Last week, the UFC opened brand-new revenue doors the size of the Sugar Loaf mountain when it finally convinced legislators in the state of New York to legalise the sport of MMA. There is talk of a UFC mega-event underneath the hallowed rooftop of Madison Square Garden this November, and for all the cash that fightnight will earn Mssrs White and Co, the key to New York came with a pretty hefty pricetag.
Yesterday's Las Vegas Review-Journal featured some compelling detail on the extent of the lobbying mission that the UFC embarked upon in the Empire State. It's been a gruelling eight-year process for the UFC that has come at considerable cost.
Epstein and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta estimated the organisation spent more than $2 million lobbying for this legislation over the last eight years.
The website FightOpinion.com has the UFC's lobbying costs a lot higher --- around $7 million. They also provide detailed, and depressing info, on the quarter-by-quarter costs of bringing MMA to New York over the past number of years.
Fertitta more or less confirmed the UFC's lobbying strategy in New York when speaking to the Review-Journal.
We invested in the sport no differently than we’ve done over the last 15 or 16 years. It’s part of the process. You hire lobbyists, you go in and talk about what your position is and try to educate people. This process took us eight years. Finally we were able to get it done,” he said. “
You can only presume that the UFC will have earned that money back after one event, but for the rest of us, it proves how much it costs to bring about democratic change.
