Final 16U Sportzone Tourney before Highschool season

[gunshy]

Backstop, I am not anti-SZ or pro-Ft Wayne, but we are playing in Ft Wayne this weekend and here is their format for 24 teams: Games begin at 8pm Friday and the last game Friday night begins at 1am. Games begin on Saturday at 7am, last game is at 12:30am. Games begin on Sunday at 6am with Championshiop game at 2:45pm. Our team is guaranteed 5 games with 6 possible; we play 4 games on Saturday (none Friday) and possibly 2 Sunday. My team needs a hotel for just 1 night and we will all be home by 6 or 6:30pm Sunday night; charge was $400 for this event. Given the value items to consider (entry cost, number of guaranteed games, length and start time of games,total number of hotel rooms needed, travel, etc), Ft Wayne is a much better buy for my team's buck AND I don't have an angry parent group wanting me to explain to them what we get out of an hour game that begins at 3am. I weighed this event VS last weeknds at the SZ and it was a no brainer, plus the fields are bigger and ceilings ar taller.
You mentioned that you would not pay more for longer games? I guarantee my parents would GLADLY kick in an extra $20 per player for that weekend if it meant 1 less night in a hotel and NOT playing around the clock.

[SiddFinch]

Isnt the Dome owned by the bank? There is a reason why it is 40 degrees in there - the electric bill can be 10's of thousands a month. Just as slapperdad said. There is no money in these ventures. I am sure that Judy would like to have two fields and 80ft ceilings. But there is a reason why teams come from Wis, Tenn, Ohio, Ill and everywhere else to play there. Because there are not may indoor facilities left. I think the SZ has been bought and sold a couple of times over the last few years. So there is difinately no money in it. If you are not a sports junky and just a private investor. It is not the worth the tax breaks.

These stand alone sports buildings are selling a niche product. One of the only ways- is to have the city, through taxes, help offset the cost, or have it tied to a productive business.

I will gladly pay more money for 1hr 30 min games, real balls, realistic field dimensions, 80ft ceiling, and 70 degrees = Indiana University Mellancamp Pavilion.

[jag1]

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


Points well taken...but, in addition to what is currently being offered, maybe they could offer some one day events to supplement their regular winter tournament schedule..?

[zoidzoid]

The sportzone gives us all a nice chance to keep up the best we can with the warm weather states. I hate the ball and the ceiling but it is good to be playing. The Dreams have a very talented squad and I always enjoy playing them. To get better you have to keep playing the top teams and they certainly one one of the tops!!

[slapperdad]

I can honestly say, I was excited when I left SZ last night even though I felt like we should have played a little longer. I will not have to go back until November at the earliest. It's not that I dislike SZ, it's the hour plus drive to get there!

In the grand scheme of things though, my DD got some experience that will help her out making the transition to16U and high school ball. She faced some good pitching, and I think she's entering the high school season with a lot of confidence. I don't think she's intimidated by any pitcher at this point, and I could not say that going into the fall. I think also she's sharp mentally, and while she's not quite at mid-season form, she's not far from it.

Good luck to everyone in high school season, see you all in June.

[backstop13]

You mentioned that you would not pay more for longer games? I guarantee my parents would GLADLY kick in an extra $20 per player for that weekend if it meant 1 less night in a hotel and NOT playing around the clock.

That is a pretty good schedule for Ft. Wayne. I hope ours is like that the following weekend.

As for not wanting to pay more, getting the parents to kick in some would make it more doable. I was simply meaning that I would not want to pay increased prices for indoor at the risk of losing any outdoor tournaments.