Despite being described– repeatedly– as “This is the biggest night of boxing in US history” by paid media and public relations people, the August 3 Riyadh Season card, sponsored by Saudi Arabia and spearheaded by Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority was, said to be a financial failure.
According to a report by Kevin Iole, the Saudis’ first US effort at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, with Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov as the main event, “likely lost more than $10 million” and that “scores of tickets– thousands of them” had to be given away for the mega-hyped event held at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Well, according to the information provided to BoxingNews.co directly by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), there’s now some real evidence behind that claim.
Per the CSAC, paid attendance at the 21,799-seat stadium was 17,799, meaning that roughly 4,000 seats were given away by the promotion or left unsold.
Although the live gate revenue was substantial at over $8.4 million, it failed to cover the listed fighters’ expense of $9.085 million. It should also be noted that purses reported to the commission are often well below the actual fighter pay, as back-end money and general workarounds frequently boost fighter compensation off the commission sheets.
[Editor’s Note: After posting this piece, BoxingNews.co was contacted by a licensed boxing promoter, who chooses to remain anonymous, to clarify the commission report. He informed that there’s no guarantee how many of those 17,799 tickets listed as “sold” were actually purchased by the promotion and given away as comps. The 4,000 seats listed as “Exempt” were merely those printed and turned in without being used. Meaning, the promotion, literally, couldn’t even give away all of the tickets. Per the source: “They didn’t do an 8.5 mill gate.”]
Thus far unsubstantiated are the reports of weak pay-per-view sales, with buys stated as between 75K and 100K.
The 6-fight event was capped off by the Crawford-Madrimov main event and featured an undercard of Isaac Cruz vs. Jose Valenzuela, Jarrell Miller vs. Andy Ruiz, Martin Bakole vs. Jared Anderson, and David Morrell vs. Radivoje Kalajdzic, and Andy Cruz vs. Antonio Moran, plus a live set from rapper Eminem.
Featured below are the reports from the CSAC:
Paul Magno has over forty years of experience in and around the sport of boxing and has had his hand in everything from officiating to training. As a writer, his work has appeared on Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, Fight Hype, Max Boxing, Boxing.com, Inside Fights, The Queensberry Rules, Overtime Heroics, Bleacher Report, and Premier Boxing Champions. He is currently the owner and managing editor or The Boxing Tribune. You can follow his Twitter/X account, @boxing_tribune, for breaking boxing news, analysis, and sometimes NSFW commentary. For Advertising, Inquiries, etc., send him an email here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com