Advertisement

Mayweather-McGregor still not sold out, secondary market sees spike in available tickets

According to a tweet from ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell, it appears that public interest in the Aug. 26 superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, is trending downward as a graph indicates a huge jump in the amount of tickets hitting the secondary market.

A huge spike in tickets hitting the secondary market with just over two weeks to go before the fight signals some trouble with the initial market as the fight has yet to sellout and struggled mightily out of the gate. Much of this has to do with the steep pricing for tickets.

As of this writing, the cheapest ticket to be found in the secondary market for Mayweather-McGregor on Seatgeek.com goes for $1,738 while the most expensive floor seat is listed at a whopping $151,245.81.

However, with so many tickets hitting the secondary market along with the amount of tickets still available on Ticketmaster, expect the prices to continue to trend downward as the fight draws near.

Ticketmaster still has a great deal of tickets available with prices as “low” as $1900 to get in the building. As a matter of fact, Ticketmaster has hidden the interactive map that allows you to see just how many tickets are still available.

This is in stark contrast to the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin fight that takes place a few weeks later on September 16th in the same arena that is staging Mayweather-McGregor.

Tickets have been sold out for that fight since July 7. The secondary market is steady with the highest-priced ticket at $18,768.75 for a ringside floor seat and the lowest ticket priced at $772 in the upper deck. Although GGG-Canelo isn’t viewed as the box office monster that Mayweather-McGregor has been billed as, the interest in a fight between two of the best boxers in the sport has held a strong grasp on public interest and hasn’t been affected by being in close proximity to Mayweather-McGregor

The secondary market dump for Mayweather-McGregor can be viewed as a direct byproduct of two things: The perceived mismatch between the fighters and the overblown ticket prices that have soured public interest. It’s still a massive fight but perhaps both teams overshot their estimate on how much people would pay to see a fight between a retired undefeated boxer and an MMA superstar who has never boxed professionally. Mayweather-Pacquiao tickets started at $1,500 while Mayweather-McGregor tickets launched at $3,500, more than double the amount of the record-breaking fight.

The secondary market is just as, if not more, important than the initial ticket sales as it gauges public interest as the fight date approaches. For a comparison, the secondary market for Floyd Mayweather’s 2013 bout with Canelo Alvarez saw a huge surge in the secondary market as the fight drew close and interest in the fight spiked from the initial date the fight was announced.

Ultimately, it appears that neither boxing nor MMA fans are buying into the hype enough that they are willing to part ways with that kind of money.

Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor face off at one of their press conferences.
Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor face off at one of their press conferences.

More from Yahoo Sports:
NFL champ ends career, moves on to ‘smoked meats’
Eric Adelson: Softball team’s punishment a needed dose of reality
Spike Lee reveals plans for Kaepernick rally at NFL HQ