Though it may not be the biggest Las Vegas Valley event of the year, the much-anticipated boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will have thousands viewing from the audience, and even more watching around the world.
In anticipation for Saturday’s mega-fight, Las Vegas police have gone as far as Pasadena, Calif. and Phoenix for help with security.
Metro Events Planning coordinator Lt. Roxanne McDaris represented Las Vegas police at the 2015 NCAA football championship semifinals in January, and at the Super Bowl XLIX in February, getting tips from local police on managing crowds at sporting events.
McDaris’ unit oversees more than 3,000 annual events in the valley, she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.She spent several days collaborating with leaders from both California and Arizona state police departments, discussing everything from Las Vegas’ new $375-million arena project to the May 2nd boxing fight.
She spent several days collaborating with leaders from both California and Arizona state police departments, discussing everything from Las Vegas’ new $375-million arena project to the May 2 boxing fight.
The MGM Grand Garden holds a little over 16,000 spectators, but the Mayweather-Pacquiao match is estimated to draw anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000 visitors to the valley over the weekend, McDaris said.
The lieutenant said projected numbers will make this coming weekend the second-biggest of the year, tying with January’s Consumer Electronics Show and trailing behind the Strip’s New Year’s Eve bash. Electric Daisy Carnival in June comes in fourth, while March’s NASCAR Kobalt 400 places a close fifth.
“Saturday’s event is different than the large events Metro is accustomed to,” McDaris said. “It’s the largest sporting draw to the city on Metro’s 2015 slate and, with fight-related events going from Monday to Saturday, the longest-lasting.”
“It probably will also be the most diverse, thanks to a large international audience attracted by Pacquiao,” she added. “We really haven’t had to deal with a sporting event to this scale.”
Comparing the May 2 boxing match to a NCAA championship semifinal game and even the Super Bowl, McDaris speculated that emotions will “run hotter,” likely because of the much-hyped matchup that has been years in the making.
“We have to have a much broader viewpoint of where we’re going to be operating and what type of things we’ll answer to,” she said. “Such excitement—mixed with alcohol—could provoke unsavory reactions among fans and spectators.”
MGM is also home to one of the most infamous post-boxing match incidents in recent history, when rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting after the Bruce Seldon-Mike Tyson fight in 1996.
Police and MGM security are confident they will be ready for whatever happens.
“We’ve worked very closely with MGM to make sure we’re in the right place at the right time,” McDaris said. “Instead of trying to catch up to an issue, we want to try and get ahead of it and prevent that from happening again.”
Her department dealing with venue security issues is focused on improving crowd control, in response to recent post-fight incidents at the MGM. 60 people were injured in a crowd stampede after a Mayweather-Marcos Maidana fight last May.
Tim Jeffrey, MGM’s vice president of security and a lead coordinator for on-site crowd control, said that only venue security would be “enhanced” for the fight, which he knows is generating “unprecedented excitement.”
“We’ll have a higher-than-usual number of security employees, and that’ll be really obvious to anybody that’s visiting the property,” Jeffrey said.
Even at nearby McCarran International Airport, Transportation Security Administration is paying overtime for a 10 percent increase in staffing on Sunday, May 3, according to TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers.
“We want to make sure it’s a sufficient process for everybody and that all of these people can make it home securely,” Dankers commented, adding that teams of explosive-sniffing dogs would be on site at the airport before and after the fight.
Law enforcement is encouraging fight night spectators and participants in the weekend’s festivities to be cautious, mindful, and to speak up if they see anything suspicious.
“It’s important that people are aware of their surroundings and know what’s happening around them,” McDaris said. “Public assistance helps police better do their job, and extra eyes will be a significant part of reducing crime during the week.”
“We’re not going to let the criminal element take over and make our town unsafe.”
(With reports from the Las Vegas Review-Journal)