If you are curious why the price of the Mayweather-Pacquiao PPV hasn’t been announced yet, I have an answer.
Normally cable providers and networks agree to a 50-50 split of PPV revenue. That revenue is what is used primarily to pay all the bills including the fighters.
For Mayweather-Pacquiao HBO & Showtime want a 70-30 split and the cable operators are balking at that. The line has been drawn in the sand, but the networks and promoters aren’t taking a 50-50 split.
Here are a few quotes from the interested parties on what the problem is.
“Everybody at some point will hopefully be rational and we’ll be able to put our heads together and come up with a good solution. We’re not there yet,” said Michael Berman, executive vice president and general counsel of iN Demand, which negotiates on behalf of big cable operators including Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc.
Because of the high demand for this fight, HBO and Showtime are balking at a 50-50 split. The representatives of both fighters will have to sign off on any split agreement.
“I wouldn’t agree to [a 50-50 split],” said Top Rank’s CEO Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao. “I really believe everybody agrees that there has to be a more generous split and they are in the process of working out what it will be.”
The solution will probably end up being 60-40 or 55-45, but until there is a solution there will be no announcement on PPV prices.
H/T Boxing Scene