Advertisement

In Las Vegas, Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is exclusive to MGM properties

In Las Vegas, Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is exclusive to MGM properties

If you're a sports fan, Las Vegas is like a home away from home. Walk into one of the city's many hotels and it's possible to watch on television just about any sporting event that is being held on a given day.

Thousands are descending upon the city for the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao bout on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden. Only about 16,000 will be privileged enough to be inside the arena for the latest incarnation of "The Fight of the Century."

There will be thousands of closed circuit seats available in Las Vegas, but every last one of them will be inside an MGM Resorts-owned property. That means no watching the bout at venerable Las Vegas casino hotels such as Caesars Palace, Wynn Las Vegas or The Venetian.

That means the fight will be available at MGM properties in Las Vegas such as the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, Mirage, Aria, Montel Carlo and New York-New York.

" ... We have exclusivity to broadcast closed-circuit viewing at our properties," MGM Grand spokesman Scott Ghertner said. "No other hotel-casino properties in Clark County, Nev., can broadcast [the fight on] closed circuit."

There will be a public sale of tickets for the live event, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe told Yahoo Sports, but pricing isn't complete. Low end tickets start at $1,500 and high-end seats go for $7,500. He said the scaling of the ticket prices hasn't been completed.

Ellerbe said he is also doing something special with the tickets to prevent counterfeiting but declined to go into any more detail.

He said that the closed-circuit ticket prices as well as the pay-per-view price have not yet been set. He disputed numerous reports given by Top Rank CEO Bob Arum talking about the total revenue take. He said there is a confidentiality agreement in place that bars parties from discussing many of the terms, and said because deals are yet to be finished it is impossible to speak accurately on financial projections.

Manny Pacquiao arrives at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles for training (Chris Farina/Top Rank)
Manny Pacquiao arrives at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles for training (Chris Farina/Top Rank)