Derby Day this year will be like none in memory for avid sports fans and bettors.
The usual huge crowd will show up at Churchill Downs and during the late afternoon and early evening the Kentucky Derby will draw a large television audience. With an improving economy, betting is likely to set a record.
Before the media commentators have finished dissecting how the race transpired, the sporting world’s attention will turn to Las Vegas for the much-anticipated world’s championship welterweight match between Manny Pacquiao and undefeated Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand.
This will be the richest fight ever held, with an estimated purse of at least $200 million (60% to Mayweather and 40% to Pacquiao) and could be considerably larger. The pay-per-view price will be about $90 with an extra $10 for high definition. NPR pointed out that Mayweather will make more than the entire annual payroll of some Major League Baseball clubs.
The face value of tickets range from $1,500 to $7,500–the highest in boxing history–but buyers will pay a multiple of three or four times as much on the resale market (the MGM Grand made only a few hundred tickets available to the public). Floor seats already have a starting resale price of $28,000.
Last year, people wagered $181million on the Kentucky Derby card. No telling how much will be bet on the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, but it will be significant. Reports are that rapper 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) has bet $1.6 million on Mayweather and Justin Bieber said he plans to put down $2 million on Pacquiao. Filipinos are likely to back their popular fellow countryman Pacquiao with heavy betting. Las Vegas should have a banner day taking bets on the two events.
The view here is that the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will be good for Derby handle because Las Vegas will be packed with sports fans and gamblers. Many people in town for the fight are apt to place bets on the Derby card and the usual crowd in town to celebrate the Derby are likely to bet the fight. Now that’s symbiosis.
If the venerable “Run for the Roses” and the “Fight of the Century” are not enough activity for sports fans, the NFL draft begins on April 30 and ends on Derby Day.
Copyright © 2015 Horse Racing Business
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