The several years of waiting to finally see Floyd Mayweather step into the ring with Manny Pacquiao led to a pay-per-view bonanza that has never been seen before. And quite frankly, we may never see it again.
Mayweather-Pacquaio drew over 1 million buys on DirecTV alone and 500,000 on Dish Network. The fight saw another 600,000 customers purchase the PPV extravaganza through their local telephone company. Before any cable system whatsoever is factored in, the fight has already become the biggest PPV fight of all-time.
And via Kevin Iole at Yahoo Sports, the final numbers could climb as high as 5.6 million PPV buys. That number would incredibly more than double the previous record of 2.48 million buys of Mayweather-De La Hoya:
Generally for a major pay-per-vew fight, sales on cable systems throughout the country account for 55 to 65 percent of the total. It’s more often in the 60 percent range, with satellite systems usually accounting for 35 percent of the sales and telephone companies making up the rest.
Yahoo Sports on Thursday learned sales figures for the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight on DirecTV and Dish Network, as well as AT&T’s uVerse and Verizon’s FIOS services. Those add up to 2.25 million sales, which even without one sale from a cable company customer would make it tied for the second-highest-selling pay-per-view of all time.
DirecTV sold 1.15 million pay-per-views, while Dish’s number was 500,000. The telephone companies combined for 600,000. Combined, that is 2.25 million already. If cable systems wound up being 60 percent of the total, that would mean the final figure is a mind-boggling 5.625 million.
Mayweather has already participated in the top two best-selling pay-per-view fights of all time, but their totals have combined for 4.73 million. The 2007 match with Oscar De La Hoya stands No. 1, with 2.48 million sales. The 2013 Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez bout sold 2.25 million.
And when you factor in just how many of those buys were watch parties, and how many watched at bars and restaurants, the total audience for this fight has to be in the tens of millions. It’s an extraordinary number. With that many paying customers, it’s no wonder Manny Pacquiao and the fight’s promoters are facing so many lawsuits over the alleged hiding of his shoulder injury. At last count, ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported the existence of 18, yes, 18!!!, lawsuits:
Since fight, Pacquiao & promoters have been sued in Nevada (3X), California (3X), FLA (3X), Texas (2X), NY (2X), MD, NJ, ILL, Delaware & CT
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 8, 2015
That’s a lot of lawsuits!
With that many people projected to buy the first fight, one would have to think there would be a significant audience that would tune in for a second. And that’s even with all of the disgruntled reaction towards the fight as not living anywhere near the expectation for the latest Fight of the Century.
Even if the audience was cut in half, it would still be the second most popular PPV bout in history. Alas, now Floyd Mayweather says he has changed his mind on a potential rematch and now won’t offer one to Pacquiao. However, my guess is that after the two fighters and promoters see the money they made off the first one, there would be several million reasons why they could be coaxed into a rematch.