Shortfall dooms OKC’s All Sports
Group votes to cease operations
The city’s athletic commission tasked with recruiting and assisting minor league sports officially called it quits Wednesday evening just hours after an email was sent to members with an urgent plea to contact the mayor and council members to win support for a taxpayer bailout.
The All Sports Association, a nonprofit in charge of recruiting amateur and collegiate events to Oklahoma City, notified City Manager Jim Couch on Oct. 4 the group was going to dissolve without a bailout of $275,000 — to get through the end of 2018 — and more money for 2019.
Records obtained by The Oklahoman show the notice occurred just two days after the association missed a deadline to pay more than $800,000 due to the NCAA as part of a contract keeping the Women’s College Softball World Series in Oklahoma City.
Tim Brassfield, who did not return calls and emails before Wednesday night’s meeting, said in a prior interview the agreement and an ensuing financial hardship was “forced” on the group.
Despite telling city officials on multiple occasions since August the association was preparing to dissolve without the rejected bailout, Brassfield notified the group’s 350 members on Wednesday, and urged them to call Mayor David Holt and council
members to reject the advice of city staff.
City Manager Jim Couch and executives with the NCAA and USA Softball have all told The Oklahoman they are moving ahead with a plan to be presented for approval by the city council that would end the All Sports Association involvement in their events. The association has repeatedly been rejected in its requests for a bailout and future subsidies.
“Our board has remained diligent in reaching out to city officials on this matter; however, we are uncertain if our requests will be fulfilled in a timely manner,” Brassfield told his members. “Due to the lack of additional funding, the All-Sports Association will face the potential of dissolving completely and thus the possible loss of events such as the Big 12 Baseball Championship, the All-College Basketball Classic and many others held in Oklahoma City.”
Officials with the Big 12 Conference did not comment on Brassfield’s claim the city could lose the baseball tournament over the dispute. The All-College Basketball Classic, which in its heyday was an annual event with 16 teams from around the country, is now reduced to one OU men’s basketball game held every other year. The classic is the only event owned by All Sports.
Brassfield previously stated the plan to replace All Sports with the sports division of the Convention and Visitors Bureau could jeopardize the success of the softball series
and the chance to win any future NCAA tournament bids. But his claim that the convention and visitors bureau and its sports business director, Sue Hollenbeck, have no relations with Softball USA was quickly contradicted by the head of Softball USA, Craig Cress.
The NCAA on Wednesday stated it first drafted the plan to replace the All Sports Association two years ago when Brassfield was unresponsive to requests to negotiate and finalize a new contract.
"Two years ago, we were concerned that contracts scheduled to be drafted hadn’t been seen by us and hadn’t happened,” said Sharon Cessna, managing director for championships and alliances at the NCAA. “They were well overdue. And that is when we came up with this contingency plan in case we needed it.”
The new agreements were eventually agreed to by the city, the NCAA and All Sports. The agreement changed the allocation of revenues, which Brassfield complained left his organization short by more than $300,000 — an amount representing about half of the All Sports budget.
“We were trying to get women’s softball aligned with the other championships,” Cessna said. “What we do is we pay all expenses, including travel and per diem. No matter the athlete or student coach, we pay all around.”
The change in funding, she said, goes toward a loss the NCAA experiences on softball due to the costs of a sport with growing popularity.
“We’ve in been growing in Oklahoma City every year,” Cessna said. “So we’re having growing pains and we needed to make some changes.”
Cessna said she supports working with Hollenbeck and the Convention and Visitors Bureau with the softball championship and other series the city might bid on in the future. The plan also calls for Softball USA to play a greater role in operating events at the Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, and for the Oklahoma City Dodgers to take a lead in hosting Big 12 Baseball.
“We’re very supportive and we’ve had a long successful relationship with City of Oklahoma City and Softball USA,” Cessna said. “We’re very supportive of what they will do in this transition and looking forward with working more with the CVB as they pick up items that All Sports won’t be doing anymore.”
Brassfield on Tuesday said the association is unique among sports commissions in peer cities in that it does not get any public funding. Records show All Sports has collected $1.53 million in sponsorships over the past six years from a hotel tax fund maintained by the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Tom Anderson, who has overseen the sports contracts at City Hall, said the funding shortfall with All Sports was not a surprise.
“Any entity that puts all of its eggs in one basket is an entity at risk,” Anderson said. “Yes, to some, $300,000 is a lot of money, but from my observation, this would have happened anyway. I think we’re getting a good deal with the NCAA. The old deal was the result of the event starting small and everyone pitching in to make it work.”