July 9, 2010 - 10:36 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
UFC VP of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner is the man who made all of the details run smoothly at Vancouver UFC 115 card, in spite of the amateur nature of the VAC officials he had to deal with.
Sitting in the press conference a few days before UFC 115 took place, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the sight of the humbled and tentative Mirko Mladenovic, the former chairman of the Vancouver Athletic Commission (VAC). Mirko sat their alone, possibly shocked that it was all happening in spite of his interventions, which at times put the whole event in severe jeopardy.
I say former because this is what happened yesterday, coming as no surprise to those of us who closely followed the proceedings of how the UFC finally got to Vancouver.
Comments like this show how clueless this guy really is:
““I’ve been on the board for three terms. I am only into this one four months. What has changed? What has changed is they wanted to kill UFC and I approved it.”
Excuse me? YOU approved it? And THEY wanted to kill UFC?
Wow. Here’s the real story folks.
Read the rest of this entry »
June 14, 2010 - 2:03 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Dana White and Gregor Robertson meet for the first time before last Thursday's press conference.
UFC 115 has come and gone, and Vancouver has not lost its moral high ground, nor was the event overtaken by gang warfare. Most importantly for the issue of the day regarding the card, there were no major injuries to warrant concern about insurance or indemnity for the City.
No, UFC 115 was a spectacle of epic proportions that brought a broad cross-section of fans from across Metro Vancouver to GM Place. I saw kids that were under 10 and jumping off the walls, and I saw senior citizens who God bless their souls, had trouble walking up the stairs. I saw guys and girls, I saw ethnicity across the rainbow that Vancouver has to offer, and saw casual and diehard fans in the crowd.
It was well run, it was entertaining as hell, and it made a mint for local economy (one figure I heard from someone who tracks this kind of stuff told me it was at least in excess of $13 million).
UFC is definitely coming back to the city – that has been confirmed by Dana White, and further echoed by the Mayor’s office.
And in the end, it was the political muscle of Gregor Robertson that turned a bureaucratic nightmare into a huge win for the city. Read the rest of this entry »
December 17, 2009 - 9:49 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
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).
October 22, 2009 - 9:31 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Yesterday I dealt with the rocky road that MMA has had to encounter in Vancouver over the past few years. Today I want to delve into what I outlined as the three most pressing issues that City Council will have to consider in the vote that is now expected sometime in November:
- Safety
- Liability
- Economic Impact
While at one point these might have been considerations that Council could use as justification for delaying the return of professionally sanctioned fights to Vancouver, the concerns have largely been alleviated by the facts.
Read the rest of this entry »
