Let the Battle Begin: Ottawa vs Toronto
by Annie83 on Aug 21, 2010 4:43 PM EDT
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Today I returned home from work to find The Ottawa Sun Newspaper on my kitchen table. The front page had a nice corner pic of current City of Ottawa Mayor, Larry O'Brien with the caption reading 'O'Brien's UFC Pitch, page 4'.
Needless to say, I jumped straight to page 4. There it was, the Mayor of my hometown not only supporting MMA and The UFC, but actually coming out and saying I am a fan of MMA. I was overjoyed! In a sport that is always surrounded by political controversy it was such a breath of fresh air to actually hear of a politician being a fan.
Last week, Ontario lifted the ban on MMA in the province (which made the entire front page of both local newspapers, The Ottawa Citizen and the aformentioned 'Sun') and the UFC has stated that they want to hit Toronto. According to the article, Larry was quoted saying that he had written a letter to (UFC president) Dana White, saying not only did he want the UFC to come to Ottawa at the Scotiabank Place, but that he wanted the FIRST event in Ontario to be in HIS city. He also urged the residents of Ottawa to show support and write as well.
As much as I believe that the UFC will go to Toronto first, (they would make more $$ at the live gate) a small part of me hopes that the fact that the Mayor is a fan, publically, just might help to get the first Ontario UFC in the city that is the actual capital of the country.
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Isn't he already being investigated by the ethics committee for this?
Sounds like a hit job, but.
Any event in Ontario
honestly would do well. Toronto will do well when it comes there but I’m sure people would just go to Ottawa simply to watch the UFC.
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No way does it go to Ottawa first
Toronto is a top 2 market for the UFC and they could execute their biggest show in the history of the company there.
"If the commission would sanction it and Dana would move, I’d fighter Anderson right now."
- Chael Sonnen at the post fight press conference following his loss to Anderson Silva.
Support independent artists
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Gotta agree with this. If they are accurately reporting the money coming in from Toronto they have to do Toronto first.
Just BE.
I'll put it this way
If anything, the Toronto market is being undervalued. Being a resident of the city and being plugged into just how amped people get for any UFC event, the UFC would have no problem doing 65,000+ at the Rogers Center.
"If the commission would sanction it and Dana would move, I’d fighter Anderson right now."
- Chael Sonnen at the post fight press conference following his loss to Anderson Silva.
Support independent artists
http://worldisart365.blogspot.com/
Ottawa is roughly (roughly) halfway between Toronto and Montreal.
I could see the UFC going to Ottawa if for some reason they couldn’t go to Quebec, but they do go to Quebec and Quebec loves them, so now that they can also go to Toronto Ottawa becomes extraneous.
Ottawa probabaly gets a Fight Night as a reward for the mayor being a good ambassador for the sport (and the UFC brand).
I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.
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