CSAC going broke, may not have enough money to operate next year
On June 4th the California State Athletic Commission met in San Diego and had a bombshell blow up in their laps. At the hearing Executive Director George Dodd was pressed by a commissioner about a letter from the Department of Consumer Affairs in which it said that the commission was on the path to insolvency i.e. broke. In a great investigative piece Fight Opinion broke down the nuances of the news. Below are some highlights from their article:
- On this year’s budget Executive Director Dodd revealed that the CSAC was already close to ‘overspending this year’ in terms of their budget. The CSAC’s fiscal year for budgeting is from July 1st to June 30th.
- More troubling is that the DCA (who technically oversees CSAC) says the athletic commission would not have any money in the bank for the upcoming Fiscal Year.
- Executive Director Dodd feels the commission is on target to still make it but the problem is what can be spent versus what they are taking in for revenue. He further explained that revenue projections were off by more than $500,000 because of decreasing revenues.
- Executive Director Dodd noted that the CSAC has had to relieve some people of their duties and that more cuts were on the way. He said that they were looking to replace some permanent positions with non-permanent workers, but that the purging would continue through August.
- When pressed about why there are budgetary problems, Dodd put the bulk of the blame on the amount of inspectors the commission uses. He claimed that over half of the commission’s budget is based on paying for inspectors, who are paid hourly.
- He pondered if California’s tax codes were driving away fighters from doing one-off bouts in the state. Then it was a question about venues perhaps not giving promoters the right kind of deals.
- He then mentioned Zuffa buying out Strikeforce and how having a major promotion from California taken away has hurt. He stated that a big game plan is needed to bring back big-time promoters to California so they can prosper.
- Other reasons Dodd cited for the bad gates in California, included the bad economy, pricing of tickets, venue & fighter issues.
- He said that the commission was taking in $1.7M to $1.8M in yearly revenues for the last three fiscal years but that the numbers are way down now.
- Linda Forster summed up what the other commissioners were feeling.
- “Do you know how embarrassing it would be to the state of California if we can’t put on boxing events?”
- A lack of revenue/insolvency means the California State Athletic Commission would have to be shut down. If the commission gets shut down, that means all boxing & MMA events would no longer be allowed to take place in California.
Comments
Loading ...
