Memorandum                    

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:	Thomas M. Markus, City Manager
FROM:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
DATE:	August 1, 2016
CC:	Casey Toomay, Assistant City Manager Ernie Shaw, Interim Director of Parks and Recreation
RE:	Sports Pavilion Lawrence  Court Issue

On July 21-24, Sports Pavilion Lawrence hosted the Hardwood Classic Basketball tournament, a tournament previously held in Kansas City.  As the attached report summarizes, the tournament drew 296 teams representing 17 different states, 185 college coaches and 18,250 visits to Sports Pavilion Lawrence during the tournament. The tournament also utilized several other local basketball courts- including Free State and Lawrence High Schools, South Middle School and the Ambler Student Recreation Center. However, none of the City’s other recreational facilities were utilized for tournament play. $14,000 in concession sales were generated, along with $18,750 in revenue for SPL. The direct and indirect economic impact of the tournament is yet unknown as staff works with tournament organizers to determine the number of teams that stayed in Lawrence for the event. 

Staff received a citizen complaint regarding the use of all eight courts during the tournament and not having one court reserved for public use.  Staff prepared a memo response regarding the administrative decision to make the eighth court available to the tournament and not have it reserved for “public” play.  

There is no formal policy adopted by the City Commission regarding keeping the eighth court open for public use during tournaments.  However, prior Commissions during the discussions regarding the construction of Sports Pavilion Lawrence had indicated that a court would be available for public use at all times in order to balance public concern that the facility would only be used for tournaments and not be available for public use.  Also, the current City Commission, in June 2015, rejected a request to utilize the eighth court for a smaller tournament scheduled in July 2015. It should be noted that during large tournaments, particularly the one of the size of the Hardwood Classic, it would be difficult to maintain a reserved court for public use since it would likely be regularly occupied by people associated with the tournament- either teams using it for warming up, or spectators at the tournament, etc. 

It does appear prudent to allow occasional use of all courts to enable the community to host tournaments of this size and prestige in the facility.  Such action appears balanced with the desired community use of the facility, particularly when other city recreation centers are not being reserved as part of the tournament and are available for public use during these limited times.  This allows SPL to generate the revenue required to support operations of the facility, which are dependent on tournaments for a major source of income and also draws significant direct and indirect economic impact to Lawrence.