Help needed serious debate

[cagewarriors]

"HELP" Needed serious debate!
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We are currently planning Cagewarriors 4 to be held in Portsmouth on Saturday the 26th July 2003.

I,d like your help in debating the following Ideas I have about the event/timing e,t,c. As you know at Cagewarriors we pride ourselves in our constant efforts to develop the Sport & trying different iniciatives in order to perfect the viewing package & proffessional attitude towards our fighters. I have spent a great deal of time over the past weeks monitoring discussion boards & listening to what you guys have to say/think or would like to see!

With this in mind I would seriouslly like as many of you as possible to help me with some of the Ideas I have for our next event, As I value all of your comments & in the past I have put many of your observations into practice 7 been very happy with thier outcome.

Issue 1: As we have selected a Saturday once again for this event, we feel that the attendance could suffer against the competition of Night clubs/night life! So I propose to start the evenings event at between 4.30/5.00pm the events generally run from about 3.5/4 hours so this should see the event being finished by 8.30/9.00pm?

The benefits I feel this would have are as follows:
Less likely to compete & interfere with new mainstream audiences that are vital to the growth of MMA from having to choose a night on the town instead of coming to check out our new vast growing sport by finishing at 9.00pm this means they can do both.

Fighters would not have to spend lenghy times hanging around venues from weigh in times to fight times especially the main event fighters who would generally not be featured untill the last bout which often leaves them hanging around for anything up to 10 hours.

Fighters & fans travelling from outside the area of the Venue can comfortably travel too & from the venue in a day without the risk of travelling in the early hours of the morning after an already tiresom day, penultimately not ruining thier sunday activities.

This would also save financially the need for fighters & fans having to book into hotels B&B,s overnight making the whole thing more expensive than it need be.

Do you think this is a good Idea or a bad Idea? Have I covered some valid points or is there any more? Is there any negative points to earlier start & finish times?

Secondly as Follows:
I feel it is time to lower the age bracket to perhaps 15/16? in order to encourage a new enthusiastic audience which could be inspired by what we do for the possibility of providing us with future fighting stock by getting these guys interested in our sport at an earlier age, We have all watched with amazement at our own Ross,s success,s at only 17 proving that a new generation can help shape & build the UK MMA.

The benefits I feel for this is attracting a new aged mainstream fan that is still fresh & open minded, perhaps WWE/WWF fans that like the thought of watching the real thing! Would encourage already interested fans to bring thier sons & daughters who may perhaps be interested.

If we leave a good enough impression on these new aged fans perhaps we would see an up trend in people attending future classes, subsequently helping more MMA gyms to survive & grow, providing tomorrows fighters!

Giving an overall perception to others that we are trying to produce a good quality parental guidance event.

Do you think we should lower the age threshold? Do you think some of my points are relevant? Do you know of any negative points that would make this action unpractical?

Once again guys/girls I would very much appreciate you taking the time to consider some or all of the above and give me your feedback, I will take it seriouslly on board & equally try & elaborate or explain more as the replys may call for. Remember its your MMA were just the puppet masters.

Kind Regards

[Hywel Teague]

dougie it all sounds great to me. another giant leap forward for things in this country. i truly believe you are leading the way when it comes to putting in the hard work for MMA in this country.

[Lhn]

Both ideas look right to me

[andymc]

both ideas sound great, the first should be beneficial to lots of people and maybe encourage more people into travelling to watch shows.
With the second point though, does that mean the ring girls wont be gettin the tits out

[Lhn]

"does that mean the ring girls wont be gettin the tits out"

Stupid question because you know Dougie won't dissapoint. If 16 yr olds can shag legally, get the tits out for the sport, Im sure they can look at them. TTT4 tits

[cagewarriors]

Don,t worry guys I will never let you down, The tits stay!

[iandean]

Hi

Issue 1. I think this is a great idea. Early on Saturday are great for people like me who dont't have a car and will have to travel miles to get there. I didn't get home from cagewarriors 3 till nearly 9 am the next day, cos i was stranded.

I think the early start is also good, but do you think that some of the glitz might be taken away by having the event start so early? Although if it does strt early it means we can all go out afterwards as well. Plus i might be abe to get a group of mates go, as some of my mates are intrested but cant make it cos of work. I might also bring my girlfriend along too.

2. Lowering the age is a good idea too. Afterall kids grow up seeing all kinds of things these days, so what is wrong with a legimate combat event. Look at what the WWF/WWE have done in the past. They have had lesbain/homosexual agnles, some nudity and other questionable things go on. So if they can do it why not MMA. I know my 14 yera old nephew would wanna go to an MMA event, but i wouldnt wanna take him cos of the late starts and the fact that he wouldnt be allowed in.

[cagewarriors]

Losing the Glitz? Probably not as the Venue has no access to natural light so we can create any ambiance we like, As stated before how many 15 16 year olds have,nt seen a pair of tits? I don,t see it being a problem the girls are getting a lot better with regards to exposure & I think its done quite tastefully & seen as a bit of a laugh. I definately feel that we will be very lax with the age limit as you have rightfully pointed out the only difference between us & WWE is that the fighting is real.

[Godders]

Its a great idea having it finish at around 9ish. This is speaking as someone who spent the best part of 2 full days with zero sleep to attend cagewarriors 2 after a long car journey, plane, train, several subways, loads of walking and a bus.

Cagewarriors 3 was much more cushty though ta to Mr Dougie.

I also think there should be before every match have Mr Freeman annouce what rules the guys are fighting, what weight, where they fight etc.

Alot of people at the last event where shouting "PUNCH HIM IN THE HEAD" to the guys fighting semi pro.

Pherhaps a printed sheet booklet (possible advertisers on the back etc?) that lists the fights, basic rules and whats not.

Also by having "Come To cagewarriors - See Godders in the flesh" is bound to sell a extra 200 seats.

[Ross]

have a programme, i.e contract fighters into the event and if they pull out, fuck them up..

also watch a fairly new ufc event, and copy as much as you can from that, especially when to do with commentry, i.e. just saying their name as they walk out.
when both in cage announce full details if its a title fight then champ comes out second and gets announced second.
then ref stand in centre and gets it going.
referees should jump in when stopping fights it looks cooler
referees should do that its over thing with their hands as it looks better.
announcer should announcer the winner of a title fight as "the winner and new/still cagewarriors lightweight champion" or whatever

also dougie make decisions and drill it into your staff to know, other shows the staff know exactly what they are doing, sometimes your guys dont.