There’s no denying that Mayweather vs Conor McGregor would do huge numbers, but how big could it really be? Lets take a look at some past numbers and factors to consider.
Mayweather vs Conor McGregor talks continues to rattle on with no end in sight soon, with McGregor mentioning he’s got his eyes firmly set on the ‘Highest Paid Fighter’ accolade currently held by Mayweather.
Before getting into some numbers on Mayweather and McGregor, it’s important to realize that while both men have performed very well in the PPV markets in their specific sports, there is potential for a coming together of the two to be much bigger than anything before.
For four main reasons:
- Sport. A global cross-promoted combat sports event bringing pure boxing and MMA fans together for one night only on a scale never seen before.
- Fame. Two of the most famous fighters ever from the social media driven era of world sports.
- Hype. Two of the best salesmen, trash talkers, hype creators in the history of the fight business that can bring in casual sports fans to watch a fight like no other.
- Non-Sports Fans. The sheer freak show appeal of it, to even non- sports fans.
These four factors for me make a potential Mayweather vs Conor McGregor spectacle more than capable of surpassing the current record.
That record for pay per views in the fight business currently belongs to Mayweather for his fight with Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
The Numbers
The best place to get a grasp on the numbers is to look back at the current record in this particular field.
As essentially both from a sporting and commercial standpoint, it only happened back in May 2015 and therefore could hold a lot of merit certainly from an economic time-frame perspective – for the basis of estimating what a Floyd Mayweather vs McGregor PPV event could do.
While Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao back in May 2015 turned out to be underwhelming, from a PPV perspective, it was anything but.
A gargantuan money bonanza of disgusting proportions. Cash all over the shop.
The final figure when all was said and done, when every pay per view buy had been counted months after the event took place, came to a whopping 4.6 million pay per view buys generated.
That number was estimated to have created $410 million revenue in a single night (just from PPV alone).
Now, factor into that the world was perhaps just coming out of the global crash around that time and that by the time a potential Mayweather vs Conor McGregor could take place the recession will well and truly be over for the most part, with customers in theory having more cash in their pockets.
However, illegal online streaming has also grown in the past couple of years – which could make the above a mute point.
Also factor in there will be a proportion of both die-hard boxing and MMA fans, purists of each sport, that won’t watch the fight.
But the reality is that’s a very small number.
A lot of them (despite what they say) would still tune in.
You’ve also got to weigh-in to the equation that Conor McGregor is a considerably bigger world star than Manny Pacquiao was.
McGregor is everywhere, perhaps one of the great promoters of his time.
Also consider that if the event happens it most likely can only do so with the UFC’s (McGregor’s current pay master) blessing.
That means that they’ll have to be involved in the promotion of the event somewhere along the lines.
And to be fair, they can promote bloody well.
They are literally the best combat sports promoters in history. A recent sale of the company for a cool $4.2 billion conveys as much.
Check out this ridiculously well put together promo video for their UFC 205 event at Madison Square Garden – to get an idea of just how good they are at selling fights.
Their new owners also have a war chest of funds and contacts in the entertainment business, and know that a Mayweather vs Conor McGregor won’t just be pro sports – it’ll be entertainment.
What does all this generate?
Based on reasonable consumer spending pattern assumptions, allowing for inflation since 2015 and the global cross-appeal of an event of this nature, for my buck, at least 5.2 million pay per view buys in the US alone.
But possibly much more.
At between $80-$100 a piece? You do the math.