(L-R) Mike Tyson, Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul pose on stage during the press conference for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson Boxing match at Texas Live! in Arlington, Texas, on May 16, 2024.
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The highly anticipated boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson has earned a place in the record books.
The fight’s promoter, Most Valuable Promotions, which Paul co-owns, told CNBC that it expects more than 70,000 people to attend Friday night’s fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Dallas Cowboys stadium has a capacity of 80,000 seats.
The gate receipt alone has brought in $17.8 million in revenue, the promoter said.
That makes it the biggest boxing gate in history outside of Nevada. The previous record was $9 million in gate receipts for the 2021 fight between Canelo Ćlvarez and Billy Joe Saunders at AT&T Stadium.
MVP said the gate was also higher than any non-Las Vegas UFC fight, with the exception of Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez in New York City in 2016.
Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of MVP, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” that both Tyson and Paul will make eight figures from this fight and Taylor and Serrano will also have record paydays for women’s boxing.
The fight between Paul, the 27-year-old YouTube influencer-turned-boxer and Tyson, the 58-year-old boxing legend, will be broadcast on Friday at 8 pm ET on Netflix, free for subscribers.
The event will also feature one of the most anticipated women’s boxing matches in history: undisputed super featherweight champion Katie Taylor versus undisputed featherweight champion Amanda Serrano.
Netflix has more than 283 million paying members in more than 190 countries. The match will also be a test for streamers as they venture deeper into the sports space and as boxing sidesteps the pay-per-view model.
“The numbers don’t lie,” Paul said Wednesday at a press conference for the fight. “People want to see this and it’s an amazing achievement. … It’s a statement that we have the biggest gate outside of Vegas in the history of US boxing.”
Tickets for the fight are on StubHub from $58 to $1,500. MVP has also sold higher-end packages, including a $2 million VIP experience that comes complete with ringside seats. The promotion company said that 375 VIP seats are officially sold out.
For comparison, the biggest fight in the history of Vegas in 2015 between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. The fight took in more than $72 million in tickets, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
