With professional MMA finally legal in the state of New York, promotions are lining up to bring events to the Empire State. Among those promotions wanting to make a New York debut is WSOF.

Several WSOF executives met with media in New York on Monday to discuss the promotion’s future.

Among the group was WSOF COO and general counsel Michael Mersch. He formerly worked for the UFC handling legal affairs, including being one of the men with boots on the ground in New York during UFC-backed legalization efforts. He gave UFC owners Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta and UFC President Dana White credit for their push to bring the sport to the state and explained WSOF’s position that New York City is not the only area on its radar.

“It is finally the crown jewel on top of the crown of MMA to allow professional events to come here, which I think brings us to where we are now, which is starting to plan for that opportunity to bring a live event here to New York City and really to the whole state,” Mersch told MMAjunkie. “I think one of the things that does go overlooked is that while there are some amazing venues here in the greater New York City area, there are also some pretty amazing venues all over the state and a lot of places in the state that could benefit from the economic development that could come along with a World Series of Fighting event – in Utica, in Rochester, in Buffalo, in Albany and places like that.

“It’s not just New York City-centric focus. But it’s certainly a great opportunity for the World Series of Fighting to come to New York City to hopefully work with some of the great friendships and partnerships we have in places like Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center or wherever else we might be able to put on a great event.”

WSOF’s next event is WSOF 31, which takes place June 17 at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn. A heavyweight title bout between champ Blagoi Ivanov (13-1) and Josh Copeland (12-3) headlines.

With that trip to the Northeast on the calendar already ,as well as a July 30 date for WSOF 32 in Springfield, Mass., WSOF is eyeing a date late in the year – or in early 2017 – for its first trip to New York.

“You’ll see an event in New York,” WSOF CEO Carlos Silva said. “We’re not going to announce it yet whether it’s going to be in New York City or just the state of New York. But we’re looking at dates in December, January and February. It’s very important that we align with our broadcast partner (NBCSN). They help us out and grind into the books to find us our timeslots whenever we need them. We’re doing that work now but we’ll get that announcement out to you guys first and it’ll be soon.

“But you can know that World Series of Fighting is coming to New York. We’re looking forward to coming to New York, and we’re coming to New York soon.”

For more on the upcoming WSOF schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.