THIS SEEMS LIKE A POST ABOUT SPORTS BUT ...
We know MMA is popular here because Ontario is consistently one of the biggest markets for UFC pay per view events anywhere in the world. There are also MMA events held here, not fights but basically fan expos, that consistently sell out. There are many "home grown" professional MMA fighters from Ontario not to mention at least one genuine UFC superstar, George St. Pierre from Quebec. Which means there is a lot of indigenous interest in this sport here
The UFC wants to come here for those same reasons: The sport is popular here and we have a large home grown contingent. They know there's money to be had here and certainly with Toronto and its obsession with sports, there is lucrative ready made market.
The main official objections to the UFC coming here always seemed to be about its perceived barbarity, somehow more dangerous than boxing, though on paper, MMA is a "safer" sport than boxing, in that no one has ever been killed in a sanctioned MMA event. Most of the objections didn't makes sense, since we have many amateur martial arts events here, during which people are routinely injured.
I always felt that the real barrier to the UFC coming here was organized boxing. Boxing, particularly commercial boxing, hates MMA. It's a competition thing. I don't know the last time a really top flight boxing card was held here, with real stars fighting for a title; for some reason, that seems to have fallen out of favour. But I have no doubt that it would not take long to have a UFC title fought in Toronto, the money leads them.
Well, this week the axe dropped, and the blood that was spattered was the UFC's own. Premiere Dalton McGinty has said no to the UFC in Ontario. Why? Well, he has better things to concentrate on, like the economy and job creation and revenue ...
The UFC has proven that one fight staged in Toronto could generate millions of dollars in revenues. Think of taxes on ticket sales, parking, people using transit, taxes from the venue and then all the spin offs; staff for the venue, business like restaurants that will benefit, it's why Ontario loves sports, and why various levels of governments have always given tax incentives to these kinds of events ... they bring in money, both short term and long lasting
So why the denial to the UFC? My guess is the boxing lobby, a special interest group that is long established here and has lots of politicians on its side ... read that as, lots of politicians on their unofficial payroll. So really ...
... THIS IS A POST ABOUT POLITICS
When I started this blog I told myself that I wouldn't delve into politics. I had no interest in talking about political parties, individual politicians, platforms etc. Well, like a lot of my great ideas, that one had the merit of a wolf at a vegan convention; he could agree all he wanted with the philosophy, but we all know what's going to happen when he gets hungry.
You can't avoid politics. Because politics is government and government is us. But it's an "us" that I don't seem to have any connection to. I mean, ok, the UFC coming Toronto is not a vital decision, but health care is, and education, and public transit and libraries and .. These are complex, ever evolving issues that effect us all at some level and those levels change with the times. Yet the only time we get to have our say is every four years .. It's like the Olympics. And like the Olympics they happen, but I can't control what they comprise of or how they're run and or what happens ...
Maybe MMA should be an Olympic sport. Because you know damn well Dalton would love the Olympics to come here; we'd pay for them, pay more than we were told, a very few people would make a lot of money, and the rest of us would be shilling out for years to cover the cost. Now that's economics a politician seems to understand
No comments:
Post a Comment