To Fastpitch Players, Teams and Fans:

 

We regret to announce that the 2009 Red Rock at Carson City Tournament has been cancelled.

 

While many teams and players expressed interest in the tournament, we did not receive a sufficient number of paid entries by the March 1, 2009 deadline to proceed. In most other years, the tournament hosted 16 teams, with 12 as the target minimum for this year.

 

Based on the feedback from teams and players, it appears that the state of the economy is affecting everyone personally and that includes the teams and their sponsors.   The factors contributing to the cancellation of the 2009 Red Rock at Carson City tournament included:

 

1)    Cessation of operations for 2 Canadian teams and 6 US teams from last year’s ISC World Tournament.

2)    Team budget cutbacks of 30%-50% because of the economy and that they had to look to cut back this year. A number of teams advised that they chose to cutback on early season tournamentsto save money.

3)    Even when teams have the budget to come, some of their players are cutting back on travel weekends due to concern about their job and work attendance, mainly because of all the recent cutbacks and layoffs.

4)    Many unfunded or under-funded teams, with most players paying their own expenses, have decided to cut back on travel to conserve money for a trip or two later in the season and to attend ISC World Tournament, the ISC II Tournament of Champions or other major events.

5)    To give advance notice to Carson City, allowing them an opportunity to replace Red Rock this year with another tournament in a different class of play.

 

In addition to economic reasons, we were also informed that with the ISF World Championships in Saskatoon in July, some teams were not beginning play until after that tournament, and therefore, would not be attending early season events.

 

Your 2009 Red Rock at Carson City Tournament committee made the decision to cancel the 2009 tournament at the March 1^st deadline so as not to cause problems with many of the teams prepared to participate and having to purchase airfares.

 

While we are disappointed, as teams, players and fans may be, we are optimistic that the tournament will be held in the future, so please keep us on your radar, and reserve that first weekend in May.

 

We will consult with all team prior to 2010, so be sure to watch for future announcements.

 

Have a great season!