Fight

Saturday night’s fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is the latest “Fight of the Century” that boxing fans have been clamoring for, as the hype developed over the last five years.

The two fighters could split more than $400 million. It will easily become the richest pay day in boxing history.

The money has to be made somewhere. And a good chunk of that will come from the fans who choose to watch the fight.

According to Seatgeak.com, ringside tickets for the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas are going for as much as $74,000 each. The cheapest ticket to see it in person is $3,200.

Yet, those prices have dropped since they first went on sale. Floor seats were once listed at $110,00 on Stubhub.

With prices that high, it’s easy to see promoters are not catering to the everyday working stiff. Since the fight was announced, the entire spectacle has been created for high rollers and so-called A-listers.

That leaves the majority of fans the option of buying the fight on pay-per view. In the past, most of Mayweather and Pacquiao’s fights have cost viewers around $70 to purchase. The record for any boxing match was $74.95.

But, as with all things associated with this fight, those numbers are being smashed. With HBO and Showtime working together, the cost to see the fight in the comfort of your own home is $89.95. That is unless you want to watch it on HD; then, it’s $99.95.

“I think the price for the fight is way too much,” said Minesh Kureti, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida. “Just because people want to see this fight happen doesn’t mean they can just charge any amount they like. Plus nowadays, even the cable bill is high and if you add another 100 bucks to watch the game, you (are) looking at a $300 bill for cable.”

For those not wanting to pay the rather steep pay-per-view price, the other option is to find a bar or restaurant that will be showing the mega fight.

Establishments have to pay anywhere between $25 to $50 per head for fire code occupancy of the location, according to the businesses buying licenses to air the fight. So if a restaurant has capacity of 200 people, at the very least, they could be spending $5,000 before a customer walks through their doors.

Due to those high licensing fees, several have already opted not to televise it. One of those is O’Connells Irish Pub in Oklahoma. Owner Jeff Stewart said with a seating capacity of 300, he was priced out at $9,000 upfront.

“J & J Sports Marketing are the only ones selling it,” Stewart said. “That’s the only way to buy it commercially. You might be able to negotiate with them if you have 25 locations. But their initial price was $30 per seat based on fire code. How do you come out ahead? It’s $100 to buy it at home. So if you have four people at home, you can spend $25 bucks. I’m not going to get someone to pay $30-$35 to come in the door.”

Buffalo Wild Wings has also decided to not showcase the fight company wide. But they are leaving it up to individual franchises to make their own choice. There are 1,080 BWW locations across the United States.

“The decision was based on the cost of the fight,” COO James Schmidt told BusinessInsider.com. “I think it’s about $5,100 a restaurant and so we did not feel comfortable with the cost. So because of that we decided to only air it at a handful of restaurants on the company side. I believe on the franchise side, we have around 70 restaurants that are going to be airing it on the franchise side.”

One BWW franchise that has decided to show the fight is the one located In Norman, Oklahoma, which has an occupancy of 360. Despite the $5,100 fee, manager Jordan Hester said they will do it. But they will have a cover charge for the first time.

“Obviously it was a lot of money,” Hester said. “We typically don’t do a cover charge for a fight. But since it’s $5,100, that’s why we are having to do a $10 cover charge. Typically the fights aren’t as much as this one. But it’s Mayweather. That’s the only reason we are having to.”

In the past, all main events for boxing were shown on network television. Anybody, no matter how rich or poor, could watch the fight if they could get near a TV. But those days are long gone.

Boxing is not the only sport that uses the pay-per-view to sell their events. UFC and Wrestlemania have profited hugely from the same approach.

However, boxing is the only combat sport considered to be dying. After the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, unless there is a rematch, no other boxing match on the horizon will garner nearly the attention that this fight has. There are no fighters or fights any casual fan is looking forward to, or would be willing to shell out $100 to watch.

So while Money Mayweather and Pac-Man are cashing in huge now, the future of big pay days in the sport could be coming to an end.

“Most people that are boxing fans are blue collar workers,” said Matt Parker of Dallas. “They’re are killing the fan base of boxing.”