Dispute resolved over Mayweather-Pacquiao fight tickets
A dispute over tickets to the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight was settled on Wednesday, clearing the way for a limited number of seats to be sold to the public.
A conference call between the rival camps - with CBS head honcho Les Moonves serving as a mediator - resolved the dispute over millions of dollars in tickets, said Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum. The battle held up the sale of about 500 tickets to the public and the release of thousands of others to ticket brokers and others.
There was no word from MGM on when the tickets would be put on sale but Mayweather's promoter, Leonard Ellerbe, said it would likely be on Thursday.
"I'm doing my very, very best to get them on sale tomorrow," Ellerbe said. "I don't have a time yet."
Most of the tickets to the 16,500-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena are controlled by the two fight camps, with the remainder reserved by the MGM for its own customers. They had been unavailable, though, because the two sides were feuding over who got what tickets and where they were located.
At stake were millions of dollars because the tickets could be sold by the two camps to ticket brokers for far more than retail price.
"We worked it out orally this morning," Arum said. "Once the actual contracts are signed with the changes everyone agreed to we can move forward."
Tickets have been an issue since the fight was announced because the MGM's arena is far too small to meet the demand for seats at the megafight. It was not until the two fighters met last month at a Los Angeles media conference formally announcing the fight that the price of the tickets was announced at $1,500 to $7,500.
Even that has changed, though, with the floor seats now retailing for $10,000. Two of those seats were listed on the Seatgeek.com website on Wednesday for a total of $100,983, including a $15 delivery charge.
Though details of the public ticket sale are yet to be announced, there reportedly will be 100 tickets sold in each of five price categories, not including the $10,000 floor seats.
During a conference call on Wednesday with reporters, Mayweather said he was not involved in the process.
"I don't worry about tickets," Mayweather said. "I worry about the guy in front of me, which is going to be Manny Pacquiao. That's my whole focus."