H.R. 4264 is on its way to the House floor with a handful of amendments in tow
As expected, H.R. 4624, the “Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act” championed by Dana White and Turki Alalshikh, passed the House Committee on Education and the Workforce this afternoon. The bill passed 30-4, with Representatives Joe Courtney (D-CT), Frederica S. Wilson (D-FL), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), and Mark Takano (D-CA) all voting against.
The bill now heads to the House floor, where it must pass with a simple majority. It would then need to pass the Senate with 60 votes before heading to the President’s desk. This figures to take a while, as both bodies are presently in a mad scramble to pass spending bills and stave off another government shutdown by January 30th.
Adjustments to the bill in Committee, per Luke Thomas, included increased per-round minimums, increased insurance minimums, “more explicit anti-doping requirements,” and a “baseline of two ambulances and two doctors to be continuously present at professional boxing matches.” Of particular note was an amendment from Ilhan Omar, who’s proven that she knows ball, which would require Unified Boxing Organizations (UBOs) to provide fighters a minimum of one fight every six months and allow them to communicate with other UBOs or promoters.
More adjustments can be made on the House floor before passage, which ranking member Bobby Scott (D-VA) recommended.
Even putting aside the anticompetitive nature of this legislation, John S. Nash notes that the increased costs this bill demands could very quickly sink smaller promoters. Quite a lot of work still needs to be done to make this anything but a disaster, so be sure to contact your representatives and speak out against it.
Category: General Sports
