Through its ups and downs, Las Vegas will always be an important component of the boxing landscape. While there is a recent trend of big fight cards taking place in other major metropolitan markets (with great success in cities like New York and Washington D.C.), when it?s all said and done, it is almost impossible to outbid casino money when it comes to the sport?s biggest events. 2011 was no different.
Keith Kizer, Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, told Maxboxing, ?This calendar year was probably one of our best, if not best, years ever. Comparatively speaking, in the calendar year of 2010, we generated about $2.7 million in direct revenue and hundreds of millions of dollars in indirect revenue. But this past year, 2011, we?re probably going to end up with about $4.7 in direct state revenue, so we basically went up $2 million from 2010 to 2011- and again, that?s just in direct revenue. It didn?t count the hundreds that we bring to the state in indirect revenue.?
The jump can be directly attributed to the presence of Manny Pacquiao who, after fighting twice in Texas in 2010, played to completely sold-out cards against Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez in 2011 at the MGM Grand. But a trend that has continued is that the very big events involving the likes of Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather did extremely well. The others- not so much.
