In a first for Las Vegas, six of eight Cirque du Soleil shows will shut down Saturday to serve as sold-out venues for the closed-circuit broadcast of the megafight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
Demand was so feverish that 18,000 seats for the six Cirque du Soleil show venues were sold out.
“It’s not going to be an entertainment crowd anyway on Saturday,” said Jerry Nadal, senior vice president of Cirque du Soleil. “People are in town for one reason — the fight.”
Only the aquatic themed “O” at Bellagio and “Mystere” at TI will remain open, Nadal said.
As mammoth as the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight has become, a Muhammad Ali superfight would beat it.
“If Ali was fighting today, they’d be delivering his money in a Brinks truck because of closed-circuit TV. That’s where the money is today,” said Gene Kilroy, Ali’s business manager for a decade.
“The media is 80 percent larger today,” said Kilroy, a Las Vegas resident.
The projected numbers are staggering: pay-per-view, 3 million buys (previous record, 2.4 million for Mayweather vs. Oscar de la Hoya in 2007); and $74 million in gate revenue, compared to the previous record of $20 million (Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez in 2013).
Saturday’s fight should generate more than $400 million in revenue for the fighters, with Mayweather banking about $160 million and Pacquiao taking home $120 million.
{ SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal | http://goo.gl/ryWxd0 }
