Season canceled - no refund offered

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Feb 20, 2019
109
28
Our local baseball and softball organization recently made the decision to cancel the season. We have over 250 teams across the entire organization and, while we did have a few practices, not a single game was played.

The league cited various upfront expenses (balls, equipment, jerseys, umpire fees) as the reason why they will not refund everyone's registration fees. Instead, parents will get a credit (about 25% of the registration fee) to apply to a future season.

Several parents on my team are really upset about this and are threatening a number of actions, including lawsuits.

How have other organizations handled cancellations/refunds and what recourse do parents have?
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
Our local baseball and softball organization recently made the decision to cancel the season. We have over 250 teams across the entire organization and, while we did have a few practices, not a single game was played.

The league cited various upfront expenses (balls, equipment, jerseys, umpire fees) as the reason why they will not refund everyone's registration fees. Instead, parents will get a credit (about 25% of the registration fee) to apply to a future season.

Several parents on my team are really upset about this and are threatening a number of actions, including lawsuits.

How have other organizations handled cancellations/refunds and what recourse do parents have?
Thats a lot of teams. They owe people money.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
I think small claims court is a good way to go on an individual level. If there is some way to go after them on a group level, even better.

The league cited various upfront expenses (balls, equipment, jerseys, umpire fees) as the reason why they will not refund everyone's registration fees. Instead, parents will get a credit (about 25% of the registration fee) to apply to a future season.

Balls are not a sunk cost as they can be used next year. Deduct that from their claim.

Uniforms can be used next year, so you shouldn't have to pay that next year either.

Umpire fees? Nope, nope, nope, nice try. Those do not get paid out until the services are rendered.

There is very little money an organization will have spent up to this point that should not be refundable -- and the organization should be fighting to get that back from any vendor they paid it to. Any money they are claiming is gone has gone to paying the people running it.

If they do not want to refund anything, then 100% of your money paid should cover the next season and you should not pay a dime then.
 
I can see some expenses that could have been expended by an organization and I am assuming you are talking about something akin to a recreation league here rather than a travel organization.

Balls - eh, maybe but you didn't use them so you carry them forward to the next season. Still an expense but pretty crappy to charge them out.

Uniforms - if generic and no names on the back, etc then they can be used next year. Names on the back might be problematic but if you are going to charge the parents for them, then the uniform should be given to the player.

Umpire fees - not hardly.

The only two things that I could think of that could be absolutely justified would be insurance (if a rebate could not be negotiated with the provider) and possibly deposits for the fields (which some localities are really butts about refunding). Those are a stretch though.
 
Oct 26, 2019
1,375
113
Something to think about - if uniforms were paid for then that money is gone. Even though they can use it next year they might not have enough in the bank to pay for the uniforms and refund folks. Those organizations usually don’t have much in the bank to cover future like that
 
May 16, 2016
1,024
113
Illinois
Our local baseball and softball organization recently made the decision to cancel the season. We have over 250 teams across the entire organization and, while we did have a few practices, not a single game was played.

The league cited various upfront expenses (balls, equipment, jerseys, umpire fees) as the reason why they will not refund everyone's registration fees. Instead, parents will get a credit (about 25% of the registration fee) to apply to a future season.

Several parents on my team are really upset about this and are threatening a number of actions, including lawsuits.

How have other organizations handled cancellations/refunds and what recourse do parents have?

Sounds like the parents are getting shafted. Not sure what they can do about it though. We are talking $150 per player in this type of scenario. Not worth going to small claims court on per family basis.

That is ridiculous to charge the families for umpires.

I can see charging the families for the jerseys, that makes sense to me. Kids want there own numbers, name, etc.

25% credit seems like a pretty poor way of handling the situation.
 
Feb 20, 2019
109
28
How much money are we talking here?

Varies by age, but around $150, with the offer being a 25% credit to a future season.

I think small claims court is a good way to go on an individual level. If there is some way to go after them on a group level, even better.

Balls are not a sunk cost as they can be used next year. Deduct that from their claim.

Uniforms can be used next year, so you shouldn't have to pay that next year either.

Umpire fees? Nope, nope, nope, nice try. Those do not get paid out until the services are rendered.

There is very little money an organization will have spent up to this point that should not be refundable -- and the organization should be fighting to get that back from any vendor they paid it to. Any money they are claiming is gone has gone to paying the people running it.

If they do not want to refund anything, then 100% of your money paid should cover the next season and you should not pay a dime then.

Thanks, I know you've run an organization before, so I was hoping to get your perspective. I suspect you're dead-on with the assumption of where the money is going. We're talking about close to $500K across the entire organization.

I can see some expenses that could have been expended by an organization and I am assuming you are talking about something akin to a recreation league here rather than a travel organization.

Balls - eh, maybe but you didn't use them so you carry them forward to the next season. Still an expense but pretty crappy to charge them out.

Uniforms - if generic and no names on the back, etc then they can be used next year. Names on the back might be problematic but if you are going to charge the parents for them, then the uniform should be given to the player.

Umpire fees - not hardly.

The only two things that I could think of that could be absolutely justified would be insurance (if a rebate could not be negotiated with the provider) and possibly deposits for the fields (which some localities are really butts about refunding). Those are a stretch though.

Yes, this is a recreational "non-profit" league that uses city-owned fields for games and practices.

Balls - these are league-issued game balls of fairly low quality. I can buy the same quality, at RETAIL price, for less than $50/dozen. Yes, they can definitely be used next season. But, let's just say they expense that from the registration fee. $50/12 players = $4.17

Uniforms - jerseys are made of cheap material that barely lasts one season. Still, these were customized, sized and ordered. They were given to players, but hardly justify the cost of the registration. I'm pretty sure the org takes a big cut from uniform orders. I'd conservatively estimate uniform (hat and shirt) out-of-pocket costs at $30 per player.

Umpire fees - Completely agree that this an unjustifiable expense as no games were played. Any pre-season training should be excluded.

They did mention insurance and I don't really have any experience with league-wide insurance policies, but I think USSSA charges about $150 per team for a full year. $150/12 players = $12.50

So, based on the above, I would think $100 REFUND, not a credit, would be a very reasonable expectation from the league.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Different sport but I participated on the board for our local soccer organization when my daughter was younger. A great deal of our annual budget was spent on field maintenance with the #1 expense being grass cutting for the 8 fields we used. I am no longer involved in the league, but I would assume they are still going to try to maintain the fields, even if they don't play. Perhaps they can be mowed less often, but there is still going to be some cost. When I was involved in the league, we did our best to keep costs low, and as a result, we didn't retain much of a balance in the bank account. If the league was forced to refund 100% of the registration fees and assume all the cost on their own, the league I am referring to would probably shut down completely. I think a refund is in order, but not 100%.
 
Aug 3, 2019
49
18
Not sure where you are but as a non-profit there are limits to how much money they can carry from one year to the next. They may not legally be allow to keep the money if there is no season, but again that would be based on your location.

As a board member of our local rec and travel program, we have the complete opposite approach. Our Board discussed refunding all fees and went as far as trying to figure out if we can hold a "rec league" in the fall for free. We felt it would better for the community to play ball and have something to do then sit around and us keeping everyone $100. Our financial situation is such we can consider a program like that. Better to gain players and be a good neighbor in the community then make a buck.
 

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