Less than 1K Pacquiao-Mayweather tickets go on sale next week

MANILA, Philippines -- The public will finally get a hand on the hottest ticket on the planet by the end of next week according to Leonard Ellerbe of Mayweather Promotions in a report by Los Angeles Times on Tuesday (Wednesday Manila time). 

But only less than 1,000 tickets to the Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown will be made available to the public trough Ticketmaster with the cheapest going for $1,000 or an equivalent to near Php 45,000. The floor seats will go for $10,000 each or an equivalent of close to half million peso. 

According to Pacquiao's promoter and Top Rank chief Bob Arum, the MGM Grand, which will host the mega-buck fight, has been configured for 16,200 seats.

Doing the math, more than 15,000 tickets were divided among MGM Grand, Mayweather Promotions, which reportedly got the lion's share and Top Rank. 

Live gate receipts is expected to reach $72-73 million based on faced-value ticket prices. The faced-value ticket price may triple once they find their way to the black market.

This early, the May 2 (May 3 in Manila) showdown is really shaping up to be the highest grossing fight of all time with the interest from sponsors and foreign broadcast partners reaching a fever-hit.

Last week, Tecate agreed to a record $5.6 million beer sponsorship deal for the fight. 

On foreign TV deals, Sky Sports won the bid to broadcast the fight on pay-per-view to 20 million viewers in Europe while rival networks in Mexico -- Televiza and Azteca -- reportedly shelled out more $2 million to do a joint broadcast of the fight that coincides with their Mayo de Cinco celebrations.

But the richest foreign TV deal according to the LA Times report is here in Pacquiao's home country.

The TV rights deal is said to be $10 million worth or a staggering equivalent of close to half billion peso. 

Cable channel Solar Sports holds the rights to Pacquiao fights in the Philippines but there is no announcement yet on which rival network will be its partner in airing the mega-fight on Free TV. Previous Pacquiao fights were telecast on Free TV at GMA-7.