From the Camden Advertiser:
Fifth and final installment in a series by Australia’s Mark Long:
Mark Long is a former Australian softballer who pitched Australia’s first World Championship U/19 Gold medal win in 1997. He created and now manages Australia’s leading high school based health program Eat It Work It Move It.
Could a glimpse into the future, let’s say July 2012, hear the following line at the end of Sportscenter?
“Coming up on ESPN 2, the world’s best men’s fastpitch softball players touch down on the next stop of the tour as the teams battle for the number one seed before the ISC world tournament.”
A US-Canadian tour or a pro fastpitch league are two options that generations of players have dreamt about.
The previous four articles have covered the complex issues of turning this phenomenal sport around.
The final instalment is an amalgamation of these ideas.
The challenges, competing interests and desires all make the process of developing a blueprint difficult, yet the richness of history and tradition could underpin an exciting future.
Importantly they are hopefully perceived as a respectful and unbiased approach that avoids blame and notes the difficulty of reinvigoration.
In short, a league is not an option.
The challenges around players’ visas, taxation issues without even examining the financial viability rule out even leaving the dugout.
Loosely, the fastpitch season today, minus the remuneration is no different from the ATP pro tennis circuit or PGA golf events.
It’s an example used when explaining to people what a season looks like in North America.
Different week, different town, different tournament.
IMG – the global sports management company – transformed golf, tennis and a number of other sports.
They did it quite simply, by creating products.
The few remaining traditional “hotbeds” of the men’s game demonstrate the game is not yet dead.
Consider what fastpitch softball would look like with a structure that packaged the best teams, governed by rules that fostered development, future growth and participation, linked by the ISC, ASA and NAFA brands alongside the legends of the game to create a story and set, from the beginning a modern framework that would facilitate growth and not plateau once it was working.
About 60 per cent of the plan is already in place.
The plan below uses names of teams and towns that are interchangeable.
ISC Hall of Famer Darren Zack. In the opinion of Fastpitchwest.com editor, Jim Flannagan, he shows the game at its best. Photo by Maddy Flanagan, www.maddysphotos.com, Copyright 2010.
The teams are the current Top 6 as per the ISC rankings to simply give the concept a face and some feeling.
The towns and their fields are all home to fastpitch history.
They are our own Yankee, Fenway, Dodger and Wrigley’s.
The need to develop junior players is unavoidable.
The 10-point plan is a starting point.
Starting and not just talking is paramount.
The international game is an essential element.
It must be packaged, embedded into the calendar, showcased and eventually monetised.
Big money in the game has been a contentious issue.
Many blame it for its demise.
In a free economy like the United States, it beggars belief that somehow this “gift” could not be harnessed in some fashion to create a successful formula.
In Australia, there aren’t sponsors who will bankroll teams.
The World Champion Aussie Steelers all put their hands into their own pockets to play – it is commonplace at every level.
Longtime and respected photographer and journalist, Bob Otto, nominated this shot from the 1997 ISC World Tournament in Victoria, British Columbia as fastpitch at its best. Courtesy: www.ottoinfocus.com.
Those sponsors are needed now, more than ever.
To challenge the thinking process, let’s work towards a 2011 start date.
Take the following with a grain of salt – it can be as big as you want, just hopefully not smaller.
With that, here goes.
The Concept
5 x 8 team tournaments presented across five weekends featuring six regular tour teams: Kitchener, Jarvis, Midland, Chicago/ NY, Gremlins, California A’s.
The teams would be joined by two local entries that would earn their positions through accruing points in sanctioned regional tournaments within the current ISC geographic boundaries – Canadian East and West and US East, Central and West.
The inclusion of local teams in the tour events would give the home fans someone to cheer for whilst ensuring anyone can, through the correct structure get a chance to earn a spot against the big teams.
The Ballparks
The hotbeds are the place to start.
They have the history, community involvement and they attract fans: Peter Hallman Ballyard (Ontario); Bob Van Impe Stadium (Saskatoon); Currie Stadium (Midland); Sunset Park (Kimberly).
A suitable venue in California or NY.
The 2010 editions of Best of the West and Peligro Sports showed either would be a great fit.
The Structure
Eight teams, two 2 pools.
Three game minimum in the preliminary round.
Single elimination playoff system.
Four game minimum – six game maximum each weekend.
The six “tour” teams collect points from the tour events for the seedings at the ISC World Tournament.
The ranking committee would still determine the rankings for the remaining world tournament berths in line with the current process.
The Commitment
An overarching three- year plan including:
The six-tour teams committing to three years with clear but financially manageable promotional and participatory obligations.
A clear three-year commitment to the host towns with mutually beneficial obligations for both parties delivering high calibre, events not just ball tournaments.
Think the Homerun Derby of Monkton, the Diamond Dirt innovation from Kitchener, the festival atmosphere of Kimberly and the promotional innovation being used by Midland.
Implementation of junior leagues in each host town and the hometowns of the six-tour teams in the second year of the tour.
Continued delivery of the junior league in the third year.
The Contentious Points
Broadcasting
A commitment to secure a partner to develop a broadcast strategy delivering airtime on cable television.
Year 1 – self funded from benefactors.
Year 2 – 50-50 funding structure from benefactors and broadcasters.
Year 3 – 25 per cent – 75 per cent funding from benefactors and broadcasters.
Playing Rosters
Limit each team to two pitchers.
Develop a USA pitcher exemption for a US Citizen under 25 years of age to be included within the 14 man roster but on top of the two pitcher cap.
Limit each roster to 14 players – five subs is enough.
Allow teams to pick up one additional player from their
ISC region for the World Tournament to offset injuries.
Implement a junior pickup option – with teams permitted a 16th player who is eligible and plays in the proposed amalgamated 23 and under – US Nationals.
It would be a welcomed shift to see major teams scouting at this event as they look towards the future.
Work towards, a local player exemption for any player developed in each team’s locally sponsored league from the fourth year of the tour.
The player would not count within the roster limits – enhancing the player pathway.
The Expectations on the hosts.
Use the three-year hosting guarantee to develop a following for an event in each community.
Work to incorporate other community events into the weekend the tour hits the town – summer festivals, fairs or concerts.
Operate a subsequent event in tandem with the major tournament – in Canada run an underage event to showcase the game’s best to an already captive audience as Kitchener successfully did with the Legends of Fastball tournament.
In the US, examine merging the ASA Boys Nationals with the Men’s Major Championship to create the USA Softball Festival of Fastpitch improving the financial benefits for bidding cities and placing the present and the future side by side.
If necessary, play a girls tournament in tandem and create opportunities for boys/brothers to see the best in the game play.
Governance
The tour would be overseen by a seven-person commission consisting of:
An independent commissioner to chair the commission.
The executive directors or designate of the ASA, ISC, NAFA and Softball Canada – their knowledge of the complexities is priceless.
A representative of the tournament directors of the Tour events.
An elected player representative.
The commission would also assume coordination of the implementation of the 10-point development plan whilst working with the ASA, Softball Canada and the International Softball Federation to develop a five-year calendar that ensures the development of the international product.
In a cluttered sports market, the mission statement – “One game-one voice”.
Development for all levels of the game.
The 10-point plan focussing on junior development is an essential component for the future, arguably the most important.
It is an example of an initial framework that could be successfully implemented across the US.
Creating a player pathway from grassroots to perhaps one day – World Championship gold.
The game needs a strong USA to prosper.
It will take time, face setbacks, require patience and look different to the “Golden Age” of yesteryear.
That’s fine -we live in very different times.
The game though is more than just bookended by junior play and the ISC World Tournament.
NAFA has mobilised and importantly provided for the large number of teams that play the game and have a desire to play away from the major teams.
The same level of players gave life to the ISC II and are now the group saving the ISC World Tournament from possibly being a 15-team event.
Quantitatively, they are the group within the game that allow players to move up through the ranks and to move down after the body, the mind or in some cases, the wives’ of ballplayers say enough is enough.
They, like the youth leagues scattered around the country are the faces that show people across the USA that men still play fastpitch.
Harnessing their numbers and most importantly ensuring that they have a place to play in a way they want to play is critical to the lifeblood of the sport.
The sheer size of teams, 160 alone for the 2010 NAFA tournaments also presents potential corporate partners with another demographic to access, sell to and subsequently support a future for the sport.
Those players including NAFA cannot be taken for granted, nor forgotten.
The International Game
The national governing bodies and the ISF have control over how often the national teams are selected and thus play.
I’m yet to hear anyone from any part of the game express a desire for the men’s game to simply disappear.
A clear and professionally presented plan to the key decision makers outlining how showcasing the world’s best is financially viable will be enough to start the discussion rolling.
Either as a season ending event or fastpitch softball’s equivalent to baseball’s mid season, All Star break at the midway point of the proposed tour.
Any option is a good option as long as it is in the right location and draws a lot of people.
Its capacity to drive the renaissance is well documented in the previous article which drills a lot deeper into the options.
The Future
The end result of these five articles is dramatically different from the original intention.
It was good to clear the brain and put some thoughts on paper, if only to start discussion.
I now won’t feel a need to sit in the stands in Midland wishing things were different.
There are a number of questions, I can’t answer.
A key one is how to prevent the development of “superteams” within the proposed tour.
Perhaps it is a PRAWN style system or an expanded version of NAFA’s pitcher’s classification across all positions.
There are better informed people to debate that problem.
Reconnecting with many people has been a highlight.
What is clear is that globally, fastpitch’s strength is its people and the large number of emails from all levels of the game have reshaped different aspects of each weeks articles – thankyou.
The unbelievable number of hits online reading each article has shown there is still a large audience out there.
There are still some who can’t quite see what can be done, others who don’t want to and from your emails, many that want to be involved.
Change is possible, in a large way because the US already has a huge advantage.
Almost everyone in your country knows of the sport.
Al Doran, who has worked to get fastpitch softball out worldwide via the internet at www.alsfastball.com. He is one of the most respected figures in the game.
In February 2000, in my hometown, Camden, Australia we set up a tournament with the goal to attract and showcase the sports best.
Personally, it was the only way a 19 year old could show mates from school, friends and colleagues that this wasn’t a game played only by girls.
Camden’s own Macarthur Fastpitch Shootout at Rotary Cowpastures Reserve in 2000 attracted 5000 spectators in its second year.
It was a tool to leverage community support, finish the fields and attract large crowds.
There was no entry fee for teams or admission fees for fans – we wanted the best in front of an audience they deserved.
By the second year we had a $10,000 prize pool, almost 5000 people watching over three days and a number of players and even a team from New Zealand flying in for the weekend.
Make no mistake; this was not a fastpitch hotbed.
In fact of all the memorable quotes I heard, a favourite was one of the dads of a young T-baller who expressed his disappointment that we had many of the world’s best players present on “our diamonds”, yet couldn’t afford to complete the laying of grass for the infield of the main diamond.
Such was the knowledge of many spectators that the construction of a dirt infield – one of the biggest investments we made washed straight over many heads.
It didn’t matter because not one person walked out of the Macarthur Fastpitch Shootout without a high respect for the skill of the players and a thirst for more.
The Shootout (Yes, we “borrowed” that from Perth, Ontario), was for all intents and purposes the classic case study of, “If you build it, they will come”.
In the USA, the teams are still there, the infrastructure is still there and the clock feels like it has been ticking for too long.
It’s time.
Mark Long can be contacted at marklong.advertiser (at) @gmail.com.