Fridays Ring of Combat scheduled for the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey has fallen victim to the Garden States six-day budget crisis, which resulted in a shutdown of all nonessential state services, closed casinos and put more than 80,000 people out of work.
Its the nightmare of a promoter. And the unexpected happened, said ROC promoter Lou Neglia. This is truly an unexpected situation.
With casino inspectors unable to man their posts, the Tropicana which joined Atlantic Citys 11 other casinos to fight Gov. Corzines executive order and managed to remain open until Wednesday and Neglia were forced to pull the plug on a card featuring top female fighter Laura DAuguste against Japans Megumi Yabushita (Pictures).
Neglia declined to comment on the fiscal impact of the postponement, outside of saying it definitely was not good for his company. Nick Lembo, the athletic control boards general counsel, told Sherdog.com Fridays event was expected to bring in upwards of $50,000 for the commission, not a paltry sum for a body that collects most of its revenue through taxing ticket sales and Pay-Per-View.
Large-scale Pay-Per-View events, such as those promoted by HBO or the Ultimate Fighting Championship, can net the commission as much as $250,000.
Anticipating the impasse, Lembo said the New Jersey Athletic Control Board requirements for July 7s card were finalized by June 30. Yet when the governor signed the executive order furloughing all nonessential employees, the commission was forced to a standstill.
There was some discussion, Lembo said, of commission appointed officials inspectors, judges and referees working sans pay, however New Jerseys constitution prohibits any state employee from working without compensation.
As of Thursday evening, Neglia was in discussions with the Tropicana to reschedule the card and suggested the hotel was not going to schedule another date until we get this thing cleared up.
In the very near future the same card will be put on somewhere, somehow, the promoter promised, indicating that anyone wanting a refund on tickets would receive one.