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The latest negotation happenings for the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight
By Zach Arnold | December 11, 2009
We know there’s bad blood between Floyd Mayweather and Bob Arum, but the news today that Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy didn’t want to have a meeting with Jerry Jones to hold the event at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas is baffling. It’s a beautiful start-of-the-art venue in a state where there’s no income tax. The move has prompted Arum to hand over negotiations on his side to Todd duBoef.
To Jerry Jones’ credit, he sent a proposal on Thursday night to keep Cowboys Stadium open as a possibility. The two venues publicly discussed as in play are JerryWorld and the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Staples Center, according to Pacquiao’s camp, is a no-go because of California’s notoriously high state-income tax. The claim is that Pacquiao would pay up to $5 million USD more in taxes if he fought in California instead of Nevada or Texas.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I am rooting for Cowboys stadium–even though I hate Texas. State of the Art stadium, with the largest HDTV Monitor in the world over 70 yards long, that can seat 100,000. You’d have a monster gate, a monster crowd, and would not have to drop 5k to attend.
Seems like a no-brainer. That said, it will probably be in Vegas. . .
There’s more than those two. Superdome in New Orleans put in a bid (its out of the running) as did Georgia Dome. There’s two Vegas venues; MGM and Wynn. Wynn wants to erect a temporary stadium on the land formerly occupied by the Frontier.
Cowboy Stadium would be a great choice. Those big screens are mind-boggling, even people sitting in the rafters would have a terrific view of the action.
Richard Schaefer has tunnel vision. The publicity from doing a show in Dallas would be huge.
“…I hate Texas”
Keep it up, Maysey, and you and I will be on the undercard.
Why did Schaefer pull out from going to Texas? Is someone trying to sue Floyd in TX? Wouldn’t surprise me.
“Why did Schaefer pull out from going to Texas?”
According to a newspaper article down here, Schaefer was under the misimpression that it was an fixed open-air stadium. He didn’t know (or maybe care) that they could shut the roof.
http://www.star-telegram.com/471/story/1819318.html
Sounds like an excuse to me. Personally, I can’t believe it will end up anywhere but Vegas right now. Mayweather lives there. Pacquiao prefers fighting there. The city and private industry there want the fight desperately. There’s a mess of options for them at different arenas. Plus, look, its Vegas. Big fights happen there.
^Nevermind my post above. I just got off of the phone with someone who would be one of the very top people to know, and he told me that Mayweather is saying that he will only fight in Vegas. Period.
And so, I was told, Arum and company are mad, but Mayweather is, as of this moment, sticking very strongly to his guns.
I believe that. I guess then its a contest between Wynn and MGM Grand. Honestly, I love the Wynn idea; who can’t get excited for something with a stadium built for it alone?
In addition to Floyd’s love of Las Vegas another big issue is going to keep them there: keeping astronomical ticket prices. The Cowboys stadium gate would be great, but to guarantee a sell out (or close to it) at a venue of that size they would have to reduce ticket prices semi-reasonably. But the problem is, since this is more than likely the biggest fight of all-time, they’re going to want tickets ridiculously high and the only place to get away with that is one of the usual Vegas venues.
But of course since this is the Dallas Cowboys we’re talking about who are incapable of making the playoffs because of their crappy Quarterback, they’ll be ready to go by next month.
Mark if they sell 80k seats in Dallas, they are going to make an astronomical amount of money. People are going to fly in to watch the fight whether in Vegas or Dallas, so while there may be a premium price on Vegas tickets, I think they can still sell that stadium out or close to it and keep ticket prices fairly high (although obviously I would hope tickets aren’t too expensive so I can go).
“But of course since this is the Dallas Cowboys we’re talking about who are incapable of making the playoffs because of their crappy Quarterback, they’ll be ready to go by next month.”
The entire season for the Cowboys comes down to this weekend, imo. If they lose, they won’t make the playoffs. If they win, I think they will, where they’ll promptly lose.
LOL Fluid. Hey, I put in 7 years of time in Houston and am now permanently scarred! Best description of Houston, “Its hot, its wet, and it stinks. Imagine walking into a human mouth.”
@DavidM
Of course they’ll make the money in Dallas. But fight promoters also like the prestige of astronomically priced tickets and for reasons that make no sense to the outside world who think “why wouldn’t you want to make the same amount of money with a larger crowd buying cheaper tickets than a smaller crowd buying more expensive tickets?” but it is how they all think: the more something costs the bigger the event feels. UFC draws great outside of Vegas usually, but they had no intentions of holding UFC 100 in Ohio or Pennsylvania because they wanted a gazillion dollars for seats because it’s their biggest show. Same for this. Plus like the UFC most of the people involved feel a loyalty to their homebase of Nevada.
LOL@this press release from the Texas guys:
December 11, 2009
Statement from Bill Kuntz, Executive Director, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Concerning Mayweather / Pacquiao
“The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) has a proven track record of hosting successful combative sports events, including events such as the one being proposed. Texas is the number two state in the country in terms of events conducted annually.
TDLR fosters a business friendly, fair and cooperative regulatory environment. We welcome every economic opportunity for Texas.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation is ready and able to work with all parties involved to reach an agreement on all regulatory aspects of the event, including the assignment of officials. We look forward to the opportunity to host the event in Texas.”