By a voting margin of six-to-three, the Vancouver City Council voted today to resume legal sanctioning of MMA in Vancouver, British Columbia. The sport has been outlawed there since a 2007 moratorium was placed on it to give the city time to review its safety records and desirability for the municipality. Today's momentous overturning of that previous law comes with its own two-year expiration date, but it's likely that a new sanctioning agreement can be reached to extend legal licensing at that time.
One interesting clause is that potential promoters will have to pay the city of Vancouver a sizable insurance fee, which might make organizing MMA events prohibitively costly for smaller organizations. It's unlikely that such a fee will deter the sport's market leader, however, as UFC President Dana White has stated on record multiple times the company's intention to bring UFC fights to Vancouver in 2010, perhaps as early as June. The city's largest arena is GM Place, which is home to the NHL's Vancouver Canucks and holds a capacity crowd of roughly 20,000, is the most likely venue.
This is, of course, great news for residents B.C., especially those living in the lower-mainland, who will finally be able to see the world's best mixed martial artists compete live-- hopefully on a fairly regular basis.
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