That would more than double the previous record of 2.4 million PPV buys (De La Hoya-Mayweather) by a lot and with the higher PPV price tag it could mean well over $500 million in PPV revenue alone.
So, much for that boycott Keith Olbermann called for.
Yahoo sports has the numbers breakdown.
Generally for a major pay-per-vew fight, sales on cable systems throughout the country generally account for 55 to 65 percent of the total. It’s more often in the 60-percent range, with satellite systems usually accounting for 35 percent of the sales and telephone companies making up the rest.
DirecTV sold 1.15 million pay-per-views, while Dish’s number was 500,000. The telephone companies combined for 600,000. Combined, that is 2.25 million already. If cable systems wound up being 60 percent of the total, that would mean the final figure is a mind-boggling 5.625 million.
Numbers don’t lie, people said they weren’t going to watch the fight or were turned off by all the drama, but when push came to shove they did.
They made Pacquiao and Mayweather very rich men on Saturday night.