MMA bill passes second hurdle, moves to Assembly’s Ways & Means Committee

[about.thousands]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/mixed-...tee-1.11604547

The final step in legalizing mixed martial arts passed its first two hurdles of the day Tuesday morning.

The New York State Assembly’s committee for Tourism, Arts, Parks and Sports Development voted 15-5 in favor of making MMA a legal sport in the state. The Codes Committee then passed the bill, 16-5.

The bill now moves to the Ways & Means committee, then the Assembly floor for a full vote. It is possible these steps all could take place on Tuesday. It is expected the bill will pass in all committees and on the floor of the Assembly.

New York has remained the lone state with a ban on professional MMA, a law enacted in 1997 by then Governor George Pataki when the sport was not regulated and had a very limited set of rules.

In the years since, MMA developed a set of unified rules, established weight classes and is regulated by state athletic commissions.

The State Senate has passed the legislation each of the past seven years, including twice in 2015. Each year, the bill stalled in the Assembly.

The bill needs a simple majority — 76 votes — in the Assembly to pass. The majority Democratic conference typically doesn’t move a bill to the floor without having the necessary votes on its own to pass the bill. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said last week that the Democratic conference now has the necessary votes it needs to bring the bill before the full Assembly for a vote. The Assembly bill also has 73 sponsors across party lines attached to it.

Should the bill pass the Assembly floor, it then would go to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office for his signature. The governor included MMA revenue in executive budget proposal earlier this year, his most overt act of support for the bill.

The New York State Athletic Commission then will have 120 days to adopt guidelines and regulations for use as the sanctioning body.

“The second they pass it, I am calling the UFC and begging to be put on the first card,” Lindenhurst’s Ryan LaFlare, a UFC welterweight fighter who also co-owns Long Island MMA in Farmingdale, said last week.

The UFC, the biggest promotion in the sport, has a date reserved in November to host a fight card at Madison Square Garden.

[Monaco Slim]

Who cares, there's nobody in MMA that can sell out the garden. MMA is small time stuff, none of those guys can draw a dime, that's why the UFC is over a billion in debt right now.

[1bad65]

...that's why the UFC is over a billion in debt right now.

Really?!?

Can you please source that?

[Monaco Slim]

Really?!?

Can you please source that?

I was exaggerating, but they really are in deep trouble.

They were officially 475 million in debt 2 years ago (they're probably $550m+ these days) and they've had record bad PPV and ticket sales the last 2 years, plus the only 2 fighters they had that were slightly popular (conor and rousey) have just been exposed.

Their debt and interest keeps going up, its really only a matter of time until they sell the company off to some middle eastern sucker.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/11/3...nvestors-bonds

[1bad65]

Thanks, but that only listed debt, not assets.

This part stood out:

"A different sports property that appears to have followed a much more similar strategy to the UFC with regards to debt is the Ironman races. Last year the World Triathlon Corporation, the owners of Ironman, took out a $220 million loan along with a $20 million revolver. They are thought to have financed with the loan a large "cash-out' for their investors, giving them a tangible return on their investment.

Ironman was sold for an estimated $650 million this summer (plus an addition $250 million for that pre-existing debt). With Forbes estimating the UFC's value at $1.65 billion (the owners have pegged it's price much higher), their current debt load seems very much on par with that of Ironman.

As mentioned previously, the UFC has primarily used its debt to fund dividend payments to the owners and acquisitions. Of the $275 million it was originally asking for in 2007, $199 million was earmarked to fund a dividend to Zuffa, LLC's owners. For the $100 million 2009 incremental term loan, it was reported that $70 million of it would be used to fund a special dividend. In total $269 million is thought to have been paid out as dividends to the owners."

So it sounds like they have a positive net worth despite having some debt. That sounds right, doesn't it?

Not to get too deep into my personal finances, but I do have a small amount of debt myself, though when my assets are factored in I have a positive net worth.

[Cuban Linx]

State of New York officially legalizes MMA. Finally!

[Monaco Slim]

Thanks, but that only listed debt, not assets.

This part stood out:

"A different sports property that appears to have followed a much more similar strategy to the UFC with regards to debt is the Ironman races. Last year the World Triathlon Corporation, the owners of Ironman, took out a $220 million loan along with a $20 million revolver. They are thought to have financed with the loan a large "cash-out' for their investors, giving them a tangible return on their investment.

Ironman was sold for an estimated $650 million this summer (plus an addition $250 million for that pre-existing debt). With Forbes estimating the UFC's value at $1.65 billion (the owners have pegged it's price much higher), their current debt load seems very much on par with that of Ironman.

As mentioned previously, the UFC has primarily used its debt to fund dividend payments to the owners and acquisitions. Of the $275 million it was originally asking for in 2007, $199 million was earmarked to fund a dividend to Zuffa, LLC's owners. For the $100 million 2009 incremental term loan, it was reported that $70 million of it would be used to fund a special dividend. In total $269 million is thought to have been paid out as dividends to the owners."

So it sounds like they have a positive net worth despite having some debt. That sounds right, doesn't it?

Not to get too deep into my personal finances, but I do have a small amount of debt myself, though when my assets are factored in I have a positive net worth.

The UFC isn't really worth anywhere near 1.6 billion, in reality its probably a 200-300 million dollar company.

Forbs say they're worth 1.6 billion, yet Zuffa say they're worth 4 billion, its all a load of nonsense, the UFC does **** ticket sales and crappy PPV numbers.

The WWE which makes more money than the UFC is only worth $500 million

[hayZ]

The UFC isn't really worth anywhere near 1.6 billion, in reality its probably a 200-300 million dollar company.

Forbs say they're worth 1.6 billion, yet Zuffa say they're worth 4 billion, its all a load of nonsense, the UFC does **** ticket sales and crappy PPV numbers.

The WWE which makes more money than the UFC is only worth $500 million

It just did 1.5million for the Conor PPV card. It has been doing decent in terms of PPV for a while now, they placed too much faith in some fighters that were never going to be PPV draws before which affected PPV.

[Monaco Slim]

It just did 1.5million for the Conor PPV card. It has been doing decent in terms of PPV for a while now, they placed too much faith in some fighters that were never going to be PPV draws before which affected PPV.

Where is your source for that? The UFC is a private company, they're not legally obliged to release the official numbers, they can throw anything out there and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has already exposed the UFC for throwing around numbers north of a million yet paying fighters as if they sold a completely different number of PPV's

The fact that anyone thinks the UFC and Conor Mcgregor are on the same level as a Mayweather fight is beyond a joke and they must live on the internet. Nobody is buzzing about a UFC fight in real life, nobody talks about that on the streets.

[Jay Volcano]

Good news! Dana White is a ****ing beast!