Report Prepared by: Diana Olmos, Administrative Assistant, Parks and Recreation
Title
SUBJECT: 2024 Adult Basketball Season Updates
REPORT IN BRIEF
Updates on adult basketball supports, partnerships, fees, and season will be provided.
RECOMMENDATION
Information only-no action required
Body
DISCUSSION
Supports and Partnerships
Each Spring, Parks & Community Services hosts an Adult Recreation Basketball League. The league is supported by a Joint Use Agreement with Merced Union High School District for the use of gyms at Merced High School and El Capitan High School. Joint Use Agreements are typically established through the dedication of one-time funding from partnering agencies. In this case, the City of Merced assisted with the funding of El Capitan High School gymnasiums at the time of the schools construction. Parks & Community Services also leverages a contract with Merced Area Sports Officiating (MASO) who provides officials, referees, and umpires for the various sports offered to residents. This is an outside organization that is not directly affiliated with the City but is a contracted services provider.
Fees
Over the course of the last 3 years, expenses far outpaced revenues to cover the cost of operating recreation programs. In 2023, the Department requested permission to raise program and facility fees to account for increasing minimum wage, material, and equipment expenses. Team registration fees were raised to $600 per team for adult sports. Because fees had not been adjusted since 2009, the Department received ongoing comments concerning the increase. Although understandable, teams are expected to field a minimum of 10 players when registering. This breaks down to $60 per player. The department fees for registering a student for youth sports is $80. The fees cover the cost of the MASO contract for officials, recreation staff supervision, coordination and weekly score keepers as well as equipment. Due to raising costs of wages, equipment, and utilities, team registration fees still do not cover the cost 100%. In addition, the Department has failed to collect full registration fees from all teams that play. Moving forward, teams can secure their spot with a deposit at time of registration but must pay in full before the season starts or they will not be allowed to participate.
2024 Season Recap
The 2024 season started with 27 teams playing weekend games over the course of 3 months. 12 teams advanced to the championships, which were held on Sunday, April 21st. The department arranged for all Championship games to take place in the New Gym held at Merced High School. We want to give out thanks to MUHSD and specifically Paul Hogue at Merced High School for always being so accommodating and welcoming of our programs.
The Department had to remove one team from the league this season as a result of a players actions and the teams inability to intervene and address threats of violence from a player. Overall, the Department is experiencing a increase in the number of altercations and will be reviewing the procedures to hold teams and players, officials, staff and spectators responsible to ensure that participants are provided respect, dignity, and fair play.