Menu
Events and Attractions

Mayweather-McGregor Gate Generates $55.4M, Well Short Of Combat Sports Record

The Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor bout at T-Mobile Arena "generated a live gate" of $55.4M, meaning it "did not come close to breaking the record" for a combat sports event, according to figures from the Nevada State Athletic Commission cited by Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. Throughout the promotion of the bout, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, UFC President Dana White and Mayweather "all said time and again that the fight would break the all-time gate record." While the fight still "generated a massive amount of money from ticket sales, it is the No. 2 combat sports gate of all time, falling well behind" the $72.2M from the sale of 16,219 tickets for the '15 Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mayweather-McGregor is "comfortably ahead" of the No. 3 all-time gate: $20M from 16,146 tickets for the '13 Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez fight, also at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mayweather fights "comprise five of the top six gates in Nevada history." Mayweather-McGregor could still "break the all-time pay-per-view record" (ESPN.com, 9/6). YAHOO SPORTS' Andreas Hale wrote part of the reason the fight fell short of the gate record could be "connected to the fact" that T-Mobile Arena was "not sold out." Only 13,094 tickets were sold (with 137 complimentary tickets given out) in a building that was "configured to seat 17,698." There were "visible empty pockets of seats throughout the arena but all promoters involved were confident that they would still topple the live gate record" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 9/6).

NEXT MOVE? ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto notes McGregor's longtime coach, John Kavanagh, "prefers Nate Diaz as an opponent for their next fight, which he said might not take place" until '18. IKavanagh on the Irish site 42.ie said that he feels a proposed trilogy with Diaz is the "most exciting option -- but that a turnaround this year seems optimistic." Kavanagh wrote, "It's probably a little late in the day to realistically expect another fight before the end of the year. Even after this hiatus is over, a lot goes into planning and execution of a training camp at our level." Prior to Mayweather-McGregor, White said that McGregor "planned to fight again this year." The UFC has a Dec. 30 date in Las Vegas (ESPN.com, 9/6).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/09/07/Events-and-Attractions/Mayweather-McGregor.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/09/07/Events-and-Attractions/Mayweather-McGregor.aspx

CLOSE