High Demand Socks Cable Companies Before Mayweather-Pacquiao Boxing ...

The stars shone ringside for the boxing blockbuster between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao Saturday, but pay-per-view demand dealt a blow pre-bout to fans watching at home.

"This is a fight the world has been waiting for," referee Kenny Bayless told both boxers before the bout, but the world had to wait a little longer than originally scheduled.

The main event was delayed about 30 minutes because of problems pay-per-view customers experienced while trying to order the fight. The pay-per-view price went for $100.

Related Story: Undefeated Mayweather Beats Pacquiao on Points

Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications and c*x Communications reported problems ahead of the main event and DirecTv directed viewers to a troubleshooting website.

One frustrated customer tweeted to Time Warner: "Why don't you want my $100? Can you make it any more impossible to legitimately buy the May-Pac fight." The company later acknowledged problems and urged its customers to be patient.

Al Bello / Getty Images

Beyonce Knowles and Jay Z turn out for the 'Fight of the Century'.

While all eyes were on Mayweather and Pacquiao, the mega-event was attended by an awards-show worthy collection of A-list celebrities, including Jay-Z and Beyonce, Clint Eastwood, Robert DeNiro and Denzel Washington. Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson also attended, as well as boxing great Mike Tyson.

Tyson was not impressed, using the Twitter hasthag "underwhelmed" after the long-anticipated fight ended in a decision, which went to Mayweather.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady pulled an overtime performance attending the Kentucky Derby earlier in the day before making his way to Las Vegas to take in the fight in person. Three actors who played "Batman" or are planning to Christian Bale, Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck were in the crowd.

There weren't just backups among cable and satellite operators ahead of the fight. Aerial photos showed private planes wingtip to wingtip at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, and KSNV reported on Friday that the airport was nearing capacity for private aircraft. The airport asked visitors to consider other airports.

Hours before the fight, McCarran Airport warned passengers that there are sure to be travel headaches on Sunday and Monday as fans fly out of Sin City. "Do us a favor & pack your patience," McCarran Airport said in a Tweet.

Mayweather and Pacquiao had been flirting with the fight for years.

They were scheduled to fight in 2010, but negotiations between their promoters fell apart, and then it got ugly: Mayweather suggested that Pacquiao was doping, and Pacquiao sued for defamation. They later settled.

Phil Helsel

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

First published May 2 2015, 10:14 PM

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/high-demand-socks-cable-companies-mayweather-pacquiao-n352751

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Mayweather-Pacquiao breaking business records

Darren Rovell, ESPN.com Sports Business reporter

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• ESPN.com's sports business reporter since 2012; previously at ESPN from 2000-06
• Appears on SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and with ABC News
• Formerly worked as analyst at CNBC

The rooms at the Riviera in old downtown Las Vegas haven't been updated in years. Its dizzying carpet screams of the 1980s, and the pictures on the walls of Elvis, Joan Rivers and George Burns do little to excite many patrons these days.

WHERE: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas WHEN: May 2, 9 p.m. ET TV: Showtime/HBO PPV

Fight Credential: Complete fight coverage

On an average night this year, you could have stayed in one of its rooms for less than $80 -- and that includes tax and free parking.

On May 4, the Riviera will go out of business. A superstar of the past that just couldn't keep up with Steve Wynn's big money and the new strip that developed, the hotel was sold for $191 million in February.

But the Riviera will go out in a way most hotels don't -- charging prices next weekend that it could only get on New Year's Eve. And every room is sold out.

People in town to see the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena are paying $379 on Friday and Saturday nights, filling the Riviera's rooms for the last time.

The Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight is looking to generate $72 million in live gate alone, part of a total package that could surpass $400 million.

Ticket priceNumber of tickets*$10,0001,100**$7,5002,500$5,0002,500$3,5004,000$2,5002,500$1,5002,500* Approximate** None available for public sale

Anecdotes about how big Mayweather-Pacquiao is for the Las Vegas economy are filled with excess. But it's places like the Riviera and Hostel Cat, a place where people pay by the bed (it's $60 this weekend instead of the usual $16), that best describe how desperate people are to be in Vegas for the historic event.

Officials with the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority wouldn't confirm it, but it might end up being the single biggest economic weekend in Las Vegas history.

The town's most highly coveted hotels on the strip routinely sell out, but not at the insane markup this market has seen.

"When hotels are filled, there are often conventions, and blocks of rooms are being negotiated at discount rates," said Vanessa Doleshal, business development manager for Vegas.com, an online booking website that specializes in the city.

Doleshal said the site booked 568 hotel rooms for Friday, May 1, on Feb. 20 and 21, when it was clear the fight was going to happen. The two days before that? A paltry 52 rooms.

With five days to go before the fight, the last rooms were being sold at the MGM Grand for $1,600 per night. That's the last of more than 6,000 rooms, which makes the MGM Grand the second largest hotel by room volume in the world.

The superlatives aren't hard to find:

The golden ticket

What it cost to get into the action at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 2.

ESPN

A $10,000 ringside ticket -- and that's just face value. A close associate of one of the fighters was trying to sell a couple of them for $350,000 each this past week.

A secondary market for tickets, with only about 500 released to the public, would have the highest average price of any sporting event ever. Through Sunday night, about 300 tickets had sold on StubHub with an average price of more than $6,000.

Mayweather, on a single night, might clear $100 million.

The cost to watch

Watching the superfight on TV could also be expensive.

ESPN

The pay-per-view cost is $100, beating the previous high (for Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez, on Sept. 14, 2013) by $20.

A weigh-in for the first time ever costing money -- $10 per person -- and more than 10,000 tickets sold out in less than an hour and a half.

Closed circuit tickets at various MGM-owned properties were put on sale Thursday for $150, also a record, and were also sold out -- and that includes many of the 10 hotels having more than one room to show the fight.

Sponsors don't hold back

Companies will have logos displayed on the ring mat and on various pay-per-view graphics.

Sponsorship for this fight surpassed $13 million, according to ESPN.com's Dan Rafael. The beer deal alone with Tecate ($5.6 million) is worth more than any other fight had ever generated -- which is believed to be in the $4 million range.

A couch for six people on the stage to watch Chris Brown perform at Drai's Nightclub in the Cromwell on Saturday night costs a minimum of $3,333 per person.

As the fight draws closer, the concerns center on Vegas itself. Can all this be real? How many rooms were reserved by speculators? How many high rollers are coming to town? Will the ticket market collapse? How will the fact that a single ticket wasn't printed until 10 days before the fight challenge the secondary market, the distributing of the tickets?

This might be Vegas' biggest night ever. And since boxing helped build the desert land into a destination, it's only appropriate that the sport is responsible for it.

Source: http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/12772084/mayweather-pacquiao-breaking-business-records

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