BOXING:EVEN THOUGH Manny Pacquiao hails from the Philippines and came to stardom toward the end of his career, to Las Vegas and Nevada he represents far more than a talented boxer who plies his trade twice annually under their famous neon lights.
Pacquiao is an economic driver for the local economy, his influence as powerful as his left hook. On fight weekends, that influence extends from an uptick in gambling to an increase in everything from hotel rates to the price of bottle service at local nightclubs.
In a city that lacks even one franchise in any major professional sport league, tourism is driven by events, with few bigger than a championship prizefight. In fact, a bout like Pacquiao’s against Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand tonight will earn the Nevada Athletic Commission its budget for the year. And that is but one small slice.
Over lunch on Tuesday, Todd DuBoef, president of Top Rank Boxing, chewed over a chopped salad and Pacquiao’s economic boost in a typical fight week. Asked if that impact reached $100 million, he scoffed. “No,” he said. “It’s way more. Not $100 million. Hundreds of millions.”
While promoters are no strangers to hyperbole, DuBoef ticked off dozens of factors that come into play, all of which centre on a single premise: more visitors spend more money. That makes Pacquiao and other famous boxers an economic stimulus plan – all because two men stand in a ring and hit each other in the face.
“It’s hard to put a specific number on it,” said Josh Swissman, vice president for corporate marketing at MGM Resorts International. “But it’s a marked increase. A fight weekend like this is like New Year’s Eve for us. And New Year’s Eve is the biggest night in the whole city.”
Pacquiao, though, is different. He was not considered a superstar until November 2009, when he bludgeoned Miguel Cotto for his seventh title in seven weight classes. There were other major fights before that, certainly, but against Cotto, Pacquiao crossed into the mainstream.
He brought with him a large and loyal fan base, which included high-end Asian gamblers. In recent years, Las Vegas’s primary, narrow recovery resulted almost exclusively from the baccarat boom, and those types of high rollers appear drawn to championship fights.
DuBoef said Top Rank saw this coming when it signed Pacquiao. It had planned to capitalise on the Asian market, with an Asian superstar, and to do so in Macau, China’s replica of Las Vegas.
“We thought Macau was the promised land,” DuBoef said. “It turned out Manny translated here, for the same reasons, instead.”
Beyond that, Pacquiao, a congressman in the Philippines, draws international, often political, coverage unlike any boxer before, having graced the covers of Time and Newsweek. While other foreign fighters gained huge followings – Lennox Lewis, for example – none served in government while boxing. This week, Pacquiao joked that his congress can take “roll call here”, because more than 60 congressmen came to Las Vegas for the fight.
Pacquiao, though, seems unaware of the economic boost provided by his fists. “I’m here to fight,” he said.
– New York Times Service
