Las Vegas not Seeing Same Hype Around Mayweather-McGregor Fight

Posted on: August 23, 2017, 03:00h. 

Last updated on: August 23, 2017, 02:02h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

While Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor have done their best to promote Saturday’s fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, local casinos and other businesses are not seeing the same excitement as it did two years ago when Mayweather fought last.

Friday and Saturday may provide a boost as people start to descend on the Strip, but resort officials are comparing this contest to the May 2, 2015 Mayweather bout with Manny Pacquiao in town and it is coming up short.

Ryan Thompson, senior vice president and regional chief marketing officer for Caesars Entertainment doesn’t have any official fight activities, that goes to rival MGM, but he told Associated Press it should be a busy three days.

“It’s going to be a crazy weekend,” he said. “The energy over that weekend is going to be on par with a New Year’s Eve in the city.”

Rooms, Tickets Still Available

The only problem with comparing it to one of the city’s most frenzied evenings of the year, is that resorts for that time are usually occupied to capacity. A check online indicated that hotel rooms were still available at many resorts on Las Vegas Boulevard, including Planet Hollywood, Mandalay Bay, and New York, New York, which is right next to the arena hosting the fight.

Prices are not as expensive as they would be for a big weekend. The Luxor and Monte Carlo both had rooms available for less than $150 on Friday night and the Excalibur was advertising on its website a “Mayweather vs. McGregor Non-Refundable Exclusive Rate” where Friday was $78 and Saturday was $169.

Tickets for the fight were also easily obtainable. According to a check on Ticketmaster.com seats around the ring are sold out, but the next two sections have several left.

As of Wednesday morning there were 1,026 seats remaining in the upper level and 1,387 tickets in the lower section.

That is better than the 7,000 that remained unsold as of last week. Tickets range from $1,484.76 to $3,500.

Signs of Life

There are a couple of areas that should flourish during the contest. Nightclubs are expecting to be packed on both Friday and Saturday and several have indicated they are already filling up. Conor McGregor signed a two-year deal with Wynn to host four parties. He will be at two gatherings after the bout.

McCarran Airport got caught unprepared for the large number of private planes that showed up for the last Mayweather fight, but this time instituted a reservation system so they can handle the expected increase in traffic. Airport spokeswoman Christine Crews?told the Review Journal that they aren’t sure what will occur.

“We’ll absolutely be busy this weekend, but it’s hard to say because this is a different type of fight,” Walles said. “It’s an interesting type of clientele because they have that leisure to jump on a plane whenever they want, so we’ll see what happens.”