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independent contractors can't form a union. an association is the best they can do. where are you getting the union stuff from? it isn't true.
Zuffa denied request to restrict financials from Rob Maysey (MMAFA)
- Thread starter Wild
- Start date
That's something that was said by Dana during the time this went down, but that's standard stuff man. All athletes have to do press conferences, interviews, apperances, ect.
What part isn't true?
Standard Zuffa rate for nobodies. 10 to show up, 10 to win the argument (in this case I'm going home with just 10)
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rob was never trying to start a union. it is not possible to unionize independent contractors.
he's been working with mmafa for a long time. 2008, i think.
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so dana said it= trust me.
i wouldn't say its a fact, unless i saw it. dana says a lot of shit that isn't true. maybe nick verbally agreed to do some, but i doubt it. he hates being in front of cameras like that. we don't know what's in their contracts, because they keep them secret for some reason.
Union, association, league of super friends, whatever. The main fact is that it failed.
So Dana said = not true?
Do you think these fighters go through the media tours for fun? You're arguing what Dana said and your evidence is what you think Diaz would or wouldn't do as a fan who has probably never met the guy.
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the association is still very much alive, and it seems to be growing. it didn't fail.
i think most fighters deal with the media to get their names out, and get the chance to make more money from being popular. like i said, just because dana said something, it doesn't make it true. we haven't been able to see the contracts, so who knows if he's telling the truth. if it was in nicks contract, and he knew he had to do it to get that fight, why would he skip out?
Why can't people be both? That's like asking "are you basketball fans or fans of the NBA?"
I'm just very weary of a union-type organization coming into the picture. I understand unions do good things, but they also have the ability to be very unreasonable and run businesses into the ground.
A union-type org would bring with in a lot of pros and cons. I fear those cons, and wonder if there's a better way to achieve the pros on their own. I think a lot of people here are operating under the notion that if they win the lawsuit, and if a fighter's association was formed, that everything would be business as usual, with the only change being Dana and co got to hold onto less of the money. I think that's wishful thinking. I think you'd see a lot of changes that would suck for the fan.
so unions ruined the other major sports?
I just don't think you can compare the UFC to major mainstream sports that have been around for over a hundred years. There's so many different issues the sport faces. The UFC is not as stable as an NBA, NFL, MLB, ect, and it doesn't generate anywhere near the same revenue.
I'm speaking hypothetically because obviously none of us know what this hypothetical union/association would ask for. I'm just saying it makes me nervous, but that's hypothetical because there will never be a working fighter's association with jurisdiction over the UFC. It's not going to happen, I don't entertain it as a real possibility.
not the same thing at all .are you a fight fan or a fan of mma would be a fair comparison.are you a fan of ufc would be a fair comparison but to be a fan of zuffa llc is the equivalent of being a basketball fan who supports the personal company of the owners of the lakers instead of the team itself or the players
what exactly do you think would suck for the fans? why do you care if dana makes less money? its not like he is going to have to go to the food bank or get a job.he already has 300 mil
I don't care if Dana makes less money. I think he should be paying more money out to the fighters. My point is, I am HIGHLY doubtful that that's the only thing that would come out of a fighter's association run by a bunch of lawyers.
...what? Are we doing University exam analogies now?
Zuffa is to MMA as NBA is to Basketball... what?
Come again now?
zuffa does not equal mma.it equals one company that controls one promotion of mma.why be a fan of a corporation that controls a single company of a sport you follow? do you follow the yankees management ? the blackhawks ownership team? why support the corporation that controls the ufc over the fighters .that is a strange angle to me
It would be devastating if Dana, Lorenzo, and Frank had to downsize a vacation home, so fighters on their rosters didn't have to work part-time jobs.
Lorenzo Fertitta estimated net worth = $1.6 billion
Frank Fertitta estimated et worth = $1.4 billion
Dana White estimated net worth = $300 million
I just don't know how those guys would survive.
Lorenzo Fertitta estimated net worth = $1.6 billion
Frank Fertitta estimated et worth = $1.4 billion
Dana White estimated net worth = $300 million
I just don't know how those guys would survive.
The UFC is the NBA, the MLB, the NHL, the NFL of MMA. It's the biggest show in MMA. All the top ranked guys in each weight division fight in the UFC.
I'm a fan of the UFC (as any MMA fan should be) and I'm a fan of Zuffa, a company that took a strange spectacle that nobody gave a shit about, that was losing money hand over fist, and turned it into a success and created a new mainstream sport.
You can disagree with certain decisions they make, policies they have, and you can dislike Dana personally. But what Zuffa has done for the sport of MMA should not be understates. If it wasn't for Zuffa, this forum wouldn't exist and we wouldn't be having this discussion. And that's a fact, JAAAAAAACK.
you have been drinking the kool aid brother
how do you think the ufc came in to the possession of the fertittas in the first place?
One of the most dramatic moments of the recent CNBC special, From Bloodsport to Big Time, was the scene in which Bob Meyrowitz claimed that Lorenzo Fertitta, a member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission at the time, blocked regulation of the UFC, essentially forcing Meyrowitz to sell the company to the Fertittas and Dana White. Lawyers for Zuffa immediately contacted CNBC and got the segment pulled from subsequent airings.
In The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer recently offered what he believes to be the accurate version of the story, partly based on his first hand knowledge, as well as the story of the early history of Zuffa. The highlights according to Meltzer:
A hearing concerning sanctioning the UFC was scheduled before the NSAC on April 23, 1999. Meyrowitz had been told that NSAC sanctioning was a prerequisite to returning pay-per-view. As the hearing approached, Meyrowitz believed that he had the votes (3-2) for sanctioning, but the night before the hearing he was informed that one of the commissioners had switched his vote. Meyrowitz withdrew his request for sanctioning because he was told that he could only ask for one vote and a negative result would doom the company’s future on pay-per-view.
“I don’t know which commissioner it was, but the commissioner who had the 11th hour change of mind that caused Meyrowitz to pull out was not Feritta,” Meltzer wrote. It is interesting to note that one of the other commissioners during this period was Gina Carano’s father, Glenn.
More than one year later the New Jersey State Athletic Commission under Larry Hazzard did sanction the Meyrowitz-owned UFC. At that point Dana White contacted Meyrowitz about purchasing the company with the Fertittas, including Lorenzo who had subsequently left the NSAC, as his backer. Meyrowitz was interested in retaining an interest in the company, however, the Fertittas were only willing to buy outright. Meyrowitz decided to sell for $2 million because he was under the impression that sanctioning from the NSAC was unlikely, which meant no pay-per-view.
Meltzer noted that while in the CNBC piece Meyrowitz claimed no regrets about the way things worked out that in reality he has always thought he was treated unfairly and has been working to return to MMA for several years. Shortly after the special aired Meyrowitz did announce a new MMA project in association with Live Nation, a subsidiary of Clear Channel and the leading promoter of live events in North America.
NSAC sanctioning and pay-per-view didn’t turn out to be the immediate saviors as expected. The first Zuffa promoted show on pay-per-view did 75,000 buys behind a strong marketing campaign, however, following that “horrible show,” according to Meltzer, subsequent events settled in the 30,000-50,000 buy range until Ortiz-Shamrock I did 150,000. Following that pay-per-view numbers returned to the former range.
To make matters worse, in order to get back on pay-per-view the company signed an unfavorable distribution deal which guaranteed the cable companies a certain amount of money. The early buys weren’t even close to what they needed to meet the guarantees and they lost a lot of money as a result.
The other revelation from the CNBC piece was that at one point the Fertittas were ready to get out and had White shop the company. One of the people White approached was Shane McMahon, believing that all the UFC needed was a television partner and the WWE could get it on Spike TV with RAW as a lead in. Ultimately, White got a $7 million offer and the Fertittas declined because they’d lost over $30 million at that point.
The rest as they say is history. White reached his own deal with Spike (only after agreeing to pay all production costs), The Ultimate Fighter was born, and the UFC exploded. However, none of that could have happened if Vince McMahon and the WWE hadn’t signed off on the deal, a decision which McMahon may or may not regret today.
The Untold Story of Zuffa's Purchase of the UFC : MMAPayout.com: The Business of MMA
That's a negative. Dan Lambert was already in talks to purchase the UFC before Zuffa came along. In fact he had already put a $250,000 deposit down.
He has good business sense and the UFC would have been successful with him at the helm.
WWW.XYIENCESUCKS.COM: FROM BELLBOY TO GAMBLING TYCOON: HOW FRANK JUNIOR BUILT THE FERTITTA EMPIRE IN LAS VEGAS
USGov vs MMA's Fertittas: NV's Biggest Unfair Labor Practice Case
by dagwood » Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:49 pm
This has been going on for a while but I think it is pertinent to how MMA's dominant player's history has been with their Casino employees and the National Labor Relations Board.
As things moves forward with the StrikeForce merger and the new position major league/top-tier fighters are in as a result... it would be good to get some perspective on MMA's Fertittas and their labor-relations history.
The case below is ongoing and a decision by the federal government won't be brought down until later this year. The Frank Fertitta III-run & Fertitta family-owned Station Casinos is now facing 197 charges by the National Labor Relations Board which is a record for any Nevada owned company. The charges include: illegally using... threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and physical assault against employees engaged in lawfully protected union activities.
This situation is also having a huge impact on MMA being sanctioned in the state of New York. It seems this is not only coming up to bite the Fertitta's in the butt... but it is affecting all fans, promotions and fighters in New York as well as the national scene.
See the Oct. 2010 & June 2011 Culinary Worker's Union press releases and Las Vegas Hispanic TV station video below...
US Gov. vs Fertittas: NV's Biggest Unfair Labor Practice Case
The National Labor Relations Board Complaint vs Station Casinos Contains over 165 Charges, says Culinary Workers Union Local 226
October 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) begins to prosecute its Unfair Labor Practice case against Station Casinos, Inc. in front of Administrative Law Judge Geoffrey Carter. The NLRB’s complaint against the dominant Las Vegas locals casino operator and the third-largest private employer in Las Vegas has grown to include more than 165 charges, the most ever against a Nevada gaming company. The NLRB alleges that, from February 19 through August 31, the company has illegally used threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and physical assault against employees engaged in lawfully protected union activities. The hearing is expected to last several weeks as Station workers testify in the government's case against the company.
“We certainly hope Station Casinos will not retaliate against any of the workers who are brave enough to testify against the company during the NLRB hearing”
“People will see clearly now that Station is a very anti-union company that is trying to do everything it can to stop us from having a voice on the job and winning a better life for our families,” said Norma Flores, a food runner at Fiesta Henderson and one of the Station Casinos Organizing Committee members who will testify as a government witness in the hearing.
“We certainly hope Station Casinos will not retaliate against any of the workers who are brave enough to testify against the company during the NLRB hearing,” said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, President of the Culinary Union Local 226. “It is bad enough that Station is running an aggressive anti-union campaign, which has led to this massive NLRB complaint. It will be adding insult to injury if it punishes workers further for speaking out against allegedly illegal behavior by their supervisors and managers.”
In February 2010, workers from Station Casinos’ ten major properties in the Las Vegas area formed theStation Casinos Organizing Committee to demand that the company allow Station workers to exercise their right to decide whether to unionize.
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 is the largest local affiliate of UNITE HERE, which represents more than 250,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada who work in the hospitality, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, laundry, and airport industries.
Contacts
Culinary Workers Union Local 226
Ken Liu, 702-387-7001
kliu@culinaryunion226.org
Dagwood wrote:
Press Conference: U.S. Government Issues Massive Complaint Against Station Casinos
The U.S. Government's National Labor Relations Board has issued the largest ever complaint against a Nevada gaming company for violating workers' right to organize. The complaint alleges that, from February 19 through April 7, fifty-four Station managers and supervisors broke federal labor law 127 times.
U.S. Government Begins to Prosecute the Largest Ever Unfair Labor Practice Case Against a Nevada Gaming Company | Business Wire
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSRcQXZS6l4
Culinary and Bartenders Unions Announce Fired Station CasinosWorkers Lead Large Civil Disobedience
150 Protesters Shut Down Two Lanes of Sahara Avenue Traffic During Rush Hour
Las Vegas (BUSINESS WIRE) -June 03, 2011
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fired Latino workers from Station Casinos led members of the Culinary and Bartenders unions in the city’s largest civil disobedience in over a decade to protest the company's treatment and firing of Latino workers yesterday evening. The large protest came as Station Casinoscompletes the final stages of its bankruptcy restructuring. Over 1000 people rallied while 150 were arrested after they sat down in two Sahara Avenue traffic lanes in front of Palace Station near Interstate 15 and not far from the Las Vegas Strip.
“I am a mother and I want a better future for my children”
The protest included street theater to draw attention to the company's treatment of Latino workers, failure to provide wage increases and retirement contributions, and higher costs for worker health plans.
Station Casinos is the subject of the largest Unfair Labor Practice case ever filed against a Nevada gaming company by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Many of the government's 197 charges against the company affect Latino workers. Eight of the ten worker organizers who have been fired byStation Casinos are Latino; two have since been reinstated. Over 90 percent of the workers who were called by the government to testify against the company are Latino.
The government has charged the company with allegedly using tactics including harassment, threats, retaliatory firings and disciplines, and the solicitation of customer complaints to impede worker efforts to form a union. The government's seven-month prosecution of the company ended in May and, in a surprise move, Station Casinos called no witnesses in its defense. During the course of the trial, the government's charges against the company grew from 168 to 197 alleged violations of federal labor laws. A decision in the case is expected later this year.
Teresa Debellonia was one of the workers fired by Station Casinos after she began exercising her right to form a union. After the NLRB charged the company with allegedly retaliating against her because of her union activity and appearance as a government witness in the NLRB’s case against Station Casinos, the company reinstated her with back pay and no loss of seniority. “I am a mother and I want a better future for my children,” said Debellonia, a Guest Room Attendant at Green Valley Ranch Resort Casino. “I’m happy to be back at work, but I want Station Casinos to treat its workers equally and fairly.”
Since the 2007 management-led buyout allowed a small group of company insiders to take $660 million outof the company, workers at Station Casinos have not had a raise, have had the cost of their health insurance increased, have had no employer contribution to their 401k retirement accounts, and have seen the loss of thousands of jobs.
The Culinary Workers Union, Local 226, and Bartenders Union, Local 165, are both affiliates of UNITE HERE. The Culinary is the largest local labor union in the U.S. gaming industry. It represents approximately 60,000 casino and resort workers primarily on the Las Vegas Strip and in downtown Las Vegas. Visithttp://www.culinaryunion226.org and http://www.workerstation.org for more information.
Contacts
Culinary Workers Union, Local 226, and Bartenders Union, Local 165
Yvanna Cancela, 702-524-8384
ycancela@culinaryunion226.org
Culinary and Bartenders Unions Announce Fired Station Casinos Workers Lead Large Civil Disobedience | Business Wire
Dana on NY Culinary Union blocking Fertittas in the state
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=susG9aFF4hM
Dana confirms? Anti-competition investigation (Antitrust Law)
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QymaFYuovUc&feature=player_embedded
Longtime Fan wrote:
There could be endless debate on the subject of whether the Zuffa-owning Fertitta sons could possibly be made men even despite all the oversight and regulation involved in the gaming industry. So, is it conceivable Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta might still be doing the bidding of the same kind of ruthless folks their father worked for when he made all his initial inroads in Las Vegas?
As far as being bosses of a crime family, the two brothers don't fit the stereotypical Mafia Don profile at all, though Frank III has been referred to as Frankie Three Sticks before. Yet, blending into the mainstream business world would be perfect cover if these two brothers are indeed somehow carrying on the old family traditions and associations. If the influence is more subtle, less pronounced, harder to track, and hardly ever talked about, everybody wins.
An investigation into the familys recent business activity from A to Zuffa reveals that even if the mafia stigma is no longer a factor, certain moves made by all the associated Fertitta businesses resemble financial hits or shakedowns , like the one they did on Pride to capture and disassemble their top competitor.
No other Fertitta business move in relation to MMA has been more infamous than the assassination of PRIDE, at one point the greatest and only major threatening competition the UFC faced. Yet, long before PRIDE was on the Zuffa purchasing radar the Fertitta-led Zuffa team muscled in on other promoters and made the whole industry fit their needs. The process seemed to favor them every step of the way, and it is no surprise that they gained quick sanctioning and respectability in Nevada because of the Fertitta endorsement (he used to be part of the athletic comission) and the familys power base there.
I stated in my last thread how Lorenzo Fertitta joined the N.S.A.C and the interesting chain of events that immediately unfolded: a commissioner changes his mind to later become owner of the SAME ORGANIZATION HE DENIED EVENTS TO.
Racketeering , lobbying and financial hostile takeovers are illegal according to the law , that is unless you can manage to control the law in Your state.
A notorious move made by zuffa early on was to trademark the word Octagon. There is a California promoter named Kazja (who happened to post on the sherdog forum too) who was using that term and an octagon cage long before the UFC made it famous. Kazja is a very intriguing character, and he can recite the detailed history of MMA's rise in California and the political machinations that culminated recently in the disgraced exodus of California State Athletic Commission Armando Garcia. People like Kazja and Ron Kort have been screaming from the rooftops for years about how the UFC is allegedly complicit in much of the corruption involved in California MMA circles.
There are folks out there , along with Kazja who have been trying to show for years that the Fertittas, Dana White, and Zuffa as a whole started out by stealing whatever they could get away with to build what has since become the WWE of MMA. Its well known that nice guys finish last and the business world can certainly be a cruel and brutal atmosphere at times, but some would argue the UFCs approach to business has been excessively and increasingly ruthless.
There are even allegations that the folks behind the UFC stole the concept for one of the most popular UFC offshoots: The Ultimate Fighter reality TV franchise. Chris Champagne told us back in 2007 about a TUF-like show called The Quest he allegedly pitched to Dana White (who at first wasnt fond of the idea but was later covinced by the fertittas), only to have it snatched from him without getting any credit or payment whatsoever.
So, as far as rackets the Fertittas have still got robbery going for them in at least a figurative business sense. The latest cases of the Xyience bankruptcy and the Station Casinos looming bankruptcy debacle represent an extension of what looks to me like a sophisticated new legal corporate theft ring. The Fertittas have also recently personally extended an offering of $244 million in cash to bankrupt Station casinos smoothly and wipe out much of the vaulting debt that hangs over the company while under the Chapter 11 blanket.
It appears that they might have been using the Xyience bankruptcy as a trial run to see if they could handle such a process and if it would be beneficial. So, the recent family history details a penchant for adapting old school mafia thinking into new-school shady business dealing. The new rules of engagement may all be legal but they are no less dangerous and disturbing to the victims on the other end of the shaft. Whats more concerning is that we dont get to see the illegal side of it because they are perfect criminals just like the rest of the elitist monopolizing banking cartels that are the companies that form part of the n.w.o.
The only actual murder thought to be possibly connected in any way to the Fertitta Family in recent years is that of casino skimmer Carl Thomas, and because of the mysterious circumstances there isnt any actual evidence that it even was a murder. Thomas was killed in a one car accident in Oregon shortly after talking to Frank Fertitta, Jr. about testimony Thomas was supposed to give in relation to the Fertitta family's gaming interests. He died before he could give that testimony, and the crash was ruled an accident. Thomas and Fertitta had a long history together, some of which is illustrated in the Nicholas Pilleggi book that spawned the movie Casino. This whole thing went down eerily similar to how the C.I.A and the joint chiefs of staff assassinated J.F.Kennedy. A perfect cover up .
If Thomas was murdered, the execution was perfectly planned and orchestrated. The Fertittas have an uncanny history of avoiding the long arm of the law. Even in the days when many Fertitta family members were known organized crime associates running rackets in Texas they were able to avoid convictions. The family has mastered the art of not getting caught in the act and covering up their transgressions and their past family history. This is usually accomplished by paying the police to look the other way through bribery and extends to judges and officials.
This kind of ruthless criminal genius may just be passed down from generation to generation through genetics, and the latest crop of Fertitta brothers may very well be the most sophisticated and slick businessmen to ever come from the Fertitta bloodline. After all, under their tenure as Zuffa owners they have been able to corner the MMA market and remain on the top of the heap of competing leagues.
The corporate murder of the Japanese based PRIDE organization is still lamented by hard core MMA fans who miss the PRIDE format and unique rules. The UFC would eventually acquire all the PRIDE assets by promising to continue to run and cultivate PRIDE as a going concern. Instead, Zuffa simply dismantled their competition piece by piece. The PRIDE and Xyience cases overlap in some respects, but until now I have devoted little research to the history of PRIDE itself and the deal that resulted in that organizations ultimate death. The gist of the Xyience connection is that the strength of the Xyience sponsorship was touted as one of the justifications for the $350 million financing package related to the PRIDE purchase that was procured by Zuffa. I lay out the whole senior secured credit facility scheme here: XYIENCE: THE ENRON OF MMA.
The Fertittas bought into Xyience just in time to prop it up and make it look viable for the PRIDE financing to go through. It appears to me that the UFCs acquisition of PRIDE was never designed to keep both organizations alive and thriving. The UFC has been steadily losing the most money on overseas shows since it is headquartered in Las Vegas and naturally holds many of its events there or in the continental United States. The logistics and the costs skyrocket when you have to take the whole operation to the other side of the world for a major event. To operate PRIDE in Japan would have been a logistical nightmare for the Fertittas without relying heavily on those already running the company there. Its pretty obvious to me that the UFC had this in mind all along when they set about destroying the PRIDE brand after purchasing the company. From what I know about Zuffa and the Fertittas, they dont like working with any other promotion if they dont absolutely have to. So I wonder why would they agree to work with PRIDEs assistance at all.
The Fertittas and Zuffa lawyers made sure all agreements with PRIDEs owners had an easy way out (loophole) . If they could prove a technicality to back out of any contract they signed with PRIDE, it would be a perfect arrangement for them to feign interest in maintaining the league until they could find a way to destroy it. If they intended to work with PRIDE to continue the organization, the agreements they signed would seem to be along those lines. However, if they only intended to lie to PRIDE officials just long enough to acquire the company and all the assets, the language and the fine print of those agreements would be naturally written with escape clauses.
The covenants of the $350 million senior secured credit facility Zuffa used to buy PRIDE and its assets may contain some hints to this scandal if they are ever made public or acquired by PRIDEs legal team. If the Fertittas indeed intended to cultivate the PRIDE brand according to their promises to PRIDE officials, those covenants should say something about that business plan.
Not surprisingly, Zuffas defense was a good offense, as they filed the first legal bullet against Pride in this ongoing saga. Reports first surfaced about the lawsuit in early February of 2008. The suit claimed that Zuffas bargain basement PRIDE buyout was nothing of the sort and that the UFC was actually the victim in the whole deal. This Sherdog article describes how the initially rosy PRIDE/UFC conglomeration developed and then dissolved into litigation over the course of about a year after the UFC bought the league.
The UFC suit focused on background checks supposedly required on the PRIDE deal due to the Fertittaconnection to Station Casinos and the Nevada Gaming Commission. This is a puzzling since naturally the Fertittas have to keep their gaming interests and the UFC operations wholly separate from each other. For instance, UFC bets are not taken at Station Casinos properties, and UFC events are not held at any Station Casinos property. Also, it doesnt appear any background checks were done on some of the individuals associated with the Xyience bankruptcy and my initial Xyience reports.
PRIDEs legal team responded with a countersuit. They just filed this amended counterclaim pleading that describes a devious plan to allegedly kill PRIDE voiced by none other than Dana White himself. PRIDE contends that Zuffa officials breached their contracts and pumped up the glorified tabloid stories of PRIDEs associations with Yakuza crime families in Japan that were printed in a Japanese publication called Shukan Gendai. The publication is no stranger to stirring worldwide scandal and regularly publishes controversial nude photos.
The magazine is probably best known outside Japan for its role in the scandal which led to Romanian gymnasts Corina Ungureanu, Lavinia Milosovici and Claudia Presecan being banned from competing or coaching in their home country for five years, as it was the first to publish images from their nude photobook and DVDs, which controversially featured the gymnasts wearing their official leotards.
Considering the 90% owners of the UFC come from a long line of notorious made men these Yakuza allegations against Dream Stage Entertainment owners are a bit hypocritical. They played the character assasination card here against Pride , first attacking their integrity and later disasembling the company.
A hard look must be taken at the Senior Secured Credit Facility which was used to buy PRIDE and allow the principal Zuffa owners to pocket huge dividends. These same loan instruments on a much larger scale were taken out by Station Casinos in amounts of nearly a billion dollars in each instance over the last few years, which obviously resulted in a lot of overhead costs and interest payments combined with a ton of debt that crash landed and exploded due to the ongoing recession. The Fertittas went about a campaign of ruthless and relentless acquisitions and expansion to get themselves in their current Station Casinos situation, and they pinballed the company from Public to Private status to find a way to make the whole thing appear profitable despite the billions in debt they were in officially.
Suddenly they have $244 million in the pocket of an old pair of jeans to throw into reorganizing Station Casinos, but they couldnt revamp PRIDE when that organization showed signs that the going may be difficult? It doesnt seem plausible when considering the less than $70 million cost of PRIDE compared to the dividends pocketed by Dana White and the Fertittas through that $350 million credit facility that paid for PRIDE. That instrument could have and should have given all of Zuffas owners enough money to solve any looming problem with promoting and re-creating the PRIDE brand in their image. That is, IF they ever actually intended to keep PRIDE in operation.
Of course, there is not really any dispute as to who murdered PRIDE. The UFC terminated the league without a doubt, and the blood of PRIDE is certainly all over their hands.
Last edited by Dagwood on Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:43 pm; edited 4 times in total
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tl:dr
WWW.XYIENCESUCKS.COM: FROM BELLBOY TO GAMBLING TYCOON: HOW FRANK JUNIOR BUILT THE FERTITTA EMPIRE IN LAS VEGAS
USGov vs MMA's Fertittas: NV's Biggest Unfair Labor Practice Case
by dagwood » Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:49 pm
This has been going on for a while but I think it is pertinent to how MMA's dominant player's history has been with their Casino employees and the National Labor Relations Board.
As things moves forward with the StrikeForce merger and the new position major league/top-tier fighters are in as a result... it would be good to get some perspective on MMA's Fertittas and their labor-relations history.
The case below is ongoing and a decision by the federal government won't be brought down until later this year. The Frank Fertitta III-run & Fertitta family-owned Station Casinos is now facing 197 charges by the National Labor Relations Board which is a record for any Nevada owned company. The charges include: illegally using... threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and physical assault against employees engaged in lawfully protected union activities.
This situation is also having a huge impact on MMA being sanctioned in the state of New York. It seems this is not only coming up to bite the Fertitta's in the butt... but it is affecting all fans, promotions and fighters in New York as well as the national scene.
See the Oct. 2010 & June 2011 Culinary Worker's Union press releases and Las Vegas Hispanic TV station video below...
US Gov. vs Fertittas: NV's Biggest Unfair Labor Practice Case
The National Labor Relations Board Complaint vs Station Casinos Contains over 165 Charges, says Culinary Workers Union Local 226
October 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) begins to prosecute its Unfair Labor Practice case against Station Casinos, Inc. in front of Administrative Law Judge Geoffrey Carter. The NLRB’s complaint against the dominant Las Vegas locals casino operator and the third-largest private employer in Las Vegas has grown to include more than 165 charges, the most ever against a Nevada gaming company. The NLRB alleges that, from February 19 through August 31, the company has illegally used threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and physical assault against employees engaged in lawfully protected union activities. The hearing is expected to last several weeks as Station workers testify in the government's case against the company.
“We certainly hope Station Casinos will not retaliate against any of the workers who are brave enough to testify against the company during the NLRB hearing”
“People will see clearly now that Station is a very anti-union company that is trying to do everything it can to stop us from having a voice on the job and winning a better life for our families,” said Norma Flores, a food runner at Fiesta Henderson and one of the Station Casinos Organizing Committee members who will testify as a government witness in the hearing.
“We certainly hope Station Casinos will not retaliate against any of the workers who are brave enough to testify against the company during the NLRB hearing,” said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, President of the Culinary Union Local 226. “It is bad enough that Station is running an aggressive anti-union campaign, which has led to this massive NLRB complaint. It will be adding insult to injury if it punishes workers further for speaking out against allegedly illegal behavior by their supervisors and managers.”
In February 2010, workers from Station Casinos’ ten major properties in the Las Vegas area formed theStation Casinos Organizing Committee to demand that the company allow Station workers to exercise their right to decide whether to unionize.
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 is the largest local affiliate of UNITE HERE, which represents more than 250,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada who work in the hospitality, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, laundry, and airport industries.
Contacts
Culinary Workers Union Local 226
Ken Liu, 702-387-7001
kliu@culinaryunion226.org
Dagwood wrote:
Press Conference: U.S. Government Issues Massive Complaint Against Station Casinos
The U.S. Government's National Labor Relations Board has issued the largest ever complaint against a Nevada gaming company for violating workers' right to organize. The complaint alleges that, from February 19 through April 7, fifty-four Station managers and supervisors broke federal labor law 127 times.
U.S. Government Begins to Prosecute the Largest Ever Unfair Labor Practice Case Against a Nevada Gaming Company | Business Wire
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSRcQXZS6l4
Culinary and Bartenders Unions Announce Fired Station CasinosWorkers Lead Large Civil Disobedience
150 Protesters Shut Down Two Lanes of Sahara Avenue Traffic During Rush Hour
Las Vegas (BUSINESS WIRE) -June 03, 2011
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fired Latino workers from Station Casinos led members of the Culinary and Bartenders unions in the city’s largest civil disobedience in over a decade to protest the company's treatment and firing of Latino workers yesterday evening. The large protest came as Station Casinoscompletes the final stages of its bankruptcy restructuring. Over 1000 people rallied while 150 were arrested after they sat down in two Sahara Avenue traffic lanes in front of Palace Station near Interstate 15 and not far from the Las Vegas Strip.
“I am a mother and I want a better future for my children”
The protest included street theater to draw attention to the company's treatment of Latino workers, failure to provide wage increases and retirement contributions, and higher costs for worker health plans.
Station Casinos is the subject of the largest Unfair Labor Practice case ever filed against a Nevada gaming company by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Many of the government's 197 charges against the company affect Latino workers. Eight of the ten worker organizers who have been fired byStation Casinos are Latino; two have since been reinstated. Over 90 percent of the workers who were called by the government to testify against the company are Latino.
The government has charged the company with allegedly using tactics including harassment, threats, retaliatory firings and disciplines, and the solicitation of customer complaints to impede worker efforts to form a union. The government's seven-month prosecution of the company ended in May and, in a surprise move, Station Casinos called no witnesses in its defense. During the course of the trial, the government's charges against the company grew from 168 to 197 alleged violations of federal labor laws. A decision in the case is expected later this year.
Teresa Debellonia was one of the workers fired by Station Casinos after she began exercising her right to form a union. After the NLRB charged the company with allegedly retaliating against her because of her union activity and appearance as a government witness in the NLRB’s case against Station Casinos, the company reinstated her with back pay and no loss of seniority. “I am a mother and I want a better future for my children,” said Debellonia, a Guest Room Attendant at Green Valley Ranch Resort Casino. “I’m happy to be back at work, but I want Station Casinos to treat its workers equally and fairly.”
Since the 2007 management-led buyout allowed a small group of company insiders to take $660 million outof the company, workers at Station Casinos have not had a raise, have had the cost of their health insurance increased, have had no employer contribution to their 401k retirement accounts, and have seen the loss of thousands of jobs.
The Culinary Workers Union, Local 226, and Bartenders Union, Local 165, are both affiliates of UNITE HERE. The Culinary is the largest local labor union in the U.S. gaming industry. It represents approximately 60,000 casino and resort workers primarily on the Las Vegas Strip and in downtown Las Vegas. Visithttp://www.culinaryunion226.org and http://www.workerstation.org for more information.
Contacts
Culinary Workers Union, Local 226, and Bartenders Union, Local 165
Yvanna Cancela, 702-524-8384
ycancela@culinaryunion226.org
Culinary and Bartenders Unions Announce Fired Station Casinos Workers Lead Large Civil Disobedience | Business Wire
Dana on NY Culinary Union blocking Fertittas in the state
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=susG9aFF4hM
Dana confirms? Anti-competition investigation (Antitrust Law)
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QymaFYuovUc&feature=player_embedded
Longtime Fan wrote:
There could be endless debate on the subject of whether the Zuffa-owning Fertitta sons could possibly be made men even despite all the oversight and regulation involved in the gaming industry. So, is it conceivable Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta might still be doing the bidding of the same kind of ruthless folks their father worked for when he made all his initial inroads in Las Vegas?
As far as being bosses of a crime family, the two brothers don't fit the stereotypical Mafia Don profile at all, though Frank III has been referred to as Frankie Three Sticks before. Yet, blending into the mainstream business world would be perfect cover if these two brothers are indeed somehow carrying on the old family traditions and associations. If the influence is more subtle, less pronounced, harder to track, and hardly ever talked about, everybody wins.
An investigation into the familys recent business activity from A to Zuffa reveals that even if the mafia stigma is no longer a factor, certain moves made by all the associated Fertitta businesses resemble financial hits or shakedowns , like the one they did on Pride to capture and disassemble their top competitor.
No other Fertitta business move in relation to MMA has been more infamous than the assassination of PRIDE, at one point the greatest and only major threatening competition the UFC faced. Yet, long before PRIDE was on the Zuffa purchasing radar the Fertitta-led Zuffa team muscled in on other promoters and made the whole industry fit their needs. The process seemed to favor them every step of the way, and it is no surprise that they gained quick sanctioning and respectability in Nevada because of the Fertitta endorsement (he used to be part of the athletic comission) and the familys power base there.
I stated in my last thread how Lorenzo Fertitta joined the N.S.A.C and the interesting chain of events that immediately unfolded: a commissioner changes his mind to later become owner of the SAME ORGANIZATION HE DENIED EVENTS TO.
Racketeering , lobbying and financial hostile takeovers are illegal according to the law , that is unless you can manage to control the law in Your state.
A notorious move made by zuffa early on was to trademark the word Octagon. There is a California promoter named Kazja (who happened to post on the sherdog forum too) who was using that term and an octagon cage long before the UFC made it famous. Kazja is a very intriguing character, and he can recite the detailed history of MMA's rise in California and the political machinations that culminated recently in the disgraced exodus of California State Athletic Commission Armando Garcia. People like Kazja and Ron Kort have been screaming from the rooftops for years about how the UFC is allegedly complicit in much of the corruption involved in California MMA circles.
There are folks out there , along with Kazja who have been trying to show for years that the Fertittas, Dana White, and Zuffa as a whole started out by stealing whatever they could get away with to build what has since become the WWE of MMA. Its well known that nice guys finish last and the business world can certainly be a cruel and brutal atmosphere at times, but some would argue the UFCs approach to business has been excessively and increasingly ruthless.
There are even allegations that the folks behind the UFC stole the concept for one of the most popular UFC offshoots: The Ultimate Fighter reality TV franchise. Chris Champagne told us back in 2007 about a TUF-like show called The Quest he allegedly pitched to Dana White (who at first wasnt fond of the idea but was later covinced by the fertittas), only to have it snatched from him without getting any credit or payment whatsoever.
So, as far as rackets the Fertittas have still got robbery going for them in at least a figurative business sense. The latest cases of the Xyience bankruptcy and the Station Casinos looming bankruptcy debacle represent an extension of what looks to me like a sophisticated new legal corporate theft ring. The Fertittas have also recently personally extended an offering of $244 million in cash to bankrupt Station casinos smoothly and wipe out much of the vaulting debt that hangs over the company while under the Chapter 11 blanket.
It appears that they might have been using the Xyience bankruptcy as a trial run to see if they could handle such a process and if it would be beneficial. So, the recent family history details a penchant for adapting old school mafia thinking into new-school shady business dealing. The new rules of engagement may all be legal but they are no less dangerous and disturbing to the victims on the other end of the shaft. Whats more concerning is that we dont get to see the illegal side of it because they are perfect criminals just like the rest of the elitist monopolizing banking cartels that are the companies that form part of the n.w.o.
The only actual murder thought to be possibly connected in any way to the Fertitta Family in recent years is that of casino skimmer Carl Thomas, and because of the mysterious circumstances there isnt any actual evidence that it even was a murder. Thomas was killed in a one car accident in Oregon shortly after talking to Frank Fertitta, Jr. about testimony Thomas was supposed to give in relation to the Fertitta family's gaming interests. He died before he could give that testimony, and the crash was ruled an accident. Thomas and Fertitta had a long history together, some of which is illustrated in the Nicholas Pilleggi book that spawned the movie Casino. This whole thing went down eerily similar to how the C.I.A and the joint chiefs of staff assassinated J.F.Kennedy. A perfect cover up .
If Thomas was murdered, the execution was perfectly planned and orchestrated. The Fertittas have an uncanny history of avoiding the long arm of the law. Even in the days when many Fertitta family members were known organized crime associates running rackets in Texas they were able to avoid convictions. The family has mastered the art of not getting caught in the act and covering up their transgressions and their past family history. This is usually accomplished by paying the police to look the other way through bribery and extends to judges and officials.
This kind of ruthless criminal genius may just be passed down from generation to generation through genetics, and the latest crop of Fertitta brothers may very well be the most sophisticated and slick businessmen to ever come from the Fertitta bloodline. After all, under their tenure as Zuffa owners they have been able to corner the MMA market and remain on the top of the heap of competing leagues.
The corporate murder of the Japanese based PRIDE organization is still lamented by hard core MMA fans who miss the PRIDE format and unique rules. The UFC would eventually acquire all the PRIDE assets by promising to continue to run and cultivate PRIDE as a going concern. Instead, Zuffa simply dismantled their competition piece by piece. The PRIDE and Xyience cases overlap in some respects, but until now I have devoted little research to the history of PRIDE itself and the deal that resulted in that organizations ultimate death. The gist of the Xyience connection is that the strength of the Xyience sponsorship was touted as one of the justifications for the $350 million financing package related to the PRIDE purchase that was procured by Zuffa. I lay out the whole senior secured credit facility scheme here: XYIENCE: THE ENRON OF MMA.
The Fertittas bought into Xyience just in time to prop it up and make it look viable for the PRIDE financing to go through. It appears to me that the UFCs acquisition of PRIDE was never designed to keep both organizations alive and thriving. The UFC has been steadily losing the most money on overseas shows since it is headquartered in Las Vegas and naturally holds many of its events there or in the continental United States. The logistics and the costs skyrocket when you have to take the whole operation to the other side of the world for a major event. To operate PRIDE in Japan would have been a logistical nightmare for the Fertittas without relying heavily on those already running the company there. Its pretty obvious to me that the UFC had this in mind all along when they set about destroying the PRIDE brand after purchasing the company. From what I know about Zuffa and the Fertittas, they dont like working with any other promotion if they dont absolutely have to. So I wonder why would they agree to work with PRIDEs assistance at all.
The Fertittas and Zuffa lawyers made sure all agreements with PRIDEs owners had an easy way out (loophole) . If they could prove a technicality to back out of any contract they signed with PRIDE, it would be a perfect arrangement for them to feign interest in maintaining the league until they could find a way to destroy it. If they intended to work with PRIDE to continue the organization, the agreements they signed would seem to be along those lines. However, if they only intended to lie to PRIDE officials just long enough to acquire the company and all the assets, the language and the fine print of those agreements would be naturally written with escape clauses.
The covenants of the $350 million senior secured credit facility Zuffa used to buy PRIDE and its assets may contain some hints to this scandal if they are ever made public or acquired by PRIDEs legal team. If the Fertittas indeed intended to cultivate the PRIDE brand according to their promises to PRIDE officials, those covenants should say something about that business plan.
Not surprisingly, Zuffas defense was a good offense, as they filed the first legal bullet against Pride in this ongoing saga. Reports first surfaced about the lawsuit in early February of 2008. The suit claimed that Zuffas bargain basement PRIDE buyout was nothing of the sort and that the UFC was actually the victim in the whole deal. This Sherdog article describes how the initially rosy PRIDE/UFC conglomeration developed and then dissolved into litigation over the course of about a year after the UFC bought the league.
The UFC suit focused on background checks supposedly required on the PRIDE deal due to the Fertittaconnection to Station Casinos and the Nevada Gaming Commission. This is a puzzling since naturally the Fertittas have to keep their gaming interests and the UFC operations wholly separate from each other. For instance, UFC bets are not taken at Station Casinos properties, and UFC events are not held at any Station Casinos property. Also, it doesnt appear any background checks were done on some of the individuals associated with the Xyience bankruptcy and my initial Xyience reports.
PRIDEs legal team responded with a countersuit. They just filed this amended counterclaim pleading that describes a devious plan to allegedly kill PRIDE voiced by none other than Dana White himself. PRIDE contends that Zuffa officials breached their contracts and pumped up the glorified tabloid stories of PRIDEs associations with Yakuza crime families in Japan that were printed in a Japanese publication called Shukan Gendai. The publication is no stranger to stirring worldwide scandal and regularly publishes controversial nude photos.
The magazine is probably best known outside Japan for its role in the scandal which led to Romanian gymnasts Corina Ungureanu, Lavinia Milosovici and Claudia Presecan being banned from competing or coaching in their home country for five years, as it was the first to publish images from their nude photobook and DVDs, which controversially featured the gymnasts wearing their official leotards.
Considering the 90% owners of the UFC come from a long line of notorious made men these Yakuza allegations against Dream Stage Entertainment owners are a bit hypocritical. They played the character assasination card here against Pride , first attacking their integrity and later disasembling the company.
A hard look must be taken at the Senior Secured Credit Facility which was used to buy PRIDE and allow the principal Zuffa owners to pocket huge dividends. These same loan instruments on a much larger scale were taken out by Station Casinos in amounts of nearly a billion dollars in each instance over the last few years, which obviously resulted in a lot of overhead costs and interest payments combined with a ton of debt that crash landed and exploded due to the ongoing recession. The Fertittas went about a campaign of ruthless and relentless acquisitions and expansion to get themselves in their current Station Casinos situation, and they pinballed the company from Public to Private status to find a way to make the whole thing appear profitable despite the billions in debt they were in officially.
Suddenly they have $244 million in the pocket of an old pair of jeans to throw into reorganizing Station Casinos, but they couldnt revamp PRIDE when that organization showed signs that the going may be difficult? It doesnt seem plausible when considering the less than $70 million cost of PRIDE compared to the dividends pocketed by Dana White and the Fertittas through that $350 million credit facility that paid for PRIDE. That instrument could have and should have given all of Zuffas owners enough money to solve any looming problem with promoting and re-creating the PRIDE brand in their image. That is, IF they ever actually intended to keep PRIDE in operation.
Of course, there is not really any dispute as to who murdered PRIDE. The UFC terminated the league without a doubt, and the blood of PRIDE is certainly all over their hands.
Last edited by Dagwood on Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:43 pm; edited 4 times in total
_________________
Dagwood
Admin
Location: Canada
Age: 49
Posts: 4189
Join date: 2011-11-14
Sorry, that's a negative. And if you don't believe me, how about you ask Dan Lambert.
American Top Team owner admits UFC wouldn't have been as big as it is now if he had bought it - MMA Fighting
Dan Lambert didn't have the funds to wait out the dark years or the vision... this is something he admits. So you're talking nonsense, brotha.