UFC Retains Military Sponsorship After Narrow Vote
By Chris Leslie on July 19, 2012
A bill designed to cut military spending for sponsorships of the UFC, professional racing, and professional bass fishing was rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bi-partisan bill sponsored by Reps. Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Betty McCollum (D-MN) was rejected by a vote of 216 to 202.
The bill would have cut $72.3 million in spending for advertising for sports organizations like NASCAR, IndyCar, and the UFC. The measure was hotly contested according to ESPN, with the discussion focusing mostly on the NASCAR and bass fishing spending.
The measure was part the U.S. House of Representatives move to trim defense spending in an effort to lower the nation’s spending on defense. The typically partisan votes of the House were not seen on the measure as the bill had supporters and detractors on both sides of the aisle.
Proponents of the bill argued the money was not vital to national security, with detractors arguing the funding was vital for recruiting efforts.
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I wonder what the numbers were for recruit increase since the military started sponsoring the UFC. There would have to be some sort of statistic.
I can’t imagine the number of people who signed up for the Army/Marines because of an ad they saw on a UFC show is much bigger than 5.
Actually recruiting numbers have gone down for the military overall. Has less to do with the UFC and more to do with the scaling down of two wars. Plus, from reading the record of the debate, it looks like the focus is mainly on nascar and fishing apparently.
Yeah I read that they were down across the board. Still sad to see the government shamelessly trying to lure our brave men to go fight their senseless, corrupt wars.