Mayweather v Pacquiao: Boxing’s richest fight seals record sponsorship deal
The money-spinning machine that is the Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao boxing match added yet more millions to its revenue streams after agreeing five sponsorship deals worth $13.2m (£8.72m).
Saturday's hotly-anticipated meeting between two of the best pound-for-pound pugilists in history is already set to smash a number of revenue records with the two fighters set to split a purse in excess of $200m.
ESPN revealed yesterday that Mexican beer company Tecate was the fight's biggest sponsor with a $5.6m deal, while the Mexican Tourism Board, Filipino telecoms company Smart Communications, Paramount Pictures and The Weinstein Company also signed deals.
Mayweather Promotions and Top Rank – the promoters representing Mayweather and Pacquiao respectively – set the minimum bid for sponsorships at $1m.
Such is the desire to get the exposure of an audience that is expected to reach record levels for a pay-per-view fight that Pacquiao will even be sporting extra-long shorts to sport the names of companies' paying him a collective $1.5m.
Unsurprisingly, the excitement does not start and end with the sponsors. Frenzied fight fans have sent prices for hotel rooms in Las Vegas spiralling to over $1,600 a night while even $10 tickets for the weigh-in – usually free for most Vegas bouts – are fetching as much as $700 online.
On second-hand ticket websites such as StubHub, tickets are currently changing hands for as much as $361,894 while the cheapest available still cost over $4,000.