MMA is officially coming to Ontario! An announcement was made by Sophia Aggelonitis on an Ontario Government website Saturday, declaring that MMA events will be legalized and regulated in the Canadian province by early 2011.
Ontario is taking steps to allow professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events in the province.
The province would adopt the same rules for professional MMA that are widely used across North America. This announcement paves the way for the first regulated professional MMA event to be held in Ontario in 2011.
As MMA has grown in popularity throughout the world, many cities have reaped the economic rewards of hosting events. A major MMA event in Ontario could attract up to 30,000 fans and generate up to $6 million in local economic activity — everything from hotel rooms to restaurants and other stores and services.
While MMA events provide an economic benefit, Ontario’s priority is the safety of the competitors. By regulating professional MMA, Ontario could enhance the safety of all participants with explicit safety and medical standards at licensed events.
Payout Perspective:
MMA in Ontario will drive education as over 1/4 of Canada’s population and nearly all of its major media will have access to sport right in their own backyard. The regulation of the sport in Ontario will also help to generate additional interest in the sport nationally – where it’s already more popular than in any other country – because of the fact that Toronto is the media and economic center of the country.
The Ontario website is quite conservative in its $6 million economic impact assessment. I suspect the UFC’s debut in Toronto will push at least $10-12 million towards the local economy (based on 40% of the 60,000 at Rogers Centre coming from out of town and spending $500 that weekend on hotels, food, drink and transportation).
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Rogers Sportsnet’s Joe Ferraro was the first to report some months ago that the UFC booked a couple March dates at the Rogers Centre (formerly the Skydome) in Toronto. It seems as though the UFC and Marc Ratner may have known this was a certainty all along.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: MMA could not have accomplished what it has without the efforts of men like Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and Marc Ratner. These are the guys spending the money and devoting the tireless effort in order to pave the way for this sport to break out. The MMA community in Ontario also deserves some credit for its relentless support in the province; its rallies, expos, and educational protests were requisite pieces of the puzzle that helped to convince the government that local support did exist for the sport – that the fat cats from Vegas weren’t just coming in to take advantage of Canada’s biggest market and then leave.
“I suspect the UFC’s debut in Toronto will push at least $10-12 million towards the local economy (based on 40% of the 60,000 at Rogers Centre coming from out of town and spending $500 that weekend on hotels, food, drink and transportation).”
Don’t think so. The UFC will probably limit seating to about half that capacity. Dana has spoken to this issue more than once. He feels there’s a limit to how much “nose bleed” seating an audience should have to endure.
But you never know. Going for broke does make a statement that could be too tempting to pass up. We probably won’t know until they see how ticket sales go.
I think a big event at the Rogers Centre is a logical choice for the promotion looking to make a splash on the market. The above economic number does not take into account local money spent that’s attributable to the fight or the multiplier effect of all money spent in a market. The $10-12 million impact could turn into $20 million when you factor in those additional spillovers.
Yet, I do not expect the Rogers Centre to be the UFC’s home for all future events. The ACC is a great facility that hold 20,000 people with an MLSE complex right across the street that could do closed circuit for another 1,000-2,000. This is likely the destination thereafter.
But with Georges about to defend the belt, this being the first UFC card in the province, etc….the components of a mega fight are there. They may not be if the UFC delays.
Interesting idea…BMO Field?
Where does one go to become an official MMA/UFC referee? As I have been searching for tha past two years. Can you please advise. Thank you.
BILL DANIEL
UFC and MMA would be a boon to Ontario and Canada as a whole, but as a citizen of London, ON, I tend to think our John Labatt Centre would be a slightly better venue. Not quite as crowded, nose bleed section isn’t as high as Skydome, and it would be a great place for fighters such as Mark Homminick and Sam Stone (both Londoners) to showcase their talents to a local audience. As as for the nay-sayers who want MMA banned nation-wide: 😛 😛 :P!
Congrats to all for making this possible!