Court Bauer explains the decision to have MLW take up residency in Philadelphia.
MLW Fightland took place in Philadelphia on October 2, the second of three consecutive events hosted at the city’s 2300 Arena. COVID-19 protocols and the changing climate have caused MLW to reschedule events in other cities, but the company was able to work things out and run events in the “land of Extreme.”
Asked on a recent media call to explain how the league chose Philadelphia as a destination and if there are plans to return to the city for an extended period, Court Bauer praised local guidelines and personal history as a few reasons why it made sense. MLW will not appear in Philadelphia in December due to a lack of open dates, but Bauer said the league already has dates planned at the 2300 Arena through 2022.
“It’s a great question because we were looking at, where can we have, first of all, the health and wellness of our fans, our talent and our crew feel like it’s gonna be, the protocols will be the most enforced, the conditions at the arena really good, and the city as a whole or the state as a whole really have the right guidelines in enforcement. And in a time when it’s hard to get visibility on this pandemic, it’s really hard. But we looked at the 2300 Arena, which is the place where I promoted my first show when I was like 22, and it’s come such a long way. I mean it looks beautiful, they have craft beer now, it’s really a nice arena.
“And what I liked is that they had their own COVID protocols. They had their own COVID compliance officer, we have our own COVID compliance officer, I guess they get coffee and talk about COVID or something before a show. But it’s really important that they had like the Purell stations, that the city of Philadelphia itself is actually super restrictive. They were like the last major northeast city to open up, and they were very, very specific with what their criteria would be. So the combination of that, plus the athletic commission that is very hands-on with that, [we] feel like we had enough safeguards in place to make this path forward for us where we felt like we wouldn’t be interrupted, but also would have the best conditions for our talent, our crew and our fans.
“And so from there we said okay, well, this was really one of our hottest markets. Let’s build this out and build this relationship out. So we’re here essentially, with like a residency, and we’ll pretty much be doing that monthly, except for December because they just have so many make-goods due to the pandemic that they couldn’t squeeze us in for that month. But we’ll be there, we have dates through 2022, so we’re gonna be expanding out and doing additional events, but this is gonna be essentially our home base to the point where, when we’re not running and the arena’s open, you’ll be able to go there and buy MLW T-shirts and stuff, just like you would to go to like a Yankees Stadium and buy shirts when there isn’t a game.”
MLW Fightland aired on VICE TV on Thursday night; read full results at this link.
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