Final 16U Sportzone Tourney before Highschool season

[looking in]

Sure it wasn't your DD? It's still a mush ball! Way 2 many teams, playing at 2 am is stupid!!! this place is for hitting(kinda bad lights, could be me!) and pitching!! That's about it! Alot of state champs have lost here in Febuary! It's indoor, get your work done and go home! Still an upgrade from what is was, your right about that!! Come on HS ball!! JK!!

[gunshy]

I agree with Looking In's perception on indoor ball. It is beneficial, as it augments team practice and gives teams a chance to try and execute what they have been working on all winter. But that is about it. The results don't translate well to outdoor games, as speed and power are somewhat negated by playing very short games on very small fields with a low ceiling. I openly questioned the schedule this weekend, as some teams played at 1 and 2am Saturday morning and then did not play again until midnight and 1am Sunday, then did not play again until Sunday evening. I figured 20 hours between pool and elimination, 16+ between elimination games from Sunday morning to Sunday evening. This was for a pool winner!!!
WAY too many teams for one field. Charge more, take fewer teams. The games at 3am and 4am reach the point of diminishing marginal returns, IMHO.

[BigDaddy77]

I said this was the best tournament that I have seen at this facility; I didn't say they could directly compare with a game outside. And now I think girls can get a benefit from playing here if the SZ organizes the tournaments correctly; whereas it was a complete waste of time and money before. Basically, I am just saying it is better than it was and I wouldn't hesitate to play there again, when we would typically look for any alternative to avoid playing there in years past.

[gunshy]

Daddy, don't disagree with anything you have said. BUT, from a coaching standpoint it is only worthwile to actually play 2-3 indoor events MAX per winter for an established 16u-18u team. I would much rather pay a higher entry fee and get longer games at reasonable game times.....meaning less total teams in the event. Playing games is fun for the players, but it loses some of it's lustre when the warm up last longer than the actual game.
Either way, indoor ball is what it is and you have to view it and approach it the right way to get the most out of it.

[jag1]

I think they should keep it to a 6-8 team, one day format at the SZ. ...kind of an indoor friendly, where a team could play 3 games in an 8-10 hour time frame...and have them on Sundays, so the multi-sport kids could play..! I bet there would be plenty of takers at $200-225 a team to get that kind of work in, in the middle of winter..!

[SiddFinch]

I think they should keep it to a 6-8 team, one day format at the SZ. ...kind of an indoor friendly, where a team could play 3 games in an 8-10 hour time frame...and have them on Sundays, so the multi-sport kids could play..! I bet there would be plenty of takers at $200-225 a team to get that kind of work in, in the middle of winter..!

They would go out of business.

[backstop13]

I think they should keep it to a 6-8 team, one day format at the SZ. ...kind of an indoor friendly, where a team could play 3 games in an 8-10 hour time frame...and have them on Sundays, so the multi-sport kids could play..! I bet there would be plenty of takers at $200-225 a team to get that kind of work in, in the middle of winter..!

They already get plenty of takers at $395 a team. We are playing next weekend where there are 9 14s, 9 12s and 4 10s signed up. We will play Friday night (2), then not until late Saturday night depending on the seed (possibly at 1:20 AM).

It is the nature of the beast. I would much rather choose NOT to play at SportZone, then have SZ go out of business and not have that option. As long as they have teams signing up and playing all hours of the day, I don't see anything changing. As a business decision, why would you change it if it works and the demand is still there?

[gunshy]

I don't think anyone wants the SZ to go under, as places for our sport indoors are sparse already. It is a matter of dollars and cents that drive this discussion; the Sportzone's quest to make as much money as physically possible each weekend and the teams' quest to get the most value and utility for their shrinking team budgets. Somewhere these two opposing lines will intersect and thats where the price, number of teams per event, etc will settle. Teams will have to decide if $395 is good use of team funds for what could be 3 games of 1 hour in length, played at 2am or 3am. Until enough teams decide that it would be BETTER to pay, say $500 per event, and have longer game times that don't start at 3am or Championship games that don't BEGIN at 8:20 pm on Sunday night, nothing will change. These suggestions have been passed on to the SZ, but you are correct, they have no incentive for change as long as teams continue to be willing to shell out that amount of money for that value. These are economic and common sense decisions that each team must examine and decide what is best for their team, as each team is different. For my team, it is just not a good value for our money to play such short games at such odd hours as last weekend's tournament. Half of my team would have spent 2 nights in hotel money, been awake almost around the clock after working/school Friday and driving to Indy, to play games where the bottom half of the batting order gets 1 at-bat per game. A local team that has no hotel or major travel might find this appealing and workable, it just does not work for our team. We will continue to use other options that calculate better for us and the SZ will continue on it's course as long as teams are willing to pay.

[slapperdad]

Allegedly there is a new facility being built (maybe on the drawing board) in Columbus. I know there have been several hold-ups. At one point I "heard" there was possibly some grant money involved and that was holding everything up. I do know for a fact there were some issues with soil samples. At any rate, what I'm hearing now is winter 10-11 for an opening date. It a steel building (like SZ) and it will have two full size diamonds with state of the art field turf. The thinking in going with two diamonds is to get away from all night tournaments. The investors on this deal are in Chicago.

I'm going to be honest, I've looked at something like this with a local GC that I work with. We've put pen to paper and done the math. I don't see how they make these things go. The only way I see it happening is getting a big building at a really cheap price. I know everyone thinks SZ and places like them are getting rich, if you're putting up a new building, I just can't justify the cost, at least in south central Indiana, I don't see enough butts coming thru the door to pay for it.

[backstop13]

Gunshy, I definitely see your point of view. If any team is outside an hour from SZ, you are spending more time driving than playing 2 games.

Now if what slapperdad says comes to fruition, you could see something done differently at SZ. Right now SZ holds the cards. You can go to the Dome in Ft. Wayne as an option. However with so many teams in the central Indiana area not many do more than once.

Having 2 diamonds would be nice, but the Dome has 2 diamonds and they play around the clock as well.

I don't know if I would necessarily pay any more than $395 even if they did extend games by 30 minutes. I guess if that was the only option it would have to be considered.