In the interest of full disclosure, Melvina is a friend and so I am obviously biased.
That said, regardless of whether I personally knew her, I think any proposal to cut her salary is ill-advised, inter alia, for the reasons set forth in Michael Wood's letter.
Notably, in his letter Woods recognizes that Melvina would be critical if MMA is legalized in New York and I agree:
Also, many of us hope and believe that mixed martial arts will finally be welcomed to NY. Dana White’s UFC will pack Madison Square Garden to the gills three or so times a year, and Governor, Lathan knows the MMA world as well. All fight sports are not created equal, and she would be able to traffic in MMA flawlessly, and it is no easy task finding capable regulators who can move with equal ease in the boxing and MMA worlds. Lathan canIn fact, I caught up with Melvina at the recent Strikeforce event in New Jersey -- she was doing research on New Jersey's top notch regulation of MMA with the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board and Nick Lembo. So I certainly agree that if MMA comes to New York having Melvina as Chair is very important.
That said, I also think there is another important argument that can (and should) be made in response the Governor's proposal. While I normally try not to focus on the economics of legalizing MMA -- as opposed to focusing on the fact that MMA is a highly evolved sport with incredible athletes -- perhaps now is a good time to stress the economics.
Indeed, if Cuomo aims to cut the Chair's salary to save the State $154,000 a year, perhaps he should pay some attention to the numbers because bringing legalized MMA to New York will well exceed that amount in direct revenue to the State, not to mention the economic impact.
I don't think money should drive the debate, but when it comes to the budget I do think legitimate sources of revenue should not be ignored if detrimental cuts can directly be avoided through legalization.
Fight Lawyer
