TORONTO — Former CFL commissioner Tom Wright will head up a new UFC office in Canada, the mixed martial arts organization announced Tuesday in Toronto.
At a news gathering at the Rogers Centre hosted by Ultimate Fighting Championship executives, including president Dana White — he opened the ceremonies by saying, “Thank you for coming to the ‘We love Canada’ press conference” — chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said it was opening a "full-time" office in Canada to show the company’s commitment to the sport in the country and appointed Wright to the post.
"After a long search and talking to a lot of people, we feel like we’ve found the perfect person," Fertitta said. "He brings a unique blend of business experience and sports experience."
In addition to running the Canadian Football League from 2002 to 2006 before being succeeded by current commissioner Mark Cohon, Wright was formerly president of Adidas Canada and served as CEO of the North American arm of Salomon, a sports equipment manufacturing company. He has also been heavily involved with Canadian Special Olympics.
Currently serving as managing director at LEVEL5 Strategic Brand Advisors in his hometown, the Toronto native takes over as director of operations for UFC Canada on Monday.
Wright, 57, confirmed that one of the first goals for the new office, which will be based in the Greater Toronto Area, will be to get the sport regulated in Ontario, one of few provinces where the sport is currently illegal.
White said the office will operate similarly to the way the one in the United Kingdom does and eventually have approximately 12 to 15 employees. Currently, the UFC employs 140 to 150 people.
Another focus for the team that will join Wright will be UFC-brand gyms. There are already a couple of UFC Gyms established in California, and their hope is to open some new ones in Canada.
But Wright said that’s just the beginning.
“There’s a long list of priorities,” Wright said. “We want to build a business and build a brand here. There’s great opportunities in terms of merchandising, in terms of licensing and new media opportunities as well. We’ve got relationships with all the media partners across the country; we want to be able to build on that. At the heart of our business is pay-per-view; we want to be able to build on those opportunities … and the work we want to do in the community level.
“There’s lots to be done, but make no mistake about it, the first priority is to make sure that we have our sport regulated in all 10 provinces.”
Fertitta said that the Canadian market represents 17 per cent of the Las Vegas-based organization’s total business revenue, second only to the U.S. in terms of countries.
The sport currently has sanctioning in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The promotion has already held three events in Montreal, and will hold two more in Canada next month: UFC 115 in Vancouver (June 12) and WEC 49 in Edmonton (June 20).
“Canada’s a very import market to us,” White said. “It’s so important that now we’re putting an office here. We’ve hired a very serious guy and we’re going to have the full-court press going now.
“What this shows is how serious we are and we’re taking real initiative up here in Canada.”
Responding to a question regarding a rumour the UFC has already booked the Rogers Centre for a show on March 26, 2011 — in hopes that MMA being legalized in Ontario by then — White wouldn’t confirm the date but did admit to having a relationship “here” and that the venue is on the organization’s radar once sanctioning gets done, which he feels is inevitable.
NOTES: White flew to New York immediately following the announcement to tape an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he discussed Twitter, Rampage-Rashad and THQ’s UFC Undisputed 2010 video game, which was released Tuesday … Two fights on Saturday’s UFC 114: Rampage vs. Evans undercard will be broadcast in high definition on Rogers Sportsnet. Dong Hyun Kim takes on Amir Sadollah and Efrain Escudero faces Dan Lauzon starting at 9 p.m. ET on Sportsnet East and Ontario.
