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An enormous a part of the lionizing of Zuffa’s success with the UFC is how exhausting the promotion needed to struggle to realize acceptance and authorized footing in america. Tales, particularly of John McCain’s marketing campaign in opposition to no holds barred competitions—or “human cockfighting,” as he famously dubbed it—nonetheless kind the centerpiece of any story concerning the MMA promotion’s rise to change into the multi-billion greenback group that it’s at present.
Possibly then, that is a part of the long run narrative on Energy Slap’s rise to glory? Or possibly it’s simply one other nail within the coffin for what continues to look much less and fewer like a official sporting endeavor, and extra like an exploitative money seize that arms out mind trauma for cents on the greenback.
In a publish to his Twitter account, Invoice Pascrell, Jr.—a US Congressman representing New Jersey’s Ninth Distric—printed an open letter to Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav. Within the letter Pascrell issued a scathing assessment of Dana White’s Energy Slap league, noting that it “capitalizes on violent conduct and lurid drama masquerading as athletic prowess for revenue.”
Together with issuing a request that Warner & their subsidiary TBS “rethink broadcasting this problematic programming,” Pascrell additionally requested for solutions to the next questions:
- Does your program run a disclaimer initially and finish of every episode of The Energy Slap detailing the impacts of concussions, repeated head trauma, and Persistent Traumatic Encephalopathy?
- Do individuals have entry to complete, long-term, and free mind monitoring packages, together with a chosen fund to cowl associated well being care prices? This could embrace baseline testing to incorporate imaginative and prescient, listening to, an general well being evaluation and a magnetic resonance imaging scan. If that’s the case, are they compensated for these bills? If not, please clarify.
- Please element how the present informs all individuals, in writing, concerning the risks of concussions and repetitive brian harm together with how their participation in The Energy Slap occasions exposes them to doable long-term results that will not be evident for a few years.
Not being a member of Energy Slap manufacturing workers, I can’t communicate to that third query, however a fast browse of Energy Slap episodes exhibits an intro disclaimer that reads: “The Following program options actions which can be harmful and/or could expose individuals to the chance of great harm. Don’t try to recreate or re-enact these actions. Viewer discretion is suggested.”
It’s definitely not the detailed clarification on the “impacts of concussions” that the congressman requested for, however a minimum of it’s one thing.
As for query 2, figuring out sufficient about how the UFC has accomplished enterprise through the years, I believe we are able to fairly safely say that long run medical care isn’t entrance and middle on the checklist of Energy Slap priorities.
Pascrell’s letter was co-authored by Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon. Pascrell has been a champion of creating brain-health laws and protections in professional sports activities over his greater than 25-years stint as a US Congressman, together with the creation of the Congressional Mind Damage Activity pressure and the NFLPA endorsed Concussion Therapy and Cares Instruments Act, that helped carry extra uniform concussion protocols for center & highschool athletes.
Whether or not Pascrell and Bacon can exert sufficient strain on Warner Bros. & Co. to create any vital modifications to the long run plans for Energy Slap stays to be seen. For the second, nevertheless, these hoping that the spectacle’s days are numbered should fulfill themselves with figuring out that the rankings proceed to be piss poor.
Concerning the writer: Zane Simon is a senior editor, author and podcaster for Bloody Elbow. Host of the MMA Vivisection and sixth Spherical, he has coated MMA and the UFC since 2013. (full bio)
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