A very interesting post made on the All-Star Ballpark Heaven Facebook page yesterday points to, in my opinion, how desperate things continue to become for the struggling company known as Go The Distance Baseball, LLC and its CEO, developer Denise Stillman, who had originally planned to build a 24 baseball diamond sports facility directly next to the Field of Dreams Movie Site. As of this year, tournaments initially intended to be held in the converted cornfields of Dyersville’s farmland had been sidetracked to the Dubuque Sports Complex, due to Ms. Stillman’s inability to find needed support or funding to begin construction. More greatly discounted rates are being offered for the All-Star Ballpark Heaven 2015 travel ball tournament season, which will be held for the second year in Dubuque. What is being called “an amazing rate of $350 per team”, with the price only going up to $500 after October 15, indicates that sign-ups and turnouts have apparently been less than successful. Here’s the full official ASBH announcement: icontact-archive/QkQ6e9vuzWD40dboo1FgwCwGNMtvAiqj?w=2 A year ago, according to at-the-time listings on the ‘Save Your Spot’ page of the official All-Star Ballpark Heaven website, the price per player was $750 and above. As 2014 approached, that amount was changed to $750 per team; clearly a sign that response had been much lower than expected. Now Ms. Stillman has shaved off an addition $400 for this special offer, becoming $500 per team after October 15, which would still be a deduction of $250 from last year. Click on the link near the top of the announcement that says, ‘ 2015 Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekend tournaments’; this contains additional information about pricing, which gradually goes up to $800 per team by February 15. Here’s the direct link: allstarballparkheaven/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/2015-allstarclassic-flier-8_24.pdf Another alteration: 2015 will see only three tournament weekends, April 25 & 26, May 23-25, and July 3-5, as opposed to four that were held this year. The 2014 tournaments were more centered around summer months, with an initial event in April, followed by three others, one in June and two in July. 2 questions: If tight on cash, why reduce the number of tournament dates? More dates = more money. Might rental payments to the Dubuque Sports Complex be a factor as well? Regarding the building of All-Star Ballpark Heaven, here is a quote from the official announcement: “While we work on building our permanent home for Ballpark Heaven, our three 2015 weekend tournaments will be at lush Dubuque Sports Complex just 25 minutes east of the Field of Dreams in Iowa.” I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that the ASBH sports complex would not be anywhere near ready for next year’s season, or at all for that matter. This has been the promised “albatross” that’s now become more of a lame duck in the equation. As the original location for the facility has been controversially in question from the very beginning, the opportunities for kids to hone their baseball skills through a robust and sensible business plan could still be a viable option. However, the All-Star Ballpark Heaven developer is limiting herself still by hanging on to the Field of Dreams Movie Site and trying to make some kind of connection to it with now three tournaments next year, 25 miles away. As I’ve mentioned previously, this refusal to back away appears to be, in my opinion, about retaining reputation rather than making the smart decision amidst low to no income to continue. How does the current mentality pay the bills? In my opinion, it does not. Best bet scenario: Close up shop in Dyersville and start fresh in a new, more lucrative area from a hotel/restaurant/recreational amenities standpoint. Wouldn’t it be better to go where the money is, instead of trying to milk a cow that’s been dry for a very, very long time? Dyersville is a wonderful, productive, and peaceful town, but as the public and business-savvy individuals have commented on in the past and recently, the idea of trying to attract thousands of high-paying customers to come play baseball all summer long way out in the middle of the country, surrounded by Iowa farmland, was never a very feasible or even profitable plan. This goes beyond the controversy of this developer bringing a wrongful lawsuit against all her neighbors and the social media backlash that ensued; it’s about good common business sense, plain and simple.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 20:27:42 +0000