The May 2 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight is expected to "break every revenue record in combat sports history," as it "could easily surpass" $400M, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. Top Rank Chair and Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said that the live gate will generate $74M from the sale of "a little more than 15,000 tickets." Rafael noted the figure represents "more than 3½ times the gate record of $20,003,150" for Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez in '13. Top Rank and Mayweather Promotions were originally "looking to double the gate record" to $40M, with tickets "ranging from $1,000 to $5,000." But due to "enormous demand, they raised the prices to $1,500 to $7,500 to max out" at more than $50M. Arum said that they have shuffled the "number of tickets in each price category," increasing the "face value of the top ticket to $10,000." Rafael noted the "vast majority of tickets will not be for public sale," because the fighter camps, promoters, Showtime, HBO and the MGM Grand "each control a share." Most believe the fight "is a lock to shatter the pay-per-view record of 2.4 million buys generated" by Mayweather's '07 fight with Oscar De La Hoya. Many believe it "will surpass 3 million" PPV buys," which would equate to $300M in domestic PPV buys at a price of $100. Arum said that the foreign rights are "expected to bring in" another $35M. Arum: "Between the gate, the foreign television sales and the closed circuit, which we can't even calculate yet, you're looking at over $120 million. And that's before one pay-per-view has been sold in the U.S." Meanwhile, Rafael noted there was a "fierce bidding battle between" Tecate and Corona "to be one of the title sponsors." Arum said that Tecate "won with a record bid" of $5.6M (ESPN.com, 3/23).
