Our team from the Worcester, MA area consisted of 11- and 12-year-old players whose families…read moreplanned for months to attend the Winter World Series, Miggy Wood Bat event scheduled at the Coastal Florida Sports Park (CFSP) on Dec. 27-30, 2019 (cosponsored by the Miguel Cabrera Foundation (MCF)). My family had already arrived in Florida a few days before the event, but on Dec. 24...Christmas Eve...they CANCELED the tournament...via email.
As you can imagine, everyone was extremely upset and disappointed. Some families had already begun the twenty-hour drive, flown into Orlando, or were in Titusville. Other families had to cancel plans altogether. For a few, it really ruined Christmas because the tournament *was* the gift. For those of us who had arrived...we were going to have to fill in four days with other activities or hang out at the motel. We thought, "there has to be some way of salvaging this!"
I went with a fellow parent and our coach to CFSP on 12/26 to see what was up. The place is pretty slick with a huge field that has stadium seating, a large practice facility with many batting cages and an immense weight room, etc., etc. The representative who met with us was very polite. He explained that the Miguel Cabrera Foundation had not followed through with plans to help bring teams to the tournament. Both places promoted the event on their websites and social media channels. But for some reason, the gist of the explanation was that the Miggy Foundation didn't hold up their end of the bargain. I found it notable that, even after the event was canceled, both places continued to display information about event registration and NEITHER the CFSP nor the MCF had posted notice of the cancellation. In fact, those graphics were up through the duration of the tournament dates.
I asked about the wooden bat ("Miggy Bat"), jersey, and hat that were supposed to come with the registration fee. They were never produced! But why wouldn't those items be produced ahead of time when you're anticipating a scheduled tournament to transpire in a few days? I have to wonder, if you are putting on a baseball tournament which requires a certain number of teams to make financially viable (let's assume 8 teams of 12 players each...and I'm only calculating for one age group), wouldn't you be tracking your registration closely enough so that you can see-well in advance-that you're not hitting your numbers? You'd have to know so you could order the correct amount of bats, hats, and jerseys. Things didn't add up, it seemed like they likely knew well before the 24th that the tournament wasn't going to happen. And they knew how far away we'd come from because I'd personally spoken to their representatives via phone. Nevertheless, notice of the cancelation didn't come until the 24th.
Before the end of the meeting, he said he would put together a 2-day (rather than 4-day) tournament with the teams that had shown up. Allegedly there was a Canadian team and a team from one of the Carolinas that was also available. He also offered us use of their batting cage facility for a few hours to get in some BP. That was very nice of them. And because not our whole team made the trip, after hearing of the cancelation, the representative said that he should be able to get a few extra players for us. It looked like the event might be salvaged and our players, eager to play ball, would get a chance to play on the very impressive looking CFSP fields. We left in higher spirits than we arrived.
We were able to get in the BP session and our players worked hard. In the following days, delays attributed to wet field conditions (it had rained off and on) pushed the new arrangement back one day, then another. Our team offered to come do whatever was necessary to get a field ready. However, the CFSP broke off communication about 9:30 am on the third day. They just ghosted me.
Was there ever a tournament? CFSP and MCF have worked together in the past, and are scheduled to work together in the future. I hope they can dramatically improve the handling of tournaments. At the end of the day, CFSP was the one doing registration intake, therefore CFSP either manages events poorly, neglects to properly plan with cosponsors, or at the very least doesn't communicate well with customers about expectations. My recommendations are...maybe you could bolster your registrations by promoting your attendees better on Social Media, or offer incentives for referrals.
My advice to customers: Do your research. Ask lots of questions before you commit to the expense and planning. Verify the tournament is scheduled. Demand to speak to other teams/coaches who are coming and/or previous tournament attendees. The facility may look amazing, but that is only one aspect of a tournament experience...event management and viable competition are required.
Caveat emptor...buyer beware!
KC
