Comments Thread For: Ward-Kovalev: $3.3 Million Live Gate From 10,066 Tickets Sold

[BoxingFan85]

That hurts small to medium shows. Big shows can absorb it. That's why you hear Barclays or MSG still being talked about for Jacobs v. GGG. If GGG can do $2 mil selling out MSG with 20,000 ppl. They could've sold it out too. It costs more to fly to Vegas and get a room for the weekend and 10,000 still went. If you can't get 20,000 people in a city of 10mil for a fight this big you're a horrible promoter. Roc Nation is based in New York. Main events is based in Jersey. Why the hell are they promoting a show in Vegas? Their roots & contacts are in the NY metro area

Yeah but the purses for Golovkin -Lemeiux were less than half of Ward-Kovalev
Didn't Ward have a guaranteed purse of 5mil and Kovalev ~2mil !?
The total purse of GGG Lemeuix was less than Ward's purse..

[Scipio2009]

1. Cable and dish companies get approximately 50% of PPV revenue. HBO gets another 10%.

2. NYC has extremely high taxes on the fighter's purse. That has to be considered.

"extremely high taxes" nearly always get offset at tax time, especially in a world where fighters know about LLCs and tax planning (or at least their management should).

[Teetotaler]

I highly doubt the rematch does anymore. Two gift decisions in one card? Let alone on ppv

[Beercules]

So is that good?

[Scipio2009]

Half the ppv rev goes to the cable company, so only a little over $5mill for a estimate of $8.5mill. However fighting in Vegas, you get a site fee (from MGM in this case). Not sure if MGM took any cut from the gate, probably not. So they might've atleast broke even which helps the case for making a rematch.

Fighting in NY, they would've lost a ton of money in taxes and having to rent out MSG will cost you another couple hundred thousand. So fighting in NY would've been dumb.

Another ****** thing is they sometimes count comps or discounted tickets at full price in the gate revenue.

Fight packages aren't put together in stasis; NYC would've been on the doorstep of the headquarters of both promotional companies. With Main Events allegedly having their relationships in NJ/NY, and NYC having a sizable Russian population, the on-the-ground push should've been stronger.

Also, with NYC being the media capital of the world, the event (a 50/50 fight between two of the sports best fighters) could've been marketed to a far wider casual audience than was available in Vegas.

[Scipio2009]

Thats not how it works. Ward's 5 mil gusrantee is rns poblem and kovalev 2mil is ME problem. After they split the revenue 50-50 they each pay their own fighters from their own pockets. obviiously ME did a lot better. MGM isnt gving them the whole gate either

Main Events had control of the event; no different than with what Matchroom Sport had to put forward, Main Events paid Roc Nation Sports a fee on the front end, plus some share on the PPV upside (which was not hit).

To act as if Main Events and Roc Nation Sports were 50-50 on the fight is foolish

[killakali]

Main Events had control of the event; no different than with what Matchroom Sport had to put forward, Main Events paid Roc Nation Sports a fee on the front end, plus some share on the PPV upside (which was not hit).

To act as if Main Events and Roc Nation Sports were 50-50 on the fight is foolish

they were 50-50. And each company responsible for their own fighters. Standard stuff

[firstborn]

Sounds like the fight made a profit based on the internet experts. The real question is will this be a good enough incentive for a rematch.

[TheCell8]

Kathy Duva folks. She just had to have it in Vegas at the T-Mobile. An arena even Canelo couldn't sell out. The tickets weren't that expensive for a Vegas fight. Could've been held in New York like Roc Nation wanted. The media capital of the world. Probably would've sold more PPV too. And she knew Nevada rules are local judges for their fights. In New York she could've gotten the foreign judges. This lady thinks she she's the smartest person in the room and it's always backfiring.

I pointed this out as well, the T-Mobile arena is really hard to get sellouts. One of the big issues it has is that it's not connected to a casino like the MGM grand is. Even top UFC events like UFC 202 had troubles selling out the event.

If they do a rematch, they should at least go somewhere in California or NY. The problem however is that the fighters will have to pay more taxes.

[Scipio2009]

they were 50-50. And each company responsible for their own fighters. Standard stuff

Main Events made the deal with Sky Sports, Main Events chose T-Mobile Arena for the event, Main Events was the one doling out the media credentials, Main Events have the longterm deal with HBO, etc, etc.

In what way, outside of also having Roc Nation on the marquee, was the Kovalev-Ward fight a 50/50 promotion?