April Industry News
INDUSTRY
New Media Alliance Between BASS, Bass Pro Shops
CELEBRATION, Fla.—BASS, the Bass Anglers Sportsman’s Society, a division of ESPN Outdoors, has created a joint marketing alliance with Bass Pro Shops that will integrate both brands across their respective platforms to further reach and educate outdoor enthusiasts on initiatives facing natural resources and to grow participation.
In addition, Berkley has renewed its longstanding association as an official sponsor and supporter of BASS; it will continue as the official fishing line and soft plastic baits of BASS and BASS events.
Cabarrus Sets Up New Sports Development Committee
CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C.—The Tourism Authority Board in Cabarrus County, N.C., has established a sports development committee and has set aside funds to support the construction of new sports facilities. Deputy County Manager Mike Downs will serve as chair of the new committee, charged with exploring the feasibility and return on investment of new sports facilities in the county.
YOUTH
State Youth Bowling Championships Continue In Grand Rapids
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— The biggest multi-event youth bowling tournament in Michigan will be played in Grand Rapids. The 27th Annual Michigan State U.S. Bowling Congress (USBC) Youth Championship began March 21 at Eastbrook Lanes and will continue with tournaments at Eastbrook and Grandville-Fairlanes each weekend through May 10.
More than 3,400 youth bowlers (ages 4-21) from throughout the state will compete in singles, doubles and team events in 15 performance-based divisions.
EVENTS
Alabama Gulf Coast Host To Numerous July Events
GULF SHORES, Ala.—The Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has announced a long lineup of sporting events to hit the Alabama Coast in July. The Global Sports Baseball (USSSA) World Series will be played at Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Sportsplex July 8 to 12 and will feature 72 teams of 8-, 10-, 12- and 14-year-olds. USSSA will host a second world series for 9-, 11- and 13-year-olds July 15-19 at the same location.
Other events will include the 2009 Gulf Shores High School Volleyball Competition Camp, featuring 12 high school volleyball teams from across the state competing July 8-9 at Gulf Shores High School; the Gulf Coast Region Beach Series (beach volleyball) Grand Championships, July 8-9 at the Gulf Shores Public Beach; and the 2009 Summer’s End Softball Tournament, featuring nearly 20 youth teams of players ages 8-18, July 31-Aug. 2 at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.
USA Volleyball Announces Beach Tours
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—USA Volleyball (USAV) has released the cities that will host the Corona Wide Open and 2009 Beach Junior Tour. Corona Wide Open, a new festival and grassroots-based beach volleyball series, is an eight-city tour that will qualify teams for the 2009 U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball presented by Corona and will include beach parties, special on-site events, music and more activities for fans. The tour will begin April 25-26 on South Beach Park in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and will finish Aug. 22-23 at Jenkinson’s Inlet in Point Pleasant, N.J., before the 2009 U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball, Sept. 25-27 in Manhattan Beach, Calif.
The 2009 Beach Junior Tour will include stops in Gulfport, Miss.; Galveston and Dallas, Texas, and Seaside, Ore.
Sites Selected for 2010-2011 Skating Championships
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—U.S. Figure Skating has selected Strongsville, Ohio, as the site of the 2010 U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships and Greensboro, N.C., as host of the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
The 2010 Junior event will take place Dec. 14-29, 2009, at the Hoover Arena in Strongsville. The annual Junior championships crowns the U.S. champion in ladies, men’s pairs and ice dancing in the first two levels of the U.S. Figure Skating competitive structure; juvenile and intermediate.
The 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be Jan. 22-30, 2011, in Greensboro. The event will crown 12 national champions in ladies, men’s pairs and ice dancing on the senior, junior and novice levels.
BASS Federation Names Host Cities For Upcoming Championships
CELEBRATION, Fla.—The sites for the next two BASS Federation Nation Championships presented by Yamaha Outboards and Skeeter Boats, the biggest tournaments of the year within the grassroots competition format, will be held in Tavares, Fla.
The first event will be the 2009 BASS Federation Nation Championship, set for Oct. 28-30, that will qualify six amateur anglers for the 2010 Bassmaster Classic in Birmingham, Ala. The same event will be held in Tavares in 2010.
Shreveport-Bossier City, La., will host the 2009 Academy Sports + Outdoors Women’s Bassmaster Tour Championship (WBT), set for Oct. 16-18. The WBT Championship will feature the 20 top anglers from the WBT regular season based on the Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year standings.
12th Annual WCF Croquet Championship Set For Palm Beach
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla.—The U.S. Croquet Association will host the 12th Annual WCF World Championship of Croquet at four venues in and around Palm Beach County May 9-17. The final playoffs and main events will be staged at West Palm Beach’s 12-court National Croquet Center, the largest croquet facility in the world. Returning this year will be the 2008 winner, Chris Clarke of England; five-time champion Robert Fulford of England; two-time champion Reg Bamford of South Africa; and other recent top finishers. Altogether, 80 players from 20 countries will participate in the 2009 championship.
Skateboarders, Musicians & More Headline Journeys Backyard Barbeque Tour
ATLANTA—Journeys Backyard Barbeque will combine some of the country’s best alternative sports athletes with some of the nation’s hottest new music artists in a national tour that will stop May 2 in the greater Atlanta area. The event—featuring professional skateboard, BMX and motocross athletes in the tour’s 60,000-square-foot “alternative sports playground” and musicians performing on the tour’s 32-foot-long mobile music stage—will be noon-7 p.m. in the Macy’s parking lot at North Point Mall. Athletes could include Rob Dyrdek, of the hit MTV shows “Rob and Big” and “Fantasy Factory,” along with musical acts like The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.
China Invitational Dates and Athletes Announced
BURR RIDGE, Ill.—Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports, will present the second-annual China Invitational May 8-10 at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, a 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics venue. The China Invitational is a skateboard and BMX competition; the point leaders in the featured disciplines (skateboard vert and park and BMX vert) were invited based on their rankings at the end of the 2008 Dew Tour season. This year’s participants will include skateboarders Greg Lutzka of Hunting Beach, Calif., and Pierre Luc Gagnon of Montreal, Canada., as well as BMX riders Jamie Bestwick of England and Chad Kagy of Gilory, Calif.
The China Invitational will be broadcast on NBC on June 14.
NCAA Announces Men’s National Championship Sites For Volleyball
INDIANAPOLIS—The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) 2010 and 2011 Men’s Volleyball Championships will be held in Stanford, Calif., and University Park, Pa., respectively. The 2010 championship will be played at Maples Pavilion in Stanford. The 2011 championship will be played at Penn State University’s Rec Hall, which also hosted the championship in 1982, 1986, 2002 and 2006.
VENUES
New Raleigh Convention Center Hosts First Sports Tournament
RALEIGH, N.C.—More than 50 elite-level Junior Olympic girls’ volleyball teams from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina competed March 14-15 in the new Raleigh Convention Center’s first sports event. The 500,000-square-foot facility opened in September 2008.
The Mid-Atlantic Power League Tournament, hosted by the Triangle Volleyball Club, was played on 12 regulation courts assembled in the exhibit hall. Nearly 1,500 student-athletes, coaches, parents, spectators and college recruiters were in attendance for the event that generated more than 1,000 hotel room nights and nearly $300,000 in economic impact.
GOVERNING BODIES
USA Rugby Announces Coaching Changes
BOULDER, Colo.—Following the recent appointment of Eddie O’Sullivan as new Eagles Head Coach, USA Rugby has announced two additional staffing changes within the Men’s High Performance department. Veteran Eagle lock Luke Gross has signed on as the Men’s National Team Lineout Specialist Coach, while Men’s Pacific High Performance Manager Matt Sherman will take on the new role of Age Grade Director.
In other news, USA Rugby is accepting host applications for the organization’s summer and fall 2009 Coach Development workshops. Deadline is May 1 for summer workshops and July 1 for fall workshops. For more information, visit www.usarugby.org/gotohost_req.
USA Triathlon Renews Partnership With Zipp Speed Weaponry
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Zipp Speed Weaponry has signed a partnership renewal agreement with USA Triathlon (USAT) through 2012. As a silver-level partner of USAT and the USAT Trade Team, Zipp will provide wheels to the 11-member team and several National Team athletes while supporting the USAT Athlete Development Program.
New USBC Partnership Continues Women’s Series
ARLINGTON, Texas—The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Women’s Series presented by the U.S. Bowling Congress (USBC) will return for a third-consecutive season in 2009-10 with more competitors and eight events showcasing women’s bowling on ESPN. The PBA Women’s Series will feature five standard events, the open-field PBA Women’s World Championship, the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship and the season-ending PBA Women’s Series Showdown.
In other USBC news, delegates to the 2009 USBC Annual Meeting May 2 in Reno, Nev., will vote on 24 proposals involving changes to USBC bylaws and league rules. One proposal would allow the USBC board of directors flexibility to adjust national adult membership dues effective Aug. 1, 2010. The proposal does not impact state or local association dues. Several proposals, if approved, would give USBC state and local associations more flexibility in their operations. For example, associations would decide on any education, training and recognition programs they offer and if they would implement all USBC programs.
