Mayweather-McGregor Fight Punches Up $89.95 PPV Price

Fight fans will have to dish out as much as $100 to watch the Aug. 26 Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor pay-per-view boxing match.

The fight, which pits recently unretired, undefeated boxer Mayweather against UFC mixed martial arts champion McGregor, will carry a PPV suggested retail price of $89.95 for a standard definition feed, according to fight organizers. Like most PPV events, distributors will most likely add another $10 to the price to watch the fight in high definition.

The price point matches what many distributors charged for the 2015 Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao bout, which drew a record 4.6 million PPV buys. The Maywether-McGregor SRP is much higher than the $69.95 expected to be charged for HBO’s Sept. 16 Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin middleweight championship PPV event.

Showtime Sports executive vice president and general manger Stephen Espinoza said the high premium price won't turn away fans from buying the event. “For a rare event like this, a truly unique spectacle, we are confident that the market will bear the price,” Espinoza said. “We are clearly looking at a once-in-a-lifetime type of event and we believe that when you have a premium product, the consumer is willing to pay a premium price for it.”    

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.