A-Game Sportsplex abruptly shut down on Thursday morning, and police were called in to manage clubs and parents as they gathered their equipment.
It is right before the postseason for GNASH, the youth hockey league that depended on A-Game for two of its six rinks. They had two games- Independence-Summit vs Blackman-Stewarts Creek and Ravenwood vs Hendersonville- scheduled there for Friday night. Also scheduled there were postseason games starting Monday.
GNASH commissioner John Holmes said this on Friday:
Right now everyone is simply reevaluating their schedules to see where they can find times to make up for the games. We are moving forward on the assumption that A-Game will not reopen.
Meanwhile, the league is trying to figure out a long-term fix.
From league president Bethany Bennett on Thursday:
GNASH has been monitoring the proposed sale of A-Game since the contract was signed in the fall. It has been our hope that the lease would continued to be honored through the end of the season, but we have been preparing for the possibility that it would not. If A-Game does not reopen tomorrow, we will reschedule the two remaining regular season games for Monday at either Ford or Centennial in our game slots that had been reserved for the start of play-offs. Our play-off schedule is being updated to accommodate completing our season by using the ice at Ford and Centennial. We are confident that we can make the necessary adjustments and end the season on a high note for our high school players.
The owners of A-Game and the youth hockey and volleyball clubs that have leased their space are in a sort of stand off. The sportsplex, its owners said in a statement yesterday, will reopen for the remainder of the sports’ seasons only if MDG Management and Alliance (the hockey and volleyball groups whom have multiple years left on leases they have sued A-Game’s owners to honor) agree to void their leases at the end of the season. A-Game did not reopen on Friday night, as neither side has blinked.
Meanwhile, GNASH, with its postseason scheduled to start on Monday, is continuing on a plan-for-the-worst but hope-for-the-best basis.
When A-Game closed yesterday, its owner Sports Land Group, LLC released a statement that said the facility averaged a monthly shortfall of over $72,000 and the business was simply not sustainable. Despite their efforts over the course of three years to find a buyer who would continue to operate the facility as a sportsplex, they were not successful. AI. Neyer has since purchased the facility. The sports center will be transformed into one of the largest office buildings in Williamson County.
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