By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The giant Philippine network ABS-CBN has committed to make general admission ticket prices for the July 2 “War” between Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao and former two-time super bantamweight champion Oscar Larios, reasonable.
In the face of unwarranted criticism of the P1,000 general admission ticket prices which was relayed to media by an officer of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, ABS-CBN Vice president for Sports Peter Musgni told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today “ that is something we can promise to be acceptable. That’s something that we are working hard to make accessible and affordable by the general public.”
Musgni disclosed that he had asked the network’s research and business analysis people to “do the numbers” and that he would will sit down with the Araneta coliseum officials to peg the prices and finalize details of the explosive July 2 fight card.
He said the ticket prices for the other seats was “lot less sensitive” because ABS-CBN “wants to do the whole menu of tickets and sections so that if you cant afford one you can certainly settle for the next.” Musgni also indicated that the prices of general admission tickets would be nearer to theater prices.
Musgni confirmed that Larios will arrive on April 27 and will leave on the night of the 29th even as he indicated they were “hoping to go to Las Vegas before the Oscar De La Hoya to talk to some people there because we intend to do some promotional tours for the US and Mexico.” The ABS-CBN official indicated they wanted “to do a lot of groundwork to make sure we have a decent pay-per-view base revenue stream.”
Musgni said they were still talking to HBO on a PPV tie-up but indicated that was “one of the easier parts.” He said they were also discussing coverage in the Middle East for the Filipinos and Europe” and would use The Filipino Channel as a vehicle. Musgni said they would have a third audio feed (in Spanish)and was hoping reports that that Marco Antonio Barrera, the reigning WBC super featherweight champion would come adding “I hope that materializes but we are not really counting on it.”
