BusinessTN

BusinessTN recently interviewed Nashville entrepreneur Shane Messer, a key voice in the push to get Tennessee to legalize in the state what is arguably America's fastest growing sport, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). The following is an edited transcript of that conversation.

BTN: For the benefit of BusinessTN readers, many of whom may not be well versed in what MMA is and what is not, can you provide a brief description of the sport?

Messer: Basically you've got grappling/wrestling skills mixed with straight up striking skills. So when you put those two together and you put two people in a ring or cage, you've got basically MMA. It's not anything goes. There are basic rules. You can't poke in the eye. You can't groin shot. You can't stab to the neck.

BTN: So you're combining disciplines like karate and jiu-jitsu and ninjitsu with wrestling, boxing and kickboxing. Gloves are mandatory. Weight classes have been established. And these are professionals, not amateurs, yes?

Messer: It's like any other sport. You have pro boxers; you have amateur boxers. You have pro race car drivers, you have amateur race car drivers. Ten years ago you had guys who were all strikers, and then you had guys that were all grapplers. As time went on, the stand up guys got better on the ground, the ground guys got better standing up, and it evolved into the sport that is today called MMA. The difference is that people who start now study true mixed martial arts. If they have trained the last three or five years in true fighting and they go out and have a few amateur fights and enter the pro world., then you can say they are pro. It's very similar to pro boxing.

BTN: Tell me about your related businesses.

Messer: The first one is Nashville Mixed Martial Arts with my partner Ed Clay. I bought part of the gym from him and we have built it up. At the gym here I have about 400 guys and a kids' program. We have a few guys we train in the MMA world—some fight pro, some amateur. We're one of the largest gyms in the country for what we do—the largest in Tennessee, one of the top in the Southeast and Top 10 in the nation. The other business is Gameness. In the grappling world, Gameness is probably one of the top providers of gear and fight wear products in the world, so there is the training and fighters in my gym and there is the distribution of products around the world.

BTN: Talk about the overall popularity of the sport and its meteoric rise nationally. I've read where pay-per-view TV events have grossed over $200 million in a year. Now CBS is going to begin televising the sport on network TV in prime time.

Messer: MMA is arguably the fastest growing sport in America. You are starting to see consistent coverage from the ESPNs and the Yahoos. As a result, you can pretty much say it is officially a sport. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has some of the highest pay-per-view records in history. Into the millions of buys. That's an indication. Another indication is companies like ours. When we bought Gameness, a good month for us would have been $2,000 in sales. Now we'll do a couple hundred thousand a month. And that's in the course of 36 months. And then you've got complete sell-outs everywhere the UFC goes. So between the TV distribution, the actual physical presence and the business growth of all these small companies that have just mushroomed, it's a phenomenon. That's the business/economic deal. Now you've got Chuck Liddell on the cover of Men's Health. So when you start seeing these UFC stars being noticed, it is telling. We brought Quinton Jackson here—he was doing a signing at our gym a month or so ago—and people just noticed him on the street. When you are walking with these guys and people know them just randomly walking up and down the street, you know it's reached that point where they have hit a mega-stardom status.

BTN: It's obvious, then, why you and other parties including the FedExForum folks in Memphis are interested in Tennessee law and have become involved in lobbying the state legislature to relax rules as they regard MMA. What is it exactly you are grappling with on Capitol Hill?

Messer: The way the law is right now, MMA isn't specifically banned. But it is lumped in with the Toughman law, which was passed a couple years ago saying you can't fight in an "anything goes" type deal—it's got to be regulated. So all that's legal currently in Tennessee is boxing and wrestling. Our fighters who want to fight in Tennessee can't because it falls under the Toughman laws. Last year, we went to a strategy that said instead of changing the Toughman law, add MMA to the regulated sports. It went to study committee. This year, our bill got pushed aside because Ed and I didn't have the money to keep pumping into it. We put $20,000 in, which for a business doing a couple million a year is a lot of money. We're not FedExForum; we can't put a million dollars into this. So this year, other groups like that came along and introduced a bill that would create a Tennessee Sports Commission that will regulate boxing, wrestling and MMA. Now you and I can scratch our heads and say why the hell not just change the definition and you're okay. I don't know. I guess this is an easier way for everybody to go about doing this.

BTN: What's happening now?

Messer: I'm told it looks like it's going to pass, and the governor will sign off on it. The bill would be made retro—so instead of taking effect Jan. 1 it will take effect Aug. 1, which means the first valid fight could take place in Tennessee as early as Sept. 1. They'll establish the commission, draft up the rules and go through the process of doing licensing. People will apply for licenses, to be the refs and judges and medical examiner, then you put on a fight.

BTN: And you are solidly of the opinion that we could have a major event in Nashville or Memphis at that time?

Messer: We will put an event on in Nashville—maybe 5,000 to 7,000 over at Municipal Auditorium or maybe something a little smaller. But I'd be willing to bet the UFC will be in here within 120 days of that bill passing.

BTN: We're in the clear minority of states that do not allow and host MMA events. What do you think the potential economic impact to the state this could be?

Messer: When Ohio passed their deal, they quickly did a few events. Ohio said the economic impact was about $30 million in tourism and ticket taxes. For us, I don't see why at minimum this wouldn't have an economic impact of $15-to-$20 million per year. And that would just be a start. When the big guys come in, even if they did five events a year, you may be looking at $20-to-$40 million a year in direct impact.

BTN: How can you be confident that people here in Tennessee will embrace the sport and the events if you get this legislation passed?

Messer: We don't really know what would be the response if we promoted an event massively. What I do know is at one time I had the largest MMA gym in the country. Now we've been relegated back to number nine or 10. There's obviously interest here, or I wouldn't have this gym and be doing all these things.

BTN: Thanks.