Dallas Boxing Examiner | Matt Stolow
ARLINGTON, TX - The sparklers have been put away, the massive HD screens have been raised back to there normal height and the famous cheerleaders have put away there blue and silver pom pons. All that is left are 51 days until Cowboys Stadium hosts Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey on Saturday, March 13.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has written promoter Bob Arum a check for the ticket sales and sponsorships he sells. I'm guessing the check was for 5 or 6 million. Then he has the cost of the promotion and advertising. Knowing Arum, Top Rank comes back in for an overage (percentage) after Jones makes back his money at the door.
The advertising campaign will hit the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex (6.3 million people) on February 1, along with hot spot Hispanic markets such as San Antonio (280 miles south) where Pacquiao has already fought twice, Houston and its large Hispanic population, state capitol Austin, and a bit further South into the Rio Grande Valley directly into northern Mexico.
This is why the under card will be flooded with Mexican fighters and why Jones hopes there is a migration of rabid Mexican fight fans coming up to DFW for the fight weekend.
Jones and company have a good competitive main event fight to work with. But they have to sell an entire entertainment event to fill up the local hotels and restaurants during fight week.
The immediate DFW area has more than enough people to fill Cowboy Stadium for this fight. The Dallas Cowboys fill the stadium with 90,000 plus regularly even against the weakest opponents. But boxing is a more strategic numbers game that has to be addressed.
Just about three hours after the press conference Jones emailed about 75,000 full color flyers with a seating chart for the fight to his season ticket holders.
Site-coordinator Lester Bedford actually refereed two basketball games after the presser and didn't make it home until the 10:00 PM news. That's a great work ethic!
Jones and company have to make ticket buyers out of those fight fans that enjoy the comforts of home and pay per view.
HBO will make a grand push to sell this fight on pay-per-view but Jones has to pick off a lot of those fans for himself and his stadium.
While I was as caught up in the hoopla of a major prize fight involving Manny Pacquiao happening in my home town, I know those involved have a lot of work in front of them after they finish congratulating each other and patting themselves on the back.
The Cowboys for decades have built up their radio network and television market in South Texas and Mexico to make the Dallas Cowboys "The Team" of the Hispanics. It is why the Cowboys are at the top of memorabilia sales each year to the tune of tens of millions of dollars annually so Jones has to tap into those markets rather than having to reinvent the wheel to find fans.
The Stadium itself is going to be a huge selling point and Mexican fans respect Manny Pacquiao.
Having promoted boxing here for 25 years, the most amazing moment yesterday was ABC - TVs Dallas affiliate Channel 8 leading off its sportscast at 10:00 PM with a favorable spin of the press conference. The highly rated -network regularly avoids boxing even when world champions such as local Donald Curry were demanding world-wide attention back in the mid 1980s.
The difference is the clout of Jerry Jones.
Source: Examiner.com
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