NoDQ.com > UFC > UFC Making Public Attempt To Gain Legalization Posted by Bobby Spade on 03/12/2008 at 02:01 PM
The following is an excerpt from an article by Danny Hakim in the New York Times:
Ultimate Fighting, Toned Down, Seeks Legalization
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: March 10, 2008
ALBANY �" The Ultimate Fighting Championship is ready for a rematch with New York State.
On Monday, the company that owns the championship will begin its public campaign to legalize so-called mixed martial arts fighting in the state, 11 years after it was banned by Gov. George E. Pataki, who said at the time that “to have someone who wins by using choke holds and kicking people while they are down is not someone our children should be looking to emulate.”
Zuffa, the company that acquired the championship in 2001, will unveil the Web site www.mmafacts.com on Monday to argue that it has transformed the sport into more legitimate, and corporate-sponsored, entertainment.
Yet the company has been quietly laying the groundwork for months. In November, Zuffa retained the Albany lobbying firm Brown, McMahon & Weinraub for $10,000 a month, state records show. Then it hired a political consulting firm used by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the Global Strategy Group, for media relations. For good measure, the company made a $25,000 donation to the state Democratic Party in mid-January.
“The timing is right,” said Marc Ratner, above, the vice president for regulatory and government affairs for Zuffa, which is based in Las Vegas. “We had a lot of other states we were working on and we wanted to devote our full attention to New York, and that’s what we’re doing now.”
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