Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather Jr. 2015: No Comped Tickets for Celebrities
For celebrities and notable personalities wanting to get comped tickets for the fight of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, they should not expect to get one this early on as Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said that every person wanting to watch the fight should "pay for it."
Boxing Scene said that Arum is already flooded with requests from celebrities for free tickets but he said MGM Grand is "very tight" on releasing complimentary tickets for the fight.
"Nobody is going to get these tickets without paying for them. The type of calls I'm getting, it's unbelievable. I could spend the rest of the day on the phone and sell out the entire place. The biggest block [of tickets] is with MGM. When I get a call from a celebrity, or I assume when Mayweather gets a call from a celebrity, we immediately send them to MGM and tell them to fill the order," Arum was quoted by Boxing Scene as saying.
The Top Rank CEO added that MGM will only give ringside tickets to its customers who have a $250,000 line of credit because of the price of the tickets which are really very expensive.
He also told New York Daily News that the fight could rake a total of $400 million from PPV, foreign rights and sponsorships with Mayweather expected to take home $150 million and Pacquiao $100 million.
Tagging the fight as "an incredible event," Arum said that of the 16,000 tickets for the fight, he still does not know how many will be available to the general public as there are a lot of groups "who will get their cut."
A Forbes article discussed that the tickets of the fight, though not for sale to the public yet are expected to be sold from $1,000 to $5,000 ensuring a $40 million revenue for the MGM Grand Garden Arena. This amount will reportedly double the biggest fight in boxing history between Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez which earned $20 million.
Prior to the sale of the tickets, reports have indicated that it would be very difficult to even find one. Forbes added that the cheapest seat for the match is $4,116 and a median price of $9,218 at SeatGeek.
The same report said that stars like Jack Nicholson, 50 Cent, Will Smith and Leo DiCaprio are "used to getting" complimentary tickets when watching big boxing fights.
Since the fight has been anticipated for years, people already foresee that ticket prices will surge and go beyond its usual cost. The public may still be very willing to pay for it as they are also very excited to see two of the greatest boxers of their generation fight.