UFC President Dana White said that the promotion will donate $1M to the "families of those affected by Sunday's mass shooting" on the Las Vegas Strip, according to Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com. White said the company took a "full count of employees" yesterday morning in wake of the tragedy. UFC operations are "based in Las Vegas," inside a newly opened HQ just west of Las Vegas Boulevard. White said, "This is our city -- we love this place. The first thing when we got up this morning, everybody, personally, got it together and made sure anybody they know or love was OK. ... Then you start thinking about this city, our hometown, and we felt we needed to do this. This is something we needed to do." White said the planned UFC 216 PPV event on Saturday inside T-Mobile Arena will be "dedicated to the entire city of Las Vegas." The UFC has been "directly tied" to Las Vegas since '01. Many of the UFC's biggest events take place in Las Vegas, and the company "signed an anchor tenant deal" with T-Mobile Arena earlier this year (ESPN.com, 10/2). In N.Y., Pat Leonard notes the NFL Foundation and Raiders each "pledged $50,000 contributions" yesterday to the Las Vegas Victims' Fund. The NFL Foundation also will "contribute an additional $50,000 to the American Red Cross to assist with blood drives and other relief efforts in Las Vegas" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/3).
GET WELL SOON: UNLV assistant hockey coach Nick Robone was wounded during the shooting, but is "expected to recover." Hr had a bullet "removed from his chest" that "missed Robone’s lung" (REVIEWJOURNAL.com, 10/3). GOLFWEEK.com's Kevin Casey noted Web.com Tour player A.J. McInerney was at the site of the shooting, but he "made it out unscathed." He later tweeted he is "lucky to be alive" (GOLFWEEK.com, 10/2). Former MLBer Mike Timlin tweeted that he was "at the concert but was unhurt" (USA TODAY, 10/3). In Charlotte, Jane Wester notes former NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip "decided to go to bed early" instead of attend the event (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/3).
