PIT TOUCH and FLAG FOOTBALL in WINNIPEG MANITOBA - FOOTBALL!

3722 Posts

Now that the schedule is up we have had a few teams inquire about our new fields and what happened to some of our old ones so we figured we should be as candid on the topic as possible.

Currently youth sports receive first shot at any and all city fields. Typically the allotment of fields is divided up for youth sports by the city in late June and early May, with adult recreational sports allowed to pick through whatever is left over. Because the city doesn’t allocate fields until right around the time our season starts there are always some changes to the best laid plans. Regardless of historical usage adult recreational sports can lose their rights to a field if youth sports decide they want to take over a field.

The loss of fields has occurred numerous times in the past to all adult rec organizations and the PIT has not been immune. If fields disappear it usually means the city has reallocated our fields to youth programming. The time, effort, and money we spend ensuring our fields are the best in the city is unparalleled in recreational sports. Unfortunately the unintended consequence is that our fields do not go unnoticed by other user groups. As we invest in the development of fields youth sports has moved in. Just last year we had a youth group demand usage of one of our fields, stating that they would simply take it from us if we did not allow them to use it. Despite the inherent “wrongness” of the bullying tactic, it worked as we knew the field would be taken away with just a phone call. This year we lost two fields entirely and two fields for large portions of the year:

Viscount Alexander – High School Football (lost entirely)
Andrew Mynarski School – Youth Football (lost entirely)
Lindsey Wilson – Youth Soccer (lost May and June)
Assiniboine Park (Train) – Rec Soccer (lost for most of the summer)

Unfortunately both Lindsey Wilson and the Assiniboine Park fields have had soccer posts put up making the ability to use the fields even more difficult. To further the problem, both fields are “light use” fields that cannot withstand consistent wear and tear. I wouldn’t be surprised if both fields are unplayable when we have our field allocations. To understand what youth groups do to the fields, if you are ever in the area of Viscount Alexander check it out. Two years ago it was arguably the nicest touch football field in the city, today the field has been destroyed by the tackle program in the area, a program that by its own admission is unconcerned with either field preservation or shared usage with adult rec sports.

Beyond these issues there is the problem of the increased costs of field usage and maintenance. The PIT has made the decision for forgo Maple Grove for the upcoming year. In 2011, Maple Grove began instituting a user fee for players at its facility. Rather than put the costs on players at the gate the PIT paid for all the costs for the players up front at the beginning of the year. Needless to say it was a money losing proposition and each game we played out of Maple Grove drove us into the red. We unfortunately could not continue to cover the user fees for players this year and decided not to turn those costs over to each player without some concessions. A lack of a clubhouse open for our membership and the inability to line the fields were major obstacles above and beyond the user fee that could not be rectified.

To help solve some of the field issues, we are constantly looking for new fields and have acquired the use of St. James Optimist, Spring Valley Park, Arthur Wright/Duval Park, and Ecole Leila North for the upcoming season. Obviously we have lost three south end fields and have not found suitable replacements in those areas. Part of the problem in the south end is the actual developments themselves. New developments are required to devote a percentage of the land allotment to green space. New developments however have “shunned” sports fields in favor of man-made lakes. A field doesn’t drive up the cost of land 100%, however a haven for mosquitos, geese crap, and imprisoning your children with a fence to prevent them from drowning apparently does. The “need” for people to “needlessly” throw away their money to pretend they live on a lake (don’t get me started…probably the same people who buy bottled water!) means that fields will continue to become increasingly scarce as the population grows and new athletic fields are not developed. With city fields being increasingly allocated to youth groups there is a growing need for fields dedicated to adult recreational sports.

To further this point St. James Optimist is being redeveloped for youth baseball and the Old Exhibition Grounds is slated to be razed to build a youth skate park. Both fields will cease to exist within the next couple of years. With a growing league and shrinking base of fields available the PIT has tried to become more forward thinking. To this end, the PIT has partnered with Adrenaline Adventures to play a portion of its games out of their new facility this year. Most other major cities in Canada have moved toward the development of recreational sports complexes which would ideally provide better services, but of course in exchange for greater cost sharing. For those of you who play softball you are already very familiar with paying a gate fee to get into facilities such as Buhler Park, Little Mountain, and Blumberg. Flag football now plays entirely out of Buhler Park, Sponge Hockey runs out of Little Mountain, and Soccer out of the Waverley Complex and Blumberg.

To the end we are going to begin a trial period at Adrenaline Adventures which will have a gate fee for players to enter the facility. Each team will have between 1 and 3 games at the new sportsplex and then after the season we as a league will vote as to whether or not to continue this partnership. The gate fee will consist of either a $2.00 entry fee, or the purchase of a $5.00 gift certificate which can then be used in the lounge following your game (player choice). The initial vote to try out the facility was approximately 70-30 in favor of going to Adrenaline Adventures. We understand that the 30% may be displeased but we went with a democratic decision and majority rules. In discussions with Jason Rohs, President of Adrenaline Adventures, we can assure that the existing facility is top notch and we are confident that fields dedicated to the PIT membership would provide an even better playing experience. More information regarding the facility will be provided in the next day or so and Jason himself has offered to answer any questions our membership has. It is up to Adrenaline Adventures to “wow” the membership and if the membership votes not to continue to partner with Adrenaline after the season then we will abide by the members just like we did with the decision to try out the fields.

Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton etc have already began moving to playing football out of similar Sportsplexes in an effort to secure their future as a league and provide their membership better fields and greater service. We hope that this partnership works well for our membership and everyone has a great experience with the fields. The PIT is taking a chance but ideally this moves the league to a situation where the best game day experience just got even better.

The PIT Crew

116 Posts

My two cents (while the country still makes them, I'm handing them out):
1) I'd like to encourage our players to call their city Councillor and/or MLA regarding the issue of lack of fields of adult sports. Yes, having kids run around is vitally important, but as we all know, the need for activity doesn't decrease when we get older. It's not as though otherwise fit children can stay fit the rest of their lives without activity, right? So, why don't we (the - what was the number? - 931) players of the PIT start getting in touch politically with people. Write respectful emails, phone calls, meetings, etc. Letters to the editor of the Sun and Free Press could be written. I suspect that if we made this an issue, we'd get more consideration. I'll happily write a template if people are interested, but won't if people are not;
2) I was one of the 30% who didn't like the Adrenaline Adventures option. I still don't like the user fee, but I will absolutely respect the democratic will of the league. Anyone want to buy my $5 voucher? :P

I like this league a lot. I like the time and effort that's put into the fields (for one), and I understand how hard a task that can be, especially when the city (whose work the League is doing for free) steals the time and effort and cost and gives it to people who don't care.

177 Posts

Cobras63 - I will buy your $5 voucher for $3, final offer
Jon - I married in to that house by the lake...really, it's not my fault, she owned it already..(i stopped using bottled water last year tho :)
Jon - tell them to plant some trees at Adrenaline! please!

in all seriousness, great job with everything. Having been there before I know what a tremendous amount of work you and the Scottmeister put in. thanks, i will have my ashes spread at a pit field.

later....
Cliff
#00

26 Posts

Is the entry fee for Adrenaline per person or per car?

Man, it sucks that youth sport is allowed to just take over the fields that you guys have worked hard on getting ready for our use. Chris, I think you are on to something with voicing our objections (respectfully) to City Councillors. Who knows, maybe it will help our situation.

Les

116 Posts

Cliff:
$4.75 and you have a deal. :P

Les:
Thanks. I believe that the least satisfying thing a person can do is complain about nothing changing without ever trying.