(L-R) Mike Tyson, Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul pose on stage during the press conference for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson at Texas Live! in Arlington, Texas, on May 16, 2024.
Cooper Neill | fake images
The long-awaited boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson has already secured its place in the record books.
The fight promoter, Most Valuable Promotions, co-owned by Paul, told CNBC that it expects more than 70,000 people to attend Friday night's fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Dallas Cowboys stadium has a capacity for 80,000 spectators.
Ticket revenue alone has generated $17.8 million in revenue, the promoter said.
That makes it the largest boxing gate in history outside of Nevada. The previous record was $9 million in box office receipts for the 2021 fight between Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders at AT&T Stadium.
MVP said the gate is also higher than any UFC fight outside of Las Vegas, aside from Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez in New York City in 2016.
Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of MVP, told CNBC's “Closing Bell” that both Tyson and Paul will earn eight figures from this fight and that Taylor and Serrano will also have record salaries for women's boxing.
The fight between Paul, a 27-year-old YouTube influencer-turned-boxer, and Tyson, a 58-year-old boxing legend, will air Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix, free for subscribers.
The event will also feature one of the most anticipated women's boxing rematches in history: undisputed super lightweight champion Katie Taylor against unified featherweight champion Amanda Serrano.
Netflix has more than 283 million paid memberships in more than 190 countries. The fight will also be a test for the streamer as it moves further into the sports space and boxing bypasses the pay-per-view model.
“The numbers don't lie,” Paul said Wednesday at a news conference for the fight. “People want to see this and it's an amazing achievement…This is a statement that we had the largest live gate outside of Las Vegas in the history of American boxing.”
Tickets for Friday's fight cost between $58 and $1,500 on StubHub. MVP has also sold high-end packages, including a $2 million VIP experience that comes with front-row seats. The promotion company says its 375 VIP seats have officially sold out.
For comparison, the biggest fight in Las Vegas history took place in 2015 between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. That fight grossed more than $72 million in tickets, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
