Lorenzo Fertitta and Marc Ratner to Canada to Save UFC 97, Not Dana White

[SinCitysmallGUY]

Promoted to the front page from the FanPosts by Luke Thomas.

Fight Opinion reported previously on a post from Corus Sports wherein Dana White was scheduled to meet with the RACJ sometime this week. Today, however, Kevin Iole is signaling the opposite:

But as much as he has been traveling, White was melancholy over a trip he is unable to make. UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and vice president for regulatory affairs Marc Ratner are going in White’s stead, flying to Montreal this morning to meet with officials of the athletic commission in Quebec.

[...]

White said he wants to be a part of the meeting because he can’t conceive of a way that Quebec would turn its back on the millions the event would pour into the local economy. White said the UFC’s own studies indicated that UFC 84 injected between $12 million and $15 million into the Quebec economy; he said Bell Centre officials told him their estimates of the economic impact was up to $25 million.

If all goes south:

White said the UFC has an alternate plan in case his confidence is misplaced. The show will remain on April 18, but White said it would come back to Las Vegas and be at the MGM Grand Garden.

He said the Bell Centre is already sold out, with more than 22,000 tickets purchased. White insisted individual fans bought the majority of them, unlike in Las Vegas, where the casinos buy a large amount of the tickets and then give them to their customers.

While this switch may show Lorenzo as the real controlling power within Zuffa (and may give UFC 97 the best chance of happening in Canada), it does not leave Dana powerless. As Iole relays:

He had just come from Mexico City, where he said he was negotiating a television deal and a deal to bring a live card to the country.

[gracie bjj]

they have thier hands full,alot of people dont realize how hard dana and lorenzo work behind the scenes to keep the sport going and growing

[MindSpin]

Lorenzo is taking the success of the UFC more seriously than ever.  His casinos are on the verge of bankruptcy and he needs the UFC to continue being the cash cow that it is...

[gracie bjj]

Lorenzo is taking the success of the UFC more seriously than ever.  His casinos are on the verge of bankruptcy and he needs the UFC to continue being the cash cow that it is...

his casinos are really doing that bad?i thought lorenzo was a billionare or somewhere close,it that true or no?or is he just in the millions?

[MindSpin]

 Station Casinos announced late Tuesday that it will seek bondholders’ approval for a prepackaged bankruptcy, as the highly indebted casino operator skipped a $14.6 million interest payment due Tuesday.

In its press release, Station said that its owners, the private equity firm Colony Capital and members of the Fertitta family, will invest an additional $244 million into the company if investors holding $2.3 billion in bonds approve the plan. Among the Fertitta family members who would contribute money are Frank J. Fertitta III, Station’s chairman and chief executive, and Lorenzo J. Fertitta, its vice chairman.

Colony, the Fertitta family members and Station’s senior secured lenders have already approved the plan.

Station has hired Lazard and the law firm Milbank Tweed Hadley McCloy, people with knowledge of the matter told DealBook.

Hit by the twin blows of a recession and tight credit markets, many gaming companies have been squeezed hard. Tropicana Entertainment, another large casino operator, filed for bankruptcy last spring amid mounting debt woes.

Station has had to contend not only with falling revenues — it expects to announce a 19 percent drop in fourth-quarter revenue from the same time in 2007 — but with the debt it accrued in its $8.8 billion leveraged buyout in 2007. The banks who led the financing arrangement for the deal were Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase.

The company sought a debt exchange in December, but failed to garner the 60 percent approval of bondholders.

Under the terms of the plan, Station would dramatically cut the amount of debt it owes to bondholders. Institutional investors who tender their existing bonds will receive a far smaller amount in new notes and cash. If the plan is approved, the company may file for bankruptcy protection in what is known in restructuring lingo as a prepack and reemerge shortly after.

“We believe the proposed restructuring plan is in the best interest of all of our constituents,” Frank Fertitta said in a statement. “It is no secret that current economic conditions in our country have had an adverse effect on Las Vegas in general and the casino business in particular. However, we believe that the steps we have taken and those we are proposing to take will result in our company being well positioned for the future.”

Votes are due by midnight on March 2.

–Michael J. de la Merced