As of Thursday, there remained "a lot of available tickets" on the secondary market for Saturday's Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao bout, according to Alan Snel of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. As of 11:00pm PT, StubHub "was offering 1,093 tickets." StubHub on Wednesday "received 200 to 250 fight tickets from sellers looking to profit." By Thursday, the "average fight ticket sold has been $6,200, with the cheapest sold being $2,959." The "most expensive ticket sold has been $40,995 for a floorside seat." The state with the "most fight ticket buyers has been California," with 17% (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 5/1). YAHOO SPORTS' Dan Wetzel noted fans on Thursday could "buy what is essentially a front-row seat on StubHub for $351,005.25," but if that is "too much, four front-row seats were available on RazorGator.com for $294,552 per ticket." StubHub "did sell tickets for $40,955, the most expensive single seat in the history of the company." The price to just "get in the door" for the fight was "a little more than $3,000 as of Thursday afternoon" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/30). Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority President Rossi Ralenkotter said the economic impact of the fight "is going to be over" $150M (“CBS This Morning,” 5/1). NBC’s Ron Mott: “The fight of the century is marketing bonanza. T-shits and hats are moving quickly, fans lining up behind their man” (“Nightly News,” NBC, 4/30).
ON THE RED CARPET: In L.A., David Wharton reports actors Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck will each have a "prime seat." There will be "about 900 ringside spots, depending on the configuration." Actors Michael J. Fox and Will Smith, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel and producer Jerry Bruckheimer also are "expected to be" ringside. UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, Patriots QB Tom Brady and "nearly a dozen NFL team owners were still waiting for their exact seat locations" on Thursday (L.A. TIMES, 5/1).
THEY REALLY "LIKE" ME: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Geoff Foster cited a recent Facebook study as showing that Mayweather "is hands down the more popular boxer on the social-networking site, based on the number of 'likes' each fighter has accrued on his official Facebook page in each country around the world." Mayweather "flattens Pacquiao across most of the globe, winning all of North America, South America, Africa and Europe." Pacquiao "does better in Asia, as roughly one-third of his Facebook fans are located in his native Philippines." Pacquiao "also wins the nearby countries of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, plus Japan and South Korea" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/29).
CONFLICTING REPORTS: In N.Y., Nancy Dillon cites a TMZ report as saying that "no cash was coming" the way of imprisoned record producer Suge Knight, after Knight's attorney originally said that Mayweather "planned to post" his $10M bail following the fight. The fighter and music exec were once friends but "fell out of contact several years ago" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/1). Knight’s attorney Matthew Fletcher on Thursday said that if Mayweather "wins the bout, he expects the boxer to cover" his client’s bail (LATIMES.com, 4/30).
