http://www.newsweek.com/floyd-mayweather-vs-conor-mcgregor-t-mobile-arena-las-ve...Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor:
Could August 26 Las Vegas Superfight Make $600 Million?
It’s a contest between boxing’s pay-per-view king and the highest-grossing UFC star in history.
If ever a fight were a certainty to draw money, it would be Floyd Mayweather’s super-bout against Conor McGregor scheduled for August 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The contest, which will be fought under boxing rules over 12 three-minute rounds, brings together two of combat sports’ brashest talkers and slickest practitioners with the added lure of the “Sport of Kings” against its brash young cousin.
Sports Emails and Alerts- Get the best of Newsweek Sports delivered to your inbox
Forbes has predicted that the bout, which will take place at the T-Mobile Arena, could draw between 5.3 and 5.5 million pay-per-view buys.
That would comfortably shatter the previous record for a boxing pay-per-view bout held by Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015.
That fight ended up generating more than $400 million in ppv revenue, in addition to a live gate of $72,198,500.
Mayweather features in the top three highest-grossing cards of all time. His fight against Saul Alvarez generated 2.2 million ppv buys and $150 million in revenue, according to ESPN. Mayweather’s victory over Oscar De La Hoya from May 2007 held the previous all-time record with 2.4 million buys and around $136 million in revenue.
The T-Mobile Arena seats 20,000 for boxing and MMA events. With high demand and low availability, it’s not hard to see prices for individual seats climbing into the thousands of dollars. Combine that with the fact that Mayweather vs Pacquiao cost $99 to watch on ppv in the U.S.—this will likely not be set any lower—and it’s possible that the event could gross more than $600 million at the top end of expectations.
All of which is good news for the two men and their entourages. It remains to be seen whether the action can match the hype, and the money.