Pro Wrestling: UWF President issues statement regarding canceled show in Connecticut
STATEMENT FROM UWF PRESIDENT HERMIE SADLER ON TNA SHOW CANCELLATION IN CONNECTICUT
I wanted to make a personal statement on the happenings in Connecticut this past weekend to try and answer as many questions as I can. There are obviously
many things that I am still gathering information on in the coming days, but I think it is important for all our fans to know what I know.
The first phone call I got that there was a potential problem was Thursday afternoon while I was in Arizona. I was told that local authorities had come
to the Face-Off Indoor Arena to check out the venue after an anonymous call. We had this venue booked for over 2 months, and had a floor plan and ticket
manifest approved for 1018 seats. After looking at the venue, the inspector said the building could only be approved for 398 people without making some
minor alterations to the building. When the building manager told the inspectors the changes would be made prior to the event on Friday, he was told that
it would not matter because the Chief Inspector that would have to approve the building for more people would be on vacation on Friday and would not be
back in town until Tuesday.
So at that point, I had to make a decision. Do we keep the event at the location and tell 400 of the people that had purchased tickets in advance that they
could not get into the show, or do we try to find an alternative venue to hold the show based on the size of the venue the inspectors told us we needed.
My question was why did the local authorities in East Hartford have so much interest in our show only 1 day prior to the show and place these demands on
us when there was no time to make the changes they requested?
We immediately began looking for an alternate venue that would hold the amount of fans we were planning to attend the event. The Bloomfield Tennis Academy
stepped up and offered their facility at the last minute. We decided to move the show there so that all the fans that had purchased tickets could attend
the event. This venue, although not very far from the original building, was in a different town.
As most people know by now, I was called at about 4 pm by some of our production staff that the police were at Bloomfield and that we were not going to
be able to have a show. Upon arrival at the building and talking to the PD Sergeant, I was told that there were several problems with the building and
that we would not be allowed to have a show there. When I asked him what caused them to come to the building, he would only say " An anonymous call." Again,
we went through a long list of potential remedies, but it was apparent that the show was not going to happen.
After that, we entertained the idea of moving the show to Danbury, CT. We even took a poll from fans outside the building because Danbury is about 70 miles
from Bloomfield. The response was 100% yes that they wanted to travel to Danbury to see the show.
Although we strongly considered that alternative, I decided not to pursue that option simply because I did not feel at that point that we could give the
fans that had paid their money to the show a complete 100% effort. The show would have started late, we probably would have lost a great deal of the fans,
we had not only the ring and production equipment but over 700 chairs that needed to be moved, no concessions at the new building, etc. The list went on
and on, it was just time at that point to call the show.
I honestly have no idea why local authorities from two separate towns showed so much interest in our events at that short notice. I am still gathering information
and will hopefully know more in the coming days.
For those that wonder, we will definitely be coming back to Connecticut very soon. The fan response we got was great. It was set to be one of our biggest
events of the year. We will bring TNA Wrestling to Connecticut in a big way very soon.
All I can do at this point is apologize to all of the fans that made the effort to come to this show. It was a very unfortunate set of circumstances that
I apologize for and am embarrassed by.
To be refunded for your ticket purchases, starting Monday morning November 13, contact the place where you purchased your tickets (Tickets@UWFUSA.com, highspots@aol.com,
I wanted to make a personal statement on the happenings in Connecticut this past weekend to try and answer as many questions as I can. There are obviously
many things that I am still gathering information on in the coming days, but I think it is important for all our fans to know what I know.
The first phone call I got that there was a potential problem was Thursday afternoon while I was in Arizona. I was told that local authorities had come
to the Face-Off Indoor Arena to check out the venue after an anonymous call. We had this venue booked for over 2 months, and had a floor plan and ticket
manifest approved for 1018 seats. After looking at the venue, the inspector said the building could only be approved for 398 people without making some
minor alterations to the building. When the building manager told the inspectors the changes would be made prior to the event on Friday, he was told that
it would not matter because the Chief Inspector that would have to approve the building for more people would be on vacation on Friday and would not be
back in town until Tuesday.
So at that point, I had to make a decision. Do we keep the event at the location and tell 400 of the people that had purchased tickets in advance that they
could not get into the show, or do we try to find an alternative venue to hold the show based on the size of the venue the inspectors told us we needed.
My question was why did the local authorities in East Hartford have so much interest in our show only 1 day prior to the show and place these demands on
us when there was no time to make the changes they requested?
We immediately began looking for an alternate venue that would hold the amount of fans we were planning to attend the event. The Bloomfield Tennis Academy
stepped up and offered their facility at the last minute. We decided to move the show there so that all the fans that had purchased tickets could attend
the event. This venue, although not very far from the original building, was in a different town.
As most people know by now, I was called at about 4 pm by some of our production staff that the police were at Bloomfield and that we were not going to
be able to have a show. Upon arrival at the building and talking to the PD Sergeant, I was told that there were several problems with the building and
that we would not be allowed to have a show there. When I asked him what caused them to come to the building, he would only say " An anonymous call." Again,
we went through a long list of potential remedies, but it was apparent that the show was not going to happen.
After that, we entertained the idea of moving the show to Danbury, CT. We even took a poll from fans outside the building because Danbury is about 70 miles
from Bloomfield. The response was 100% yes that they wanted to travel to Danbury to see the show.
Although we strongly considered that alternative, I decided not to pursue that option simply because I did not feel at that point that we could give the
fans that had paid their money to the show a complete 100% effort. The show would have started late, we probably would have lost a great deal of the fans,
we had not only the ring and production equipment but over 700 chairs that needed to be moved, no concessions at the new building, etc. The list went on
and on, it was just time at that point to call the show.
I honestly have no idea why local authorities from two separate towns showed so much interest in our events at that short notice. I am still gathering information
and will hopefully know more in the coming days.
For those that wonder, we will definitely be coming back to Connecticut very soon. The fan response we got was great. It was set to be one of our biggest
events of the year. We will bring TNA Wrestling to Connecticut in a big way very soon.
All I can do at this point is apologize to all of the fans that made the effort to come to this show. It was a very unfortunate set of circumstances that
I apologize for and am embarrassed by.
To be refunded for your ticket purchases, starting Monday morning November 13, contact the place where you purchased your tickets (Tickets@UWFUSA.com, highspots@aol.com,
posted by Casey Trowbridge at 11/12/2006 10:39:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home