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Dana’s Big Announcement: Fertitta Shifts from Casinos to Cage
By Carlos | June 18, 2008
Kevin Iole over at Yahoo! Sports is reporting that Dana White’s huge announcement is here, and that big moment is touting that “Lorenzo Fertitta, the president of one of the most successful casino chains in Las Vegas, resigned his position with Station Casinos on Wednesday to work full-time with the UFC.” Fertitta will work on developing international relationships to expand the UFC overseas. They have set their sights on The Philippines, India, Italy, France, Germany, and some Baltic countries like Russia.
Fertitta went on to explain:
Think about this for a second: India has 350 million men between the ages of 18 and 34, and that’s our key demographic. The magnitude of these markets is staggering. Dana has been doing a phenomenal job with this company, and I’ve been doing what I could given my responsibilities (at Station Casinos). The UFC is going to have a global footprint in the not-too-distant future. We’re already working on furthering our position in Brazil. This is getting so big that it demanded I spend more time with it.
White and Fertitta made it clear that this move has nothing to do with ownership problems or a suffering financial state of UFC; rather, they both explain they wish to make the UFC as influential as the NFL or any other major sport organization.
In my opinion, I think this was a calculated counter-move to answer Affliction’s teaming up with Donald Trump. Bringing on these financial giants not only provides a sense of security to their fan base, but it also lends clout to the organization’s agenda, that the business behind-the-scenes is working hard to brand their organization as the best in the world, not the U.S. I’m not certain how long this decision was in the works, but it seemed timely now that Trump is backing Affliction.
To read the full report, including the background to this business move, please click here.
Topics: Industry News |
