happen. But, one thing that has stood out to me throughout this whole process is the constant changing of stories from the Pacquiao side. Mayweather’s camp has stuck to one demand since day one and that has been the request for Olympic style drug testing. On the other hand, the Pacquiao side, particularly Bob Arum, continue to contradict themselves and give different reasons why the fight hasn’t been made yet.
Let’s hope that everyone can get their story straight so we all get to see this fight happen. With all the potential money to made that’s on the table, that should be the last thing holding this fight up, stadium or no stadium.
Joe Habeeb
Original Story:
http://ropeadoperadio.com/xn/detail/6...
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January 12, 2012
