The Most Expensive Sports Event in History

Author:
SI Staff

When Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay meet at Miami Beach's Convention Center next month, their fight will be—per patron—the most expensive sports event of all time. Promoter William MacDonald, who says he must clear $800,000 merely to break even, has scaled his house of 15,744 seats (left) to return $1,206,720. That averages out to a numbing $76.65 a seat. Seats in the "Golden Circle" (what used to be called ringside) will sell for $250 to "Distinguished Sportsmen ON LY," or so a promotion pamphlet says. The cheapest tickets, at $20, entitle their holders to folding chairs just inside the door. See that fellow way over on the left looking through a telescope? He paid $50 for his seat in the "raised ringside arena" (what used to be called bleachers), and he is half the length of a football field away from the ring. Even so, maybe he is better off than those distinguished sportsmen. Should Liston do to Clay what he did twice to Floyd Patterson, each golden minute in the Golden Circle will cost $100.

ILLUSTRATION

JIM FLORA

302 AT $20
632 AT $20
110 AT $50
1860 AT $50
PRESS
1008 AT $100
204 AT $150
168 AT $200
180 AT $250
PRESS
110 AT $50
632 AT $20
302 AT $20
768 AT $50
540 AT $100
504 AT $100
204 AT $150
168 AT $200
180 AT $250
PRESS
302 AT $20
632 AT $20
110 AT $50
1860 AT $50
PRESS
1008 AT $100
204 AT $150
168 AT $200
180 AT $250
PRESS
302 AT $20
632 AT $20
110 AT $50
768 AT $50
540 AT $100
504 AT $100
204 AT $150
168 AT $200
180 AT $250
PRESS
RING

January 27, 1964