The much anticipated bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao was expected to be the richest fight in sports history, but latest reports have revealed that it could generate around half a million dollars.
It has been reportedly revealed that those involved in the welterweight fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2 are confident that the bout would generate upwards of 400 million dollars, but some have tipped that it could reach half a billion dollars.
The increased projections are largely because of unprecedented demand for the 15,000 tickets available for the fight, News.com.au reported.
Promoters originally hoped for gatetakings of around 40 million dollars, which would have doubled the 20 million dollars record set at unbeaten US boxing champion Mayweather's fight against Canelo Alvarez in 2013.
However, high demand has allowed them to rescale the prices from the cheapest ticket to 1,500 dollars, up from 1,000 dollars, to the most expensive to 10,000 dollars, up from 7,500 dollars. And this could see the gate reach 74 million dollars.
The bulk revenue would come from pay-per-view sales, with promoters expecting around 3 million people to pay to watch the fight on television, which would break the record of 2.4 million set by Mayweather's fight against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.
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At roughly 100 dollars a pop, that would generate around 300 million dollars, which would just be in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico, with international sales expected to add another 35 million dollars to the tally.
All that crosses the 400 million dollars mark and this doesn't include sponsorship benefits.
Beer companies Tecate and Corona went to war over being the beer sponsor for the fight with the former trumping the latter with a 5.6 million dollars offer.
Filipino boxer and politician Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum revealed that Tecate's bid is by far the record, adding that they have never see anything like that on a beer sponsor, insisting that both companies were after it and it's a huge number.
The long-negotiated fight contract sees Mayweather's team getting 60 percent of the revenue and Pacquaio's side 40 percent, the report added.