Mayweather vs. McGregor: How do ticket prices compare to the year’s major sporting events?
Saturday night’s Mayweather vs. McGregor match is one of the most hyped sporting events of 2017. To be considered deserving of all the press, the fight needs to deliver in many ways, including gate proceeds.
This weekend’s mega-hyped matchup between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor is commanding big bucks, but how do ticket prices for this fight stack up against other major events this year? Vivid Seats, the largest independent online ticket marketplace, takes a look at average ticket prices for the year’s major sporting events including Mayweather vs. McGregor:
Mayweather vs. McGregor: $3,364
2017 College Football Championship: $1,186
2017 NBA Finals Game 5: $1,430
2016 World Series Game 7: $1,890
2017 Super Bowl: $4,256
Average ticket prices based on sold tickets only on Vivid Seats.
Of these four major events that Vivid Seats compared, Saturday’s bout is only outdone by Super Bowl LII. There are a few things that must be taken into account in this comparison. First, Game 5 of the NBA Finals wasn’t guaranteed to be the night that the NBA champion Golden State Warriors claimed the title on their home court. Had there been a Game 7 in Oakland, the average price of those tickets might have gone for much more.
While Game 7 of the World Series was going to be a clincher for either team, buyers of tickets for the game in Cleveland weren’t sure that they were going to see the Chicago Cubs end a 108-year title drought when they made their purchases. It could be argued that the opportunity to possibly see that occur was incentive enough to pay a premium price, however.
Another thing that must be considered is the amount of tickets available for each event. The 2017 college football championship game, Super Bowl LI, Game 7 of the World Series and Game 5 of the NBA Finals all boasted thousands of available seats. Not all of the seats in those venues were sold to the general public. Seats were reserved for players’ families, school personnel, and league officials. These same things could be said of Mayweather vs. McGregor.
T-Mobile Arena has a capacity of 20,000. Some of those seats are going to those with the right connections and relationships. Thousands more will be sold on secondary market platforms like Vivid Seats. The final thing that must be considered is the amount of time that tickets were available for sale.
The fight was announced in the middle of June, which means that the tickets have only been on the secondary market for a matter of weeks. The other events in this comparison are scheduled years in advance, giving fans much more time to budget and make their moves.
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With all these things considered, Mayweather vs. McGregor more than holds its own when compared to the year’s top sporting events in terms of average value on the secondary ticket market. Now fans will have to see if the fight will live up to the price they paid to be at the event.