The NY Times reports on the economic impact Manny Pacquiao has on Las Vegas. Its a good read on how Pacquiao’s popularity has a trickle down economic affect on Vegas during fight weekend.
The third fight in the trilogy sold out within 2 weeks of tickets going on sale. Gross sales are expected at $11.8 million. The average ticket is more than 40 percent than that of the Mayweather-Ortiz fight. Of course, Ortiz was a relative no name so that may be one of the reasons for the disparity.
The Nevada Athletic Commission is also glad to see a Pacquiao fight.
Via NY Times:
The commission, (Keith) Kizer said, receives 6 percent of the gate, in addition to a $50,000 fee, good for $758,000, based on the projection. “One fight,” Kizer added, “basically covers our entire budget.”
The article presents some interesting details on how the Vegas travel industry has capitalized with different ethnic groups. For instance, the loyal Pacquiao fans brings high-end Asian gamblers to the Vegas tables. It also tries to book a Mexican fighter to fight during Cinquo de Mayo weekend.
Casinos made almost 29 percent more than usual when Pacquiao fought Shane Mosley this past spring. Pacquiao also has an impact on nongambling activities in Vegas where the average nongambling spending averaged $645.
More from the NYT:
By multiplying that (nongambling spending) average with the gate attendance, the visitors authority arrives at an “estimated nongaming economic impact” for each fight, usually in the range of $6 million to $12 million. When Pacquiao tangled with Erik Morales in November 2006 at the larger-capacity Thomas and Mack Center, the estimated nongambling economic impact was $12.9 million, the highest total in the past five years.
Payout Perspective:
It would be interesting to look at the Pacquiao affect compared to a UFC Vegas event. Of course, it was just this past January for UFC 125 where almost half the tickets were comped. Then again, Mayweather-Ortiz had its share of comps as well. Could the UFC ever have that much of an economic impact on Vegas with a megafight? Another question that arises is what will happen in the next couple years when Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather are retired and/or past their prime? Will Vegas look to the UFC as the premier “sport” event to center its tourism around or will we see a boxing superstar arise in the next couple years. Its definitely not a good sign for boxing when most of America does not know when the heavyweight champion is making title defenses. Or, where he is making them.
Certainly the nationalistic pride and international appeal of Manny Pacquiao has something to do with the boom in tourism during a fight week. Also, the fact Pacquiao only fights twice a year is another reason these events are heavily attended. For the UFC, we’re seeing a fight a month and the UFC has not established a true “must see” superstar; a fighter that people are willing to pay plane airfare, hotel and tickets to go see. In the coming years, we may see someone evolve into this for the UFC and it will be interesting see who it will be.
ufc/mma is total rubbish cannot be compared to boxing which is the greatest
sport on the planet. UFC is boxing very ugly sister that should never be seen.
There is little skill watching two people slapping on the floor which is what
happens in this embarrasing spectacle. Boxing always finds a superstar and
believe me one will emerge like ali,leonard,duran,hagler,de la hoya then
pacquiao and mayweather. ufc is a joke that has no history and will always
be a minority so called sport.
Thank you Phil. Very informative. One question, why are you reading a website that covers MMA if it’s such rubbish? Surely a man of your intellectual capacity has better things to do with his time? Like maybe learning how to CAPITALIZE proper names, acronyms and the first letter of every sentence? Maybe you’d like to go to Rio or Curitiba and share some of your views with the Brazilian fans? They’d love to hear they are so passionate about a rubbish sport.
On a more serious note, Manny and Floyd are exceptions. No one else in boxing sells the kind of PPVs that those two bring in. No one else is even close. I suspect that the total UFC impact in Las Vegas in a given year is greater than that of boxing. At the very least they are comparable on the whole. And that doesn’t include the impact in all the other cities around the world.