by Steven Ludwig, Publisher WilliamsonSource.com
[email protected]
This week’s sudden closure of A-Game Sportsplex should come as NO surprise to anyone. The owners gave notice last July when they knew this day might come, and civic leaders sat around doing nothing; seemingly hoping “it would work itself out.” And the filing of a recent lawsuit by Alliance and MDG – tenants of A-Game Sportsplex – made it entirely likely the new owners would simply close and move on with re-development plans for the property.
Only now, amidst protesters and police crowd control, does the full extent of this blow to our quality of life in Williamson County become apparent in large numbers. We foretold this way back in November when we begged civic leaders in Williamson County to take decisive action. Not only has there been little or no public discussion amongst the Williamson County Commissioners, the City of Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen, the City of Brentwood Board of Commissioners, or any other elected official in Spring Hill or Nolensville – the City of Franklin is about to approve a comprehensive long-term parks plan that doesn’t acknowledge the loss of A-Game, either.
A mad rush is now on to vilify the former and new owners of the property. But, aside from the dispute between Alliance, MDG, and the new owners (which will continue to play out in court or be settled at some point) – it is civic leaders who need to be held accountable. The former owners of A-Game Sportsplex had the right to sell the property, and made the likelihood it would close public from the beginning. The new owners have never attempted to hide re-development plans.
The advance notice we were given as a community was squandered doing nothing to address the long-term needs of our youth sports programs; particularly volleyball, hockey, and soccer – which are amongst the Nation’s best programs, but don’t have the facilities to match. Not even close…
The blow to quality of life here in Williamson County has consequences for our kids and youth sports programs; economic consequences in the form of lost revenue to hotels, restaurants, and shopping that will no longer benefit from weekend tournaments at A-Game Sportsplex; and tax revenues collected by our Williamson County Convention and Visitors Bureau from those visitors. Without decisive action by our civic leaders, Williamson County will fall even further behind.
To assure consistent, long-term access to world-class facilities that match up with the capabilities of our world-class kids – we need a public solution. A-Game Sportsplex could just as easily have been lost suddenly during the Great Recession, or for any number of other reasons. Public, not-for-profit facilities would eliminate these vulnerabilities.
What’s more, solving these problems can simultaneously set a far more organized course for Williamson County growth over the next 10-20 years. Here is a link to the plan we laid out back in November. It’s just one of many possible ways to approach the solution. But let there be NO DOUBT a solution is needed. It’s time for our civic leaders to think big. If not now, when?
How much longer will we just sit still and watch our quality of life in Williamson County erode to the point where we turn around in the near future and realize it’s no longer what drew us here in the first place?
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