http://gty.im/471590072
So maybe you have been complaining about dropping $99 on the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao pay per view. As it turns out, $99 is cheap compared to what bars and restaurants are paying.
KTLA reports that licensing fees for the fight are setting record highs:
For a small bar that holds 101 to 150 people, that can come to $5,000, according to G&G Closed Circuit Events, which is handling the licensing. A big establishment that can hold 450 to 500 people will pay $15,500. That averages somewhere between $50 to $31 per patron, assuming it’s a full house.
And those establishments showing the fight without paying up could face a huge fine of up to $100,000! But, with so many bars in so many cities across America, how would any of them ever get caught? Narks!
Audit Masters is one of the firms that sends investigators, known as auditors, out on nights during big events, such as World Cup games, to try to crack down on illegal broadcasts. The investigators get a $250 bounty for each location with an illegal broadcast they find.
The auditors don’t actually shutdown the broadcasts. They take two pictures of the outside of the location, a 60-second video showing the broadcast and provide a signed affidavit for what they found. They’re only to stay in the bar five or ten minutes, the rest is handled after the fact by lawyers representing HBO, Showtime and the cable operator.
The fight is expected to bring in $300 to $400 million dollars just from the pay per view buys.
