Morning Report: Colin Cowherd says the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight is happening this fall

This story just won’t die.

In recent weeks the rumors of a Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. boxing match have been running rampant. The talk surround the hypothetical match-up has been covered by every sports media outlet including exhaustively by this website. As time has gone on the facts surrounding the would be bout suggest it isn’t a realistic option and the talk is purely kept up by the two fighters for promotional purposes. But every time the story seems to be losing steam, a new angle from the media breathes life back into it. Well here we go again.

Yesterday on his podcast “The Herd,” Fox Sports host Colin Cowherd said that the fight is going to be made and the news will be broken in a couple of weeks. Cowherd claimed knowledge from multiple sources scheduling the bout for mid-September in Las Vegas, Nev..

“News I believe is gonna break here in about 2 weeks…I have already booked two rooms, September 17th and 18th in Las Vegas. My intel is Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather is going to happen. It changed late last week. I got a call then somebody else sent me something [Sunday] and Saturday. We’ve booked rooms in Vegas. [It’s happening] this September.”

As it stands this is the most interesting new bit of information on the bout so far (which, granted, isn’t saying much). Though not exactly a breaking news reporter, Cowherd has worked in sports media long enough to have made substantial connections and he also works for Fox who is deeply integrated with the UFC. Claiming multiple sources have given him substantive information on the topic is absolutely plausible and at the minimum seems more reliable than the vague posturing done by McGregor and Mayweather themselves. This is also the first time a concrete date has been suggested for the bout which, coupled with the multiple sources, lends an air of credibility to Cowherd’s statements.

Cowherd goes on to hint at what precipitated the “change” late last week which, according to him, has made this fight a reality.

“Mayweather did have a very bad last pay per view gate – 550,000 people, he tries to get 2 to 3 million. So I think this is the most profitable fight for CBS and Mayweather. CBS has been working with Mayweather for years. That’s why his fights are on Showtime, because CBS owns Showtime.

“So Les Moonves [President and CEO of CBS] and the CBS peeps have decided, ‘let’s talk to the Fox – UFC peeps’ and you’ve got Fox and CBS, you’ve got UFC, you’ve got boxing, you’ve got Floyd, you’ve got Conor. It’s gonna make a lot of money for people.”

On one hand, Cowherd’s statements make sense. The amount of promotional push that could be generated by a combination of CBS, Fox, Showtime, the UFC, Mayweather, and McGregor would be unparalleled. With that type of promotional force behind it, it’s not unreasonable to think the fight would surpass the record number of pay per view buys generated by Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.

On the other hand, that is a large number of disparate parties to get to agree on the various particulars that go hand in hand with fight promotion. To believe that all the various parties involved have come to an agreement in such a short period of time strains credulity. After all, it took Mayweather and Pacquiao over five years to come to terms and they were both in the same sport.

The different sport aspect of the event may be a boon here though. Cowherd notes that McGregor losing (the most likely outcome) would by no means ruin his marketability as an MMA …

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