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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The on-going push to get MMA legalized in New York state continued in a couple of avenues on Monday. The Codes Committee in the New York State Assembly passed the current MMA regulation bill through by a vote of 17-1, but before that result came about UFC President Dana White penned an editorial for the New York Daily News.
In an article entitled "N.Y., stop fighting this sport: Mixed martial arts is safe -- and our economy needs the kick," White again made his arguments for the state to allow the sport, and particularly the UFC, into the state.
After giving an introduction to the sport and his involvement with the UFC, White again laid out the argument the economic impact would have on the state, not just from the UFC but from other organizations running events, and urged the Assembly to bring the bill to a full vote.
Wrote White:
"How successful would the sport be here? We got a taste a few weeks ago. A fight at the Rogers Centre in Toronto brought in ticket sales at the gate of more than $12 million - the largest for any event ever held at the arena. The sellout crowd of more than 55,000 - bigger than when an NFL game was held there - poured in to the city early and stayed late, purchasing arena concessions, staying in hotel rooms, dining at restaurants and taking taxis.
I am positive that an event in New York would have the same kind of success. While Madison Square Garden is obviously a pinnacle for any sport, we have a large fan base in cities like Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester and Albany, all of which could use the economic lift.
We commissioned an economic impact study to demonstrate how much revenue one of our events would generate for the State of New York. The study, by HR & A, found that sanctioning MMA in New York City would generate more than $23 million in net new economic activity. In Buffalo, an event would generate $5.2 million in economic activity.
Those figures assume only two UFC events, and we estimate we could do as many as three per year in New York State.
Little wonder momentum is growing to overturn the ban. The state Senate recently voted overwhelmingly to sanction mixed martial arts and the Assembly's tourism committee followed suit; now it's time to allow a full Assembly vote.
The sports capital of the world deserves access to one of the world's fastest-growing sports, one that will bring money and jobs to state and local businesses.
Though passing the Codes Committee is another good sign, there is still a long path left before the sport can gain regulation, and time continues to run out on them getting things taken care of. The bill now goes to the Ways and Means Committee, and if it passes there it would go to the Rules Committee, headed up by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who said last week he didn't believe there was support in the Assembly to pass the bill.
That comment was rebuked by several other representatives, including representative Dean Murray, who told MMAJunkie.com last week that he had a petition with a large number of Assembly members showing support for the sport. All they're asking is to get the bill to the floor for a full vote, but that has not yet happened. If it can pass the Ways and Means, along with the Rules Committee, then it will get to the floor for a vote. But they've only got a few short days remaining in the legislative calendar to get it done.
Penick's Analysis: This is another good sign, and White's piece in the NY Daily News is hopefully well received, but it's still hard to get optimistic when the bill is heading to the Committee that has killed it each of the last two years. Hopefully Silver can see that there is support within the Assembly to make this happen, and the state can pass the bill to allow the many fighters, trainers and more that live in New York to take part in this sport in their own state without being stigmatized as taking part in an illegal activity. Though the economic impact continues to be made, it has thus far not been convincing, but hopefully this can still be the year.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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