UFC executive vice-president Lawrence Epstein and assistant general counsel Michael Mersch are expected to speak in front of Council at this morning's proceedings.
Here is the staff policy report on MMA sanctioning that I mentioned yesterday.
And like this site reported before the report went public, here are the top two recommendations to Council:
“A. THAT Council authorize the Vancouver Athletic Commission to sanction Mixed Martial Arts events as outlined in this report on a two-year pilot basis with a report back in early 2012 on experience with the pilot;
B. THAT promoters and organizers and venue owners of sanctioned Mixed Martial Arts events under the pilot program be required to provide indemnification in favour of the City and the Commission and also provide financial security (by way of a bond, letter of credit or other instrument), all in a form and in an amount and on terms and conditions satisfactory to the City Manager, the Director of Legal Services, the Director of Finance and Risk Management , to ensure protection for the City and the Commission;”
The rest of the recommendations include clarifying laws and regulation with the federal and provincial governments, retraining Vancouver Athletic Commission (VAC) members and revising VAC procedural requirements with regards to combat sports, and raising the seat tax from $0.10 to $1.00 to cover additional costs associated with administration and additional support staff.
CivicScene will be at the meeting and live blogging using the trusty old Blackberry. Keep checking back for updates throughout the morning (go to the URL CivicScene.ca directly to see the latest).
