There is still no word from the Notley government about a pitch by Edmonton and other cities to have a provincially run combative sports commission to oversee boxing, mixed martial arts and even professional wrestling. So with nothing imminent, Mayor Don Iveson is pursuing a new approach.
He’s proposing a province-wide, municipally run co-operative; a combative sports commission that’s shared for all cities, where we’d see boxing, WWE or UFC. Alberta is the only province in Canada that has individual commissions in each city. Everywhere else it’s a provincial body.
“That has been our long standing position,” Iveson said. “The province hasn’t immediately said, ‘Yes, we would do it,’ so I’ve actually had some conversations with other mayors about banding together to have a province-wide municipal commission which might get us the results faster of a kind of shared approach to this.
“I do think we need a different approach as local governments,” Iveson said. “I’m a coalition builder by nature so it occurred to me that after a couple of these conversations that this should be the next thing that we explore.”
READ MORE: Alberta mayors pushed for provincial MMA commission days before Tim Hague’s death
The most recent high profile attempt was a motion at the AUMA convention in 2015 from Mayor Melissa Blake of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo for a provincial commission.
The response was “crickets.”
“The province didn’t act on it then and initial indications are that they might not act on it swiftly if we brought it forward again so I think we may need to look to local government for answers rather than asking the province to solve this problem for us.”
“I firmly believe local government is the strongest order of government, the best able to tackle complexity, and this is one of those situations where regulating life and death issues around combative sports,” Iveson said. “I think it’s been difficult for one municipality to do it on its own but I think if we can pull together across the province we might be able to move faster than the province itself.”
READ MORE: Third-party review to be done on boxing match after Tim Hague dies
Lingering in the background is the efforts to investigate the June 18 death of 34-year-old Tim Hague, who died in hospital two days after he was injured in a fight against former Edmonton Eskimos ‘player Adam Braidwood at the Shaw Conference Centre.
READ MORE: ‘Gentle giant’ Tim Hague dies after Edmonton boxing match
The last time the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission was before city council was last December during budget deliberations. It was pointed out then that a single UFC card would generate enough fees to cover the cost of a provincial commission for an entire year.
“This is not an economic question for the City of Edmonton,” Iveson said. “I think the purpose of the commission is to ensure that fights are safe and lawful for the combatants first and foremost and then that they’re essentially to try to limit the involvement of organized crime and other elements.
“I’m open to all possibilities because I do think that this regulatory approach needs some reform. I don’t have all the answers but I want to work with others and be mindful of the findings of this independent report in whatever changes we make to combative sports regulation.”
READ MORE: Family of fighter who died after Edmonton boxing match frustrated review still not underway
Iveson said the investigation into the Hague death should commence this coming week, once the review panel is in place.
Watch below: Ongoing Global News coverage of Tim Hague’s death and a push for more oversight to boxing, mixed martial arts and professional wrestling in Alberta.
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