Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Promoter of Pacquiao-Mayweather Fight Wanted It In Ny or New Jersey... Taxes Were Too High

(HotAir h/t-import)

You don’t have to be a boxing fan to understand the uppercut that high state taxes gave to an opportunity for a big sports event in New York and New Jersey.  Newsday reports on the decision by promoter Bob Arum to pursue a highly-sought bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather in Jerry Jones’ new football stadium in Texas instead of Yankee Stadium or the Meadowlands.  What KO’d the East Coast?  High state taxes:
It appears the Tax Man is about to do to Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. what Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto could not.
Namely, knock both of them out.
Out of New York, that is. And New Jersey, too. …
But last night, Arum dropped the hammer on the fight taking place anywhere east of the Mississippi River.
“No chance,” Arum said. “Nothing would please me more than to have it at Yankee Stadium, but the way the tax structure in New York is set up, it’s impossible.”
But that’s not the worst news. The front-runner to host the bout, proposed for early May or June 2010, is – gulp! – Cowboys Stadium, Jerry Jones’ $1 billion-plus, retractable-roof football palace that makes Yankee Stadium look like a sandlot.