Gate receipts, or simply "gate", is the sum of money taken at a sporting venue for the sale of tickets.
Traditionally, gate receipts were largely or entirely taken in cash. Today, many sporting venues will operate a season ticket scheme, which will mean they allocate a proportion of season ticket monies when announcing gate receipts for a particular event.
"Gate" is also sometimes used in reference to the number of people in attendance.
In the English Football League, gate receipts usually go to the home team, however, for cup matches, the gate is split with the other club, after deduction of expenses. Prior to 1983, a percentage of league game gate receipts were given to the away club. The league also charged a levy on the gate receipts. [1] Home clubs receive gate compensation money from a pool if a game is postponed due to the away team being involved in an FA Cup or EFL Cup match. [2]
In the Scottish Football League the entire gate receipts of all league matches and play off matches (including abandoned or replayed matches) are retained by the home club. [3]
The Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier world heavyweight championship bout on July 2, 1921, at Boyle's Thirty Acres in Jersey City, New Jersey was the first ever boxing fight to produce a "million dollar gate", doubling the previous record, with receipts of $1,789,238 from an official attendance of 80,183, the largest gate and attendance for a sporting event in the United States at the time. [4] [5] [6] [7]
On September 23, 1926, Gene Tunney beat Dempsey to lift the world heavyweight title, at Sesquicentennial Stadium in Philadelphia setting a record gate in terms of attendance (126,084) and receipts ($1,895,733). [8] [6] [9] The rematch (known as The Long Count Fight) was held on September 22, 1927, at Soldier Field in Chicago and would draw gate receipts of $2,658,660. [6] It was the first $2 million gate in entertainment history.
Ticket sales of $4,806,675 for the second Leon Spinks vs. Muhammad Ali fight at the Superdome in New Orleans in September 1978 was the highest live gate for a sporting event at the time, from an attendance of 63,352. [10] In 1980, Larry Holmes vs. Muhammad Ali at Caesars Palace in Paradise, Nevada broke the record with a gate of $6 million. [11]
The second Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis fight at Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada, drew record gate receipts for a boxing match of $16.9 million from 17,078 spectators in 1999. [12] [13] Lewis's fight against Mike Tyson in 2002 at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee was initially claimed to have a record gate of over $23 million however, this was later reduced to $17.5 million, still a record. [14] [15]
Floyd Mayweather's 2007 fight against Oscar De La Hoya beat the record boxing gate receipts with $18.4 million from 15,432 spectators at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas and a Mayweather fight set the record again in his 2013 fight against Canelo Álvarez, also at MGM Grand Arena, with gate receipts of $20 million from 16,146 spectators. [13] [16]
The Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao boxing match on May 2, 2015 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, had record boxing gate receipts for Nevada of $72,198,500 from 16,219 spectators. [13]
Georges Carpentier was a French boxer, actor and World War I pilot. A precocious pugilist, Carpentier fought in numerous categories. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasting from 1908 to 1926. A French professional champion on several occasions, he became the European heavyweight champion before the First World War. A sergeant aviator during the Great War, he was wounded before returning to civilian life. He then discovered rugby union, playing as a winger.
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey, nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. A cultural icon of the 1920s, Dempsey's aggressive fighting style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first million-dollar gate. He pioneered the live broadcast of sporting events in general, and boxing matches in particular.
George Lewis "Tex" Rickard was an American boxing promoter, founder of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL), and builder of the third incarnation of Madison Square Garden in New York City. During the 1920s, Tex Rickard was the leading promoter of the day, and he has been compared to P. T. Barnum and Don King. Sports journalist Frank Deford has written that Rickard "first recognized the potential of the star system." Rickard also operated several saloons, hotels, and casinos, all named Northern and located in Alaska, Nevada, and Canada.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and won 15 major world championships from super featherweight to light middleweight. This includes the Ring magazine title in five weight classes and the lineal championship in four weight classes. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 Olympics, three U.S. Golden Gloves championships, and the U.S. national championship at featherweight.
Jack "Doc" Kearns was an American boxer and boxing manager. He was born on a farm in Waterloo, Michigan to Phillip H. McKernan and Frances M. Knauf, daughter of German immigrant and Waterloo, Michigan, settler Peter Knauf. His father was the son of Irish immigrants Philip and Amelia "Ann" McKernan and is noted as being "among the early pioneers in the Northwestern Territories of Montana, Idaho and Washington."
Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr., billed as The World Awaits, was a super welterweight superfight that took place on May 5, 2007, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada between six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya and undefeated four-division champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. At the time, the bout was the most lucrative boxing match ever, with over $130 million in generated revenue.
Boyle's Thirty Acres was a large wooden bowl arena in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was built specifically for the world heavyweight championship bout between Jack Dempsey of the United States and Georges Carpentier of France on July 2, 1921. It held approximately 80,000 fans and was built at a cost of $250,000. It was situated around Montgomery Street and Cornelison Avenue, on a plot of marshland owned by John F. Boyle.
The Fight of the Century usually refers to the 1971 Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali boxing match.
Santos Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez Barragán is a Mexican professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of those weight classes and lineal titles in two. Álvarez is the first and only boxer in history to become undisputed champion at super middleweight, having held the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and Ring magazine titles since 2020, and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) titles since 2021.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, billed as Firepower, was a boxing match for the WBO welterweight championship. The bout was held on November 14, 2009, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Pacquiao won the fight via technical knockout in the twelfth round.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Shane Mosley, billed as Who R U Picking?, was a boxing welterweight non-title superfight, in which Mayweather Jr. won by unanimous decision with two judges scoring it 119–109 and one judge scoring it 118–110. The bout was held on May 1, 2010, before a "sellout" crowd of 15,117 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Boxing greats Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson were among a long list of celebrities in attendance. The match was put together after Andre Berto pulled out of his scheduled January 30 unification bout against Mosley.
T-Mobile Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Paradise, Nevada, United States. Opened on April 6, 2016, it is the home arena of the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). A joint venture between MGM Resorts International and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), T-Mobile Arena is situated on the Las Vegas Strip behind the New York-New York and Park MGM casino hotels.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Canelo Álvarez, billed as The One, was a boxing light middleweight championship superfight. The bout was held on September 14, 2013, in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, on Showtime PPV. The bout took place at a 152-pound catchweight, two pounds below the light middleweight limit of 154 pounds. Mayweather received $41.5 million for this fight before taking into account pay-per-view sales.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao, billed as the Fight of the Century or the Battle for Greatness, was a professional boxing match between undefeated five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. It took place on May 2, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Mayweather Jr. won the contest by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring it 116–112 and the other 118–110.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Marcos Maidana, billed as The Moment, was a boxing welterweight championship fight. It was held on May 3, 2014 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, and broadcast on Showtime PPV.
Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier was a boxing fight between world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey and world light-heavyweight champion Georges Carpentier, which was one of the fights named the "Fight of the Century". The bout took place in the United States on Saturday, July 2, 1921, at Boyle's Thirty Acres in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor, billed and promoted as The Money Fight and The Biggest Fight in Combat Sports History, was a professional boxing match between undefeated eleven-time five-division boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and two-division mixed martial arts (MMA) world champion and, at the time, UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor. The fight took place at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, on August 26, 2017, at the light middleweight limit. It was scheduled for twelve rounds and recorded the second highest pay-per-view buy rate in history, behind Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
Manny Pacquiao competed in professional boxing from 1995 to 2021. Regarded by boxing historians as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time, Pacquiao is the only boxer in history to win twelve major world titles in eight different weight divisions. He is also the first boxer in history to win the lineal championship in five different weight divisions, as well as being the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the original eight weight divisions of boxing, also known as the "glamour divisions": flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Adrien Broner, was a boxing match for the WBA (Regular) welterweight championship. The event took place on January 19, 2019 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao won the fight by unanimous decision and retained his WBA (Regular) welterweight title. The bout sold 400,000 pay-per-view (PPV) buys in the United States, earned an estimated $30 million in pay-per-view revenue. The bout also produced a live gate of $6 million from 11,410 tickets sold and the final attendance was reported to be 13,025.