Tonight it was announced that the most anticipated yet hardly believable bout between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor is happening! It will be a standard, 12-round boxing match with 10-ounce gloves. The date is set for August 26th, 2017. Put it on your calendars.
Whether you are a fan of boxing, MMA or neither, one thing is for certain—this match is more than just a sporting event. This will be a spectacle.
In fact, the only reason this fight is taking place is because Mayweather Promotions and McGregor’s camp both know that between the ticket sales, the pay-per-view buys and the sponsorship dollars the money involved in this bout stands to get out of hand… way out of hand… in a good way.
Early projections on viewership for the Mayweather-McGregor fight have this bout exceeding the viewership of the 2015 Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. That is no small feat.
Mayweather’s highly publicized bout with Manny Pacquiao made history. When “Money” Mayweather was done cashing checks and all the cash registers were done ringing the total revenue generated from that 2015 match was $623.5 million—in other words a lot of money. It is possible that Mayweather’s bout with McGregor may bring in even more money for the fighters and the sponsors.
ESPN's Darren Rovell had this take on potential sponsorship involvement for the Mayweather-McGregor bout:
Five sponsors paid $13.2 million to sponsor Mayweather-Pacquiao. Expect an alcohol sponsor to have top billing here, and with McGregor don't count out whisky brands, which are fighting it out for relevance in a growing category in the U.S. Three movies -- "Terminator Genisys," "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" and "Southpaw" also sponsored the fight. Mayweather got an additional $1 million from Hublot and FanDuel to be featured on his shorts and $1 million from Burger King to have the King as part of his walking-in entourage. Pacquiao's trunk sponsors were worth $2.25 million to him."
That’s a good chunk of change for 36 minutes worth of work. Then again, compared to the going rate for 30 second spots during the Super Bowl—which were rumored to be in the $5 million range—a $1 million sponsorship or endorsement deal may be a bargain—or even a steal.