Tuesday, March 2, 2010

How can 45,000 be a sellout when the stadium holds 80,000?


By Dave Lahr: What I don’t understand is how the Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey fight be called almost a sellout at 45,000 when the Dallas Cowboy stadium holds 80,000? What is it that? I know the stadium was retrofitted to fit 45,000 fans, but they keep saying that they can easily adjust it to fit even more fans at a moment’s notice, so how does that make it a sell out if it reaches 45,000? Is it me or does that just seem like some gimmick that they’re using to brag about and make it seem like the stadium is sold out when in fact it’s not.

If the stadium is sold out, then it means that 80,000 fans purchased tickets for the fight, not 45,000. I’m not even all that impressed with the 45,000 figure. I keep hearing that it’s near that total, but they don’t give the exact totals for the tickets that are currently sold. Why not?

That just makes me not trust any of the numbers. Whatever the amount of tickets that do eventually get sold for the Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight, I don’t expect it to be anywhere close to 80,000 fans, and I’m now thinking that it won’t even get to 45,000 either. My guess is that it will be lucky to bring in 30,000 fans, which will seem kind of ridiculous in a huge stadium like the Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

This is just hype for a fight that doesn’t have two stars. I think they wasted the stadium on this fight. They could have easily fit the same amount of people that will be attending the fight in the MGM Grand by putting in outside seats. This is like way overboard for a fight that isn’t that big of a deal.

You got to have to an opposing big star if you want to fight in a huge stadium like that. In this case, it’s just Pacquiao versus some guy that nobody has heard of except for hardcore boxing fans. And what makes this even worse is that Clottey lost his last fight. How does that look? Pacquiao just finished fighting Miguel Cotto, who was had recently been torn apart by Antonio Margarito.

Pacquiao also fought Ricky Hatton, who also was beaten up and taken out not long before he faced Pacquiao. Oscar De La Hoya, another Pacquiao victim, had lost three out of his last six fights going into his bout with Pacquiao. What is up with that? Is boxing so bad off that those guys have to be selected as Pacquiao’s opponents? Why not Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Shane Mosley? Don’t tell me. I already know.

But as far the Pacquiao-Clottey fight being called a sell out if 45,000 tickets being sold, I think that’s the silliest thing I’ve heard before, because the stadium holds twice that total. If you have a stadium that you can retrofit at a moment’s notice to fit any number up to 80,000, it’s ludicrous to call it a sell out when they’ll keep selling tickets up until 80,000 tickets are sold. I mean they’re not going stop selling tickets when 45,000 tickets have been sold, are they? Of course not, which is why it’s crazy to say the fight is nearly a sellout.

source: boxingnews24.com

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