Have we ever seen anything like what we have coming up on May 2nd? I’m not talking about the fight.; I’m talking about the entire day. I cannot remember a time where there has been a convergence of this many pop-cultural touchstones on one day since June 17th, 1994.
On 6/17/94, OJ Simpson went out for a drive, Arnold Palmer was playing his final round The U.S. Open, the NBA Finals were in full swing, The World Cup had begun, the New York Rangers were celebrating their first Stanley Cup win in 54 years and the Lion King just premiered in limited release that previous Wednesday. That’s a lot of memories there!
May 2, 2015 will have the following: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, a game seven or two of the NBA Playoffs if they are required, the second round of the NHL Playoffs, The Kentucky Derby, Yankees vs. Red Sox, The NFL draft (day 3 on May 2nd) and the opening weekend of what is expected to be the biggest movie of the summer, The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
What I just laid out there is close to a billion dollar weekend for the entertainment industry. The fight is expected to bring in $500 million. The Avengers: Age of Ultron is expected to rake in over $200 million. The Kentucky Derby is estimated to bring Churchill Downs $100 million. The playoffs and the NFL Draft will add to that sum with advertising revenues and ticket sales.
In a pop-cultural sense, May 2nd could be as significant as June 17th, 1994. Maybe not to those of us that are old enough to remember 1994, but there is a whole generation that have no idea who OJ Simpson, Arnold Palmer, Patrick Ewing, Mark Messier, or Roberto Baggio are. To them, they may be looking back on May 2nd as the day Pacquiao stunned the world or the day some unknown QB was picked up in the 6th round and went on to win a couple Super Bowls. Who knows? Maybe it will even get its own ESPN 30 for 30 episode a couple decades from now.
