Showtime confirms Mayweather vs. McGregor close to all time pay-per-view record
Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor may be laughing all the way to the bank after their fight this past weekend in Las Vegas.
Early numbers from the pay-per-view are beginning to surface with Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza confirming ‘mid-to-high’ four million buys for the fight where Mayweather dished out a 10th round TKO to McGregor in his professional boxing debut.
The all-time pay-per-view record is held by Mayweather’s fight against Manny Pacquiao from 2015 that sold 4.6 million buys in North America.
If Espinoza’s accounting is accurate, Mayweather vs. McGregor will at least be knocking on the door to break the record with final numbers expected to be produced in the next week.
There’s no word on international sales of the pay-per-view but given McGregor’s star power to the global audience it’s likely the fight will shatter that record as well. Unfortunately, international pay-per-views don’t cost as much as the price tag in North America where customers were paying $99.99 for the high definition broadcast.
UFC president Dana White had teased earlier in the week in a video posted by UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber that the card had sold 6.5 million buys. Given the number revealed by Showtime, White may have been speaking about the total pay-per-view buys worldwide.
Even if Mayweather vs. McGregor doesn’t break the all time record in North America, the event is already a huge success by even coming close to that gaudy number produced in 2015.
Once the final pay-per-view sales are figured out, the fighters will begin to recoup their earnings with Mayweather potentially making upwards of $300 million for the fight with McGregor expected to earn at least $100 million if not more.
