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Events and Attractions

Mayweather-McGregor Fails To Sell Out, Though Record Live Gate Still Expected

Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Conor McGregor at T-Mobile Arena Saturday night in front of a crowd of 14,623, "more than 6,000 shy of the audience" who saw Canelo Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in May, according to Martin Rogers of USA TODAY. Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe would not term the turnout a disappointment saying, "Sometimes it is all about delivery. It was a great event with a wonderful turnout. We don't always get it right. We get it right more often than not, though." While Alvarez-Chavez drew more than 20,000, a figure next month's Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight also is expected to surpass, seats were "priced much cheaper than those for Saturday" (USATODAY.com, 8/27). YAHOO SPORTS' Marcus Vanderberg noted ticket prices for Mayweather-McGregor ranged from $500-10,000 and sales were "sluggish after they went on sale to the general public on July 24." Multiple sections of the upper deck were "completely empty, a sight common for an exhibition game and not the biggest fight in combat sports" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/27). Despite the less-than-capacity crowd, Mayweather following the fight said that the live gate "broke the all-time record." The '15 Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight earned a gate of $72M. Mayweather said Saturday night's event did "somewhere over $80M in the live gate" (MMAWEEKLY.com, 8/27). MGM Resorts on Saturday held several closed-circuit viewing parties for Mayweather-McGregor, including "private and public events." Including the crowd inside T-Mobile Arena, the number of tickets offered in total was a "little more than 40,000, and every event sold out" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 8/28). 

MAKING IT LOOK FULL: In Las Vegas, John Katsilometes reports entire upper level sections of T-Mobile Arena were "left unoccupied," and while many tickets were reportedly sold in those sections, fans were "relocated to unsold seats on the floor." That made for a "more robust crowd" for the Showtime PPV telecast. The empty sections were "behind the main cameras facing the ring, out of view for those watching the broadcast." LasVegasTickets.com Founder Ken Solky said that his "'best guess' on the shuffling of seats" was that blocks of tickets held by MGM Resorts and the UFC went "undistributed and were returned to Ticketmaster for public sale." Katsilometes notes those returned tickets were "available for purchase on the site throughout the day, but most went unsold." MGM Resorts officials said that the arena was "set to seat about 15,000 for Saturday’s event, but offered no official specific capacity figure number (nor an official explanation as to why the arena would be set up for 15,000 for Mayweather-McGregor, but 20,000-plus for Canelo-Chavez Jr.)" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 8/28).

TOUGH CROWD
: In N.Y., Dan Shapiro noted it is "not uncommon for crowds to arrive late" during fight cards, but it is typically the "large celebrity contingent in attendance that takes their time to find their seats." The early emptiness of T-Mobile Arena "speaks volumes of the event, which, in the end is proving to be more about dollars and cents than the pure love of pugilism" (NYDAILYNEWS.com, 8/27). The GLOBE & MAIL's Cathal Kelly writes Gervonta Davis fought Francisco Fonseca in the final undercard fight and did "everything he could to sell that bout to an audience that did not care." Kelly: "What were the people in the ringside seats doing? Ignoring it." Many fans were "lined up while the bout was ongoing to take selfies with a guy dressed as the Sasquatch from the beef-jerky ads" (GLOBE & MAIL, 8/28).

BOX OFFICE HIT:  The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Pamela McClintock reported the fight was a "knockout victory in theaters," earning $2.6M from 532 locations in North America. The result is "one of the biggest victories ever for Fathom Events, which partnered with Mayweather Productions in beaming the boxing match into cinemas." The price of entry in many theaters was more than $20. The live broadcast of the fight in theaters "scored the third-best showing of the day" behind "The Hitman's Bodyguard" ($3.9M) and "Annabelle: Creation" ($2.8M) (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 8/27).

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