Private funding of the Parker fight

Related to my previous posting on the withdraw of public funding for the Parker fight in Auckland comes this news from the New Zealand Herald on pay-for-view prices for the event.

Pay-per-view prices for Joseph Parker's heavyweight world title fight are set to go sky high, with punters and pubs expected to cop the fallout from Auckland Council's refusal on ratepayer funding.

The Herald on Sunday understands from a well-placed source that the pay-TV price for Parker's fight against Andy Ruiz Jr next month could now be set between $70 and $100.

The first point to make here is that this is one way for the event to be paid for by those who want to see the event.

The Herald also states,

The expected pay-TV spike comes after Auckland Council's events and economic development arm, Ateed, threw in the towel on funding the fight with ratepayer money.

Now for the bit I don't get about all of this, Why does the Herald journalist think that the pay-TV price has anything to do with public funding? I mean if the profit maximising price for screening the event is around $70 to $100 without public funding then why isn't this the profit maximising price with public funding?

If market conditions are such that the promoter can charge in the $70-$100 range for the fight when there is no public funding then those same conditions mean he can charge the same even with public funding. This basically just turns the public funding into a rent for the promoter.