For all the hype and visibility, the August 26 Mayweather/McGregor fight still has a long way to go as far as selling out.
Could ticket prices be the problem? Well at $10k for a ringside seat, there’s still over 3,000 left to be sold for the bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor at the T-Mobile Arena in ‘Vegas.
We’re also hearing about ticketing agents who estimate that around 4,000 are available for purchase on secondary market sites like StubHub, which advertises its cheapest option at $1,795 before fees. That leaves as many as 7,000 seats that need to be filled for boxing’s biggest night just three weeks away from the opening bell, according to a LA Times report.
“This money-grab fight is a promotion to see how much can be made off one night. When you see their commercial, hear [the participants] talk about the gate … it’s all about money,” boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya told the paper. “Yes, this is a business, but everyone’s forgetting about the fight, which Mayweather-McGregor is not.”
On the other hand, ticket-broker Ken Solky, the head of lasvegastickets.com and 1-800-LAS-Vegas, argued that the press’ critical take on the multi-city clown show tour the pair put on has “unjustly beaten up” the actual bout itself, but he told the Times that his sales are on track, as he sold a package of seats for $496,000 on Friday.
“Lets be honest: The place is going to be packed,” Solky said.
The Times’ article says Mayweather and his fight manager, Al Haymon, pushed for the high prices as the fight is expected to be the boxer’s farewell from the ring, aiming to finish his storied, controversial career 50-0. Solky also said he received around 2,000 tickets from Mayweather to sell on the secondary market. He said that the 48-ticket package averaged $10,333 per seat with upper-level seats at $2,000.
Initial public tickets could be purchased with a special promo code on July 24, but with fans not all guaranteed a ticket stub, some savvy money grabbers cashed in on the promo codes and opted to sell them on eBay, ESPN reported, with sales of some codes going as high as $200.
Solky defended the absurd prices set by Mayweather and Haymon, saying the gamble was worth taking since the fight is expected to reel in $500 million total revenue.
“If the gate is short and there’s still $600 million in the pot, that’s only 5 percent of the money coming in,” Solky said. “Yes, the prices are high. But this gate will be record selling.”
Get the FULL story at LA Times.
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