Boxing has its mega event for 2025. Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford is confirmed for September 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The announcement came from UFC president and co-promoter Dana White on The Jim Rome Show earlier this week. Ironically, White’s on record last year stating his aversion to Allegiant fights due to concerns over diminished fan experience. That alone signals the magnitude of what’s coming.
With Netflix broadcasting, the fight marks the streaming giant’s second consecutive year hosting a boxing blockbuster following 2024’s Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul event, and the first boxing event ever held inside the Raiders’ state-of-the-art venue.
Canelo vs. Crawford promises to not just solidify the fighters’ legacies, but possibly the model for how blockbuster boxing events will be staged moving forward.
Allegiant Stadium: A Test for Riyadh Season’s Improvement
With a base capacity of 65,000 (expandable to over 71,000), Allegiant has already hosted the Super Bowl and WrestleMania. But this will be the first time a boxing ring has ever been set up inside the “Death Star,” and on Mexican Independence Day weekend. To make it happen, UNLV’s scheduled college football game against Idaho State was moved, highlighting the level of coordination required for an event of this scale.
This fight will serve as a case study on whether Turki Al-Sheikh and his Riyadh Season team have learned from mistakes made on last December’s Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov bout at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium. Despite attendance being over 17,000, the event was plagued by overpriced tickets forcing giveaways, extended delays between bouts, and an unnecessary Eminem concert before the main event. The event reportedly lost $10 million.
The logistics behind improving on those mishaps and transforming a football stadium into a boxing venue are immense. Turki might consider taking notes from the career of Errol Spence, who delivered two successful bouts at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium in 2020 against Danny Garcia, and in 2022 versus Yordenis Ugas. The latter generated a live gate of over $5 million from 37,022 tickets priced effectively. If Riyadh Season can resist the urge to focus on outside entertainment and redirect to reconfiguring Allegiant seating to optimize sightlines for an intimate sport like boxing, it may open the door for consistent stadium-based mega-events in the United States.
The Future of Stadium Fights
Historically, stadium fights have been reserved for special occasions: Muhammad Ali at the Superdome, Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium, and Anthony Joshua at Wembley. But even special grudge matches with non-superstars fights, like the recent Conor Benn vs. Chris Eubank Jr., can fill up venues. If Canelo-Crawford at Allegiant proves commercially and logistically viable, we could be entering an era where stadium shows are no longer the exception, but the standard.
This model would reinvigorate promoters, who would see the multiple advantages of higher attendance and gate revenues, creating a pathway similar to the NFL using integrated fan experiences (tailgates, pre-game concerts, VIP hospitality), expanded global reach, and corporate sponsorships.
This “NFL-ification” of boxing could lead to Riyadh seasonal mega events across the world’s iconic stadiums like AT&T Stadium in Dallas, SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, or even international locales like Mexico City and London.
If Canelo vs. Crawford proves successful, it becomes the prototype for not just Riyadh Season’s future events, but a Netflix endgame every promoter now chases.
Allegiant is hosting boxing’s biggest U.S. event of 2025, but history might remember it as the night boxing went from classic combat sport to blockbuster franchise… for better or worse.
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