SBJ Profiles UFC’s Tom Wright

This week’s Sports Business Journal uses its industry spotlight feature to profile the UFC’s new Director of Canadian Operations, Tom Wright.

In trying to secure regulation and sanctioning in Canada, is there an order of provinces or some provinces that are top priority?
No. 1 would be Ontario, where Toronto is located. We are working on that process right now. After that, there is a federal process that we are going through which is tied to Bill 83 of the Criminal Code and trying to get that changed so that it is legal in all 10 provinces without having to have provincial sanction that would follow.

Payout Perspective:

The fact that SBJ is profiling Tom Wright speaks volumes about his standing in the sports industry. He’s got a wealth of experience and is well-respected throughout Canada and the US. This should bode well for the UFC moving forward.

The only question I have regarding Wright is whether he knows the sport. This is something that really wasn’t broached at the press conference in May, but important nonetheless. If Wright is to be the man educating decision makers, he’ll need to know the sport inside and out (the sport, the fans, and the business).

I’d assume he’s got a pretty good handle on things by now; to my knowledge he’s been to quite a few events dating back to last year. But whatever he doesn’t have, he’ll have to pick up pretty quickly.