ARLINGTON, Texas — Mike Tyson and Jake Paul faced off at the first of two press conferences on Tuesday in New York ahead of their highly anticipated fight set to take place July 20 at AT&T Stadium.
Tyson and Paul are reportedly earning tens of millions of dollars just for participating in the fight. However, the city of Arlington is hoping to be the biggest winner after the bell rings.
At the press conference, Tyson and Paul emphasized the historic nature of the Netflix-backed fight. Tyson said the fight will "shut the sporting world down," at the Monday press conference. And while few dollar figures surrounding the Netflix-carried fight have been disclosed, state records give a glimpse at the incentives involved in bringing the fight to Arlington.
The state of Texas and city of Arlington agreed to spend about $1.8 million in total incentives to offset the costs of bringing the event to Texas, according to a document from the state's Event Trust Funds program. The program aims to attract events to the state by providing up-front money to host events in Texas cities.
The city itself will likely contribute about $247,000 and the state could pay about $1.5 million. Those incentives could change based on final attendance numbers.
The fight is organized by Most Valuable Promotions, a company co-founded by Paul.
The state funds were spent through the Event Trust Fund program.
A county, municipality or nonprofit can apply to receive the state funds. How much the state contributed depends on the amount of tax revenue the event is expected to raise while the event is happening. Then, the county, municipality or nonprofit must contribute $1 in local tax gains for every $6.25 the state contributes.
The funds are paid out to the city after the event is over and a review by the Governor’s Office determines the total cost of the event.
The fight is expected to bring 75,000 visitors to the city of Arlington, according to Susan Schrock, a spokesperson for the city of Arlington. About 40% of those visitors are expected to be from out of state.
In 2016, Arlington hosted WrestleMania, drawing over 90,000 visitors to AT&T stadium. That event received about $3 million in reimbursements. Then, again in 2022, AT&T Stadium held the highest-attended and highest-grossing WWE event in the company's history, drawing 156,000-plus. Monica Paul, executive director of the Dallas Sports Commission, told WFAA that WrestleMania 38 would bring the DFW area "in tune of over $200 million in economic impact."
The Paul-Tyson fight was recently sanctioned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations as a heavyweight matchup to be fought over eight 2-minute rounds with 14 oz. gloves.
Tickets for the fight will go on sale at 11 a.m. CST (noon EST) on May 16. Those interested in pre-sale tickets can sign up for them here. The fight will also be streamed live exclusively on Netflix.