Culinary Workers Union urges FTC to investigate UFC

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from the Culinary Workers Union, with a letter addressed to Richard Feinstein, Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition. In response to concerns raised by professional athletes, the CWU are encouraging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate possible anti-competitive practices in professional mixed martial arts.

The CWU are part of the “Unite Here” conglomerate of unions that represent workers in the U.S. and Canada for businesses such as hotels, gaming, food service, manufacturing, and many other groups. In the letter, the union states that Zuffa has been gobbling up smaller companies and stifling the growth of the sport beyond one organization, and that their contracts are very controlling and harmful to the fighters as well.

Read the rest of the letter after the jump!