2008
P537 million: Pacman take for one night
Filed Under (Sports) by on 12-12-2008
Tagged Under : P537 million: Pacman take for one night, pacman
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA—Recession or not, there was no embarrassment of empty seats at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on the night Manny Pacquiao turned the “Dream Match” into a nightmare for Oscar De La Hoya.
And now comes the pay-per-view (PPV) figures. And there’s no disgrace in the numbers either.
Oscar’s fighting prowess may have been anywhere but in the ring Saturday evening. But his sheer box-office fire, made more ablaze by the most credible and deadly of opponents in the Filipino ring icon, translated into 1.25 million PPV buys on cable giant HBO.
At $54.95 per, revenues add up to about $70 million (P3.34 billion) and make for a nice profit margin all around.
(The Philippine Daily Inquirer estimates that Pacquiao will earn a pre-tax windfall of $12 million from his PPV share).
The ringing from the HBO cash register is music to the promoters’ ears and certainly more than enough to soothe the Golden Boy’s battered body and ego.
De La Hoya-Pacquiao has also notched a record—it’s the first PPV boxing match this year to breach the one million mark.
HBO figures reported by Broadcastnewsroom.com, the industry portal, said the fight is only the fourth non-heavyweight event to reach one million buys. Incidentally, all four features De La Hoya.
Number one on this list is the 2006 De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight, which drew 2.4 million buys, followed by the 1999 De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad and 2008 De La Hoya-Pacquiao fights (1.25 million buys) and the 2004 De La Hoya-Bernard Hopkins bout (1 million buys).
The portal also quoted Mark Taffet, the HBO chief for sports operations.
Taffet said: “De La Hoya-Pacquiao definitely exceeded our expectations. We hoped that fight would hit the million-buy mark, which is the barometer for mega fights in this sport, but we were uncertain given the state of the economy. We were really pleased that boxing fans everywhere showed tremendous support for the fight.”
Taffet paints a bright picture for Pacquiao, who attracted up to 400,000 buys for one of his fights. He also paid tribute to Manny’s huge potential to become a major PPV attraction in his own right.
Pacquiao has become a breakthrough PPV star, Taffet said.
The Dream Match numbers also indicate the Ultimate Fighting Championship has yet to reach full market potential.
Although a threat to boxing, the UFC’s PPV record still stands at 800,000 buys from the Brock Lesnar-Randy Couture fight last Nov. 15 also at the MGM Grand, reported Broadcastnews.com.


