To boxing fans casual and hard-core, there is but one event this weekend: the long-awaited contest between Philippine-born Manny Pacquiao and family legacy fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Fans’ desire to see the two go at it is as old as some of their young children or grandchildren.
As it happens, though, many more people will be interested in the NFL draft, the NBA and NHL playoffs, a Major League Baseball game or the 141st annual Kentucky Derby.
Whichever your sport, the upcoming weekend will be huge for Hawaii’s food and beverage industry and cable and satellite providers offering any of the sports, especially the highly anticipated boxing match.
An array of bars and restaurants will be screening the pricey prize fight and likely will be assessing a cover charge to offset their costs, where normally customers can just walk in for free.
Residential cable and satellite TV customers will spend just under $90 to get the fight into their homes no matter how many eyeballs will be watching, though high-definition rates may be higher depending on the provider.
Commercial customers’ rates to show the highly anticipated pay-per-view spectacle are based on EVO, or the estimated viewing occupancy of an establishment, and are therefore much higher.
"We don’t give out figures or rates," said Joe Gagliardi, president of California-based J&J Sports Promotions, which secured commercial rights to sell the fight to "bars, restaurants, casinos" and the like in the U.S. and Canada.
Gagliardi said his commercial customers typically charge $10 to $15 at the door, and "with this fight, they should pretty well cover their nut if they do that."
For the first time since the 1980s, Hilton Hawaiian Village will be showing the fight on large, high-definition screens in the Coral Ballroom, confirmed Cynthia Rankin, Hawaii regional director of corporate communications.
Cost for the screening is $50, which includes the fight, a bento, a soft drink and self-parking validation, while additional food and drink will be available for purchase, she said. Tickets can be purchased via 947-7954 or at the door, for the same price. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. for the 3 p.m. undercard.
It was, in fact, Gagliardi who worked with local promoter Tom Moffatt back in the ’80s to bring satellite-delivered, closed-circuit screenings of big boxing matches to the Blaisdell Center and hotel ballrooms.
"I’ve been in this business for 48 years," he told TheBuzz. "I’m glad you asked me" about the old days, he said. "That’s what makes the dollar difference between then and now," he said.
In the days of Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran, and Marvin Hagler vs. Tommy Hearns, people couldn’t watch the fights in their homes, and "the bars were not a factor," said Moffatt.
"I did the Hagler-Leonard fight at Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Sheraton and on Kauai, Maui and the Big Island," in addition to Blaisdell, he said. "We had to bring in a huge satellite dish to catch the fight(s)."
Depending on the venue, the top ticket cost about $25, Gagliardi and Moffatt recalled.
"Something about it always amazed me," Moffatt said. "We had, like, four or five screens up over the boxing ring, up high, and the audience acted just like it was a real fight. It was really exciting," he said.
Now spending $10 to $15 on cover charge plus a little more for a drink and snacks is a more attractive option for many than the nearly $90 in-home pay-per-view cost, Gagliardi said.
With advancements in cable, satellite and broadband services over the past three decades, "the public has choices," he said.
Research by the Harris Poll and audience measurement firm The Nielsen Co. indicates more than half the nation’s adults, 52 percent, will watch, listen to or attend at least one of the weekend’s high-profile sports events.
Major League Baseball games will draw 29 percent; the Kentucky Derby will attract 21 percent; the NBA playoffs and NFL draft each will draw 20 percent; and the NHL playoffs audience will comprise 14 percent of the nation’s adults, versus only 11 percent for the super-hyped prize fight.
Given the sheer number of televised sporting events this weekend, "Oceanic is preparing for Saturday as though it is the Super Bowl," said Gregg Fujimoto, president of Oceanic Time Warner Cable.
Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
