USIndoor's Official Magazine is a quarterly publication, dedicated to owners, managers, program administrators and other professionals, startups and providers involved with indoor recreational sports facilities.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/204891
CORVALLIS SPORTS PARK TEN YEARS LATER by Sylvie Green T en years ago, GOAL Indoor profiled Corvallis Sports Park in Corvallis, Oregon. Since then, Corvallis Sports Park has evolved. In the spring of 2006, Corvallis Sports Park acquired Kick City Sports Park in Springfield, Oregon. Kick City had opened about a year before Corvallis. At that time, Blake Leamy owned and operated Corvallis Sports Park and had coached the children of Kick City's owner and operator, so they had a friendly relationship. They had a professional relationship as well. When Corvallis Sports Park began helping Kick City with its Lil' Kickers program, another USIndoor member, talk of acquiring the facility began. Since its acquisition, Kick City has been renovated to resemble the Corvallis facility much more closely. Offices have been added, as has a retail store and a pub. Opening an indoor sports facility is like becoming a parent for the first time; the learning curve can be steep. After a while, however, successful operators, like parents, develop a system. When a second facility is acquired, melding two facilities with different systems and cultures can be difficult. Some operators, who have three or four facilities, may be able to hire enough staff to manage the managers, rather than run the facilities themselves. This is not the case with Corvallis and Kick City, however. "We're not big enough to do that," says Blake. "Our markets are really small. Corvallis has only 50,000 people." Partly because of the small market, Corvallis Sports Park has just one field. Therefore, replacing its seven-year-old turf in 2006 was a bigger deal for them 6 than for most. Prior to then, the turf was simply rolled up to go from indoor soccer to roller hockey. Over the years, however, the turf had become worn, and the soccer players no longer enjoyed playing on it. Consequently, changing to high-quality, in-fill turf meant doing away with roller hockey, which represented 25% of the facility's revenue. "Roller hockey was trending down," says Blake. "Soccer was trending upward a little bit. We felt like we needed to take a risk." Sure enough, the soccer business increased by 30% the following year and has been growing 10% every year since. "Now we are completely full. It was hard telling people they couldn't play roller hockey here anymore, but we had to make the decision for the business." In the end, the strategy proved right. "Managing one sport allows us to focus on the quality of that sport." Indoor soccer leagues are certainly important to the facility, as is the pub, which has also improved over time. "Three years ago, we purchased several flat screen TVs for the pub. We went from just a few to nine. We also added shuffleboard and went from six to 18 beers on tap." Our pub is now much more of a sports bar than a snack bar. "We're certainly not Buffalo Wild Wings, but not everyone who comes into the pub plays soccer; some come just to enjoy the pub." Also, the pub brings in people who didn't know about the facility's Lil' Kickers program or soccer store or leagues. In some ways, Blake is in the restaurant business. "We just hired a line chef, and we're contemplating putting in a full kitchen." Although it requires him to hone a set of skills that are quite different than those required to manage indoor soccer leagues, running a restaurant, according to Blake, is fun. The pub is energetic, especially during the World Cup or Portland Timbers games, when the place is packed. Some of the customers dress up. Others paint their faces. Since the restaurant overlooks the field, people watch the games, which builds the community. Corvallis is small. People come to the pub, watch their teams, hang out. It is a comfortable place. People are friendly and genuinely interested in each other. Cultural Differences The balance between maintaining a culture that is already in place and implementing new, yet proven, ideas is a challenge when acquiring a facility. Although the facilities are only about an hour apart, and both focus on indoor