The start of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor fight Saturday night was "officially delayed ... due to widespread technical issues preventing an unspecified number of paying subscribers from being able to watch live," according to Andrew Wallenstein of VARIETY. After initial indications the main event would "commence" at 11:15pm ET, it "didn't get started until nearly one hour later" (VARIETY.com, 8/26). In Las Vegas, Gilbert Manzano notes people who bought the PPV through Showtime "didn't miss" the fight despite the delay, though the "same can't be said for those watching via UFC's Fight Pass app." Many complaints about "delays and even missing the first few rounds of the main event came across social media from people who purchased the fights from UFC." Showtime had allotted for a 30-minute delay "to allow the servers to go back up after they crashed due to high demand." Showtime Senior VP/Sports Communications Chris DeBlasio said that it "turned out to be a 10-minute delay." Manzano notes the Gervonta Davis-Francisco Fonseca undercard bought Showtime "some extra time by going eight rounds" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 8/28). Mayweather after the fight said that PPV servers in Florida and California "crashed, leading to the outages." He said, "We wanted to make sure everything was in the right place (for fans)." Some cable carriers told customers that if the reboot was "successful and they did receive a feed, it would be in standard definition." Similar issues "caused a delay in Mayweather's fight with Manny Pacquiao" in '15 (ESPN.com, 8/27). In Las Vegas, Bill Bradley noted the PPV issues "appeared to come from a surge of late purchases and connectivity issues" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 8/27). Ad Age's Anthony Crupi tweeted, "Mayweather-McGregor live-streaming snafu is why NFL won't deal a key national rights package to Amazon, Facebook, et al. TV wins this round" (TWITTER.com, 8/27).
A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME: The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Arlene Washington reports nearly 3 million people watched the fight "through social media channels" such as Facebook, YouTube, Periscope and Twitch. Digital platform security company Irdeto counted 239 pirated streams of the fight. Additionally, "traditional pirate streaming sites were responsible for 67 of the streams, but most viewers seemed to watch on apps" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 8/28).
POST-FIGHT JABS: In Tampa, Tom Jones writes ESPN's coverage following the fight was one of the weekend's highlights, "especially the commentary" of Teddy Atlas and Stephen A. Smith (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 8/28). Meanwhile, SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote he "thoroughly enjoyed" the post-fight coverage on SiriusXM Rush and the "interplay between hosts" Steve Cofield, Akin Reyes and Barak Bess (SI.com, 8/27).
