Future MMA In Vancouver A Go With Caveats

“In the last year, I’ve come to agree that it is a sport. There’s training, there’s rules involved. I went to a bout and I found it quite entertaining,” says Jang.

There is a question mark over the issue of who should be responsible for sanctioning of MMA in British Columbia. Right now it is up to individual municipalities to decide, but Jang believes that the provincial government should step in to sanction events in BC. Typically, the province indemnifies the city, but this is not so in the case of MMA. The issue of insurance was a major stumbling block that almost led to the cancellation of UFC 115.

“I was quite surprised when Attorney General Mike de Jong said ‘If we sanction it, we’re going to take all the profits from it.’ I said, ‘Is it really about money? We’re talking about indemnification and keeping the city safe and all you’re thinking about is profit!”

The bottom line was that the province was not willing to step in; therefore the city of Vancouver had to set the broad policy at $12 million dollars for insurance and indemnification for the UFC to follow. Jang further points to the Quebec example as a more viable workable relationship because both the province and municipality split a cut from the Pay-Per-View revenue.

Besides insurance, the other costs for a promoter include $300 for a promoter’s license, an event permit fee of $150, a seat tax of $1 per seat and all the commission’s direct costs related to putting on the event. These include paying for medical staff, medical tests, ambulance attendance, and officials such as referees and judges.

“All we’re trying to do is recover our costs for the city,” explains Jang, who points to costs for policing, including the monitoring and surveillance of organized crime and gang members that will occur at the UFC event.

The Toronto Sun quoted Vancouver Athletic Commission chairman Mirko Mladenovic as saying “The UFC isn’t going to make any money off this,” but this is a point of contention. Certainly the net profit made from millions in PPV revenue, a sold-out live gate and the additional sales of branded UFC merchandise can cover the premiums on a $12 million insurance policy and the commission’s costs?

Says Jang: “As far as I am concerned, they were very clear that their business case was going to make them money. Why [else] would they come here?”

There are also the matter of filing and reviewing various reports from the police, athletic commission and social development staff in Vancouver to see how the event ran. Without question, there is no difference between the logistics and crowd control of a rock concert and that of a major MMA event, so there should be no issues and any promotion willing to adhere to the city council’s requirements would probably be allowed to put on future shows in Vancouver.  This contradicts a June 7 report from The Toronto Sun that suggests the UFC returning is not a possibility.

As much as UFC 115 is a first for Vancouver, it is hoped that a well-run event can act as an example to convince lawmakers to sanction shows in Ontario. Despite the opening of a Toronto UFC office, there’s no evidence ice-cold attitudes in the province towards MMA will thaw, but Vancouver and Montreal will still be open for business in the future.