HBO and Showtime are doing backflips and handstands in their offices today. Reports have confirmed that the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight on May 2 broke all pay per view records. HBO/Showtime have announced to the world that MayPac generated 4.4 million buys and brought in $400 million in revenue just from the U.S. alone.
When you factor international sales, the live gate at the MGM Grand Garden Arena where the fight was held, sponsorships, merchandise and other factors, the gross is expected to exceed $500 million worldwide. And this is despite outages that prevented many people from watching the pay per view as scheduled at the 9 p.m. ET start time, plus those watching the fight illegally on Periscope and pirate web sites.
The previous buy record was Floyd Mayweather vs. Oscar de la Hoya fight in 2007 which had less than 2.5 million purchases and the revenue record set by Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez in 2013 which drew $150 million in PPV income.
The fight was distributed in 175 countries around the globe which is about 75% of the worldwide territories according to HBO/Showtime.
The live gate at the MGM Grand drew more than $71 million in revenue which encircles the previous record of Mayweather-Canelo which had $20 million.
And for those watching in closed-circuit locations in movie theaters in Las Vegas and across the country, the estimated attendance was about 46,000.
So the fight drew plenty of interest and is drawing enough buzz for talk of a sequel next year. The second fight may not draw as much interest as there had been a lot of anticipation for this year’s card. But even if there’s a bit of a dropoff if there’s a second fight, both Mayweather and Pacquiao should see plenty of money just as they did this year.
