The Canadian Press are reporting that the UFC will make a major announcement at Toronto’s Rogers Centre next Tuesday, but it’s unlikely that the news will pertain to legalization in Ontario.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to hold a press conference next Tuesday at Rogers Centre in Toronto, where the Las Vegas-based mixed martial arts organization says it will make a “major announcement.”
UFC president Dana White and chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta will be in attendance at the event, which was announced Thursday and will include a media Q&A.
Payout Perspective:
You never know what you’re going to get with the UFC’s “major” announcements; I sometimes think the boys get a little excited – understandably – about the deals they’re working on and schedule an announcement before everything is signed and sealed.
With that said, I’m inclined to believe that they might finally announce the opening of an office in Canada or a Canadian version of TUF. Those are things that have been openly bandied about in the past; and if it’s not an announcement related to legalization, what else could it be?
I would guess TUF if it is at the Rogers Center. But then again a local mail box disguised as an office so you don’t have to use foreign postage rates is a major announcement in the word of the UFC.
That was my guess as well. A Canadian version of TUF. I wonder if they can actually shoot it in Ontario since MMA is not sanctioned.
obviously they aren’t gonna hold TUF at the Rogers Centre as 1 posts suggests. Thats just downright silly and should not have been posted.
Perhaps they’re going to announce they are booking a date @ the SkyDome for their end of the year mega super show and hope to have GSP on the event vs Koscheck plus other title superfights. Tickets will go onsale immediately etc.
The catch? Balls in Ontario’s court to legislate the sport asap. The UFC booking a show and perhaps selling 40,000 tickets within a few days is totally plausible within that market. Especially when the Jays can’t even average 8k for home games.
The UFC would eat up the publicity of booking the event, the mega ticket sales and all on the gamble they have the weight along with a positive media notice of a substantial ticket push might swing the vote in their hands.
Perhaps doing this upcoming season of TUF in Canada, maybe even Ontario on a “trial exhibition contest” basis who knows, who cares point is if the UFC sold 40k, which I think I saw Zach Arnold say a few weeks back he could expect the UFC to easily sell 35,000 @ the Dome, if they sold that many tickets and said the province was turning it’s back on X amount of dollars of revenue we already collected, it would get positive press and it’s a win all around for Zuffa, unless the gov’t doesn’t blink and then they gotta issues paybacks in the masses.
Chris,
I wouldn’t count on that happening. It’s more than likely them hosting TUF in Canada with a US vs Canada concept. GSP vs Koscheck. This would make the most sense especially after Koscheck calling out the Canadian fans in Montreal.
Zach Arnold is saying that the UFC booked a date at the dome for March of 2011.
I wasn’t THAT far off. 🙂