News Detail

7

May, 2020

FLL 2020 Season has been cancelled.

I regret to inform you that due to the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the impact it has had on our community, the Freeland Little League board of directors has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 season. This decision was not made lightly and we are all very disappointed that we had to make this choice. We felt that it was in the best interest of our players, families and our volunteers to cancel practices and games in order to ensure everyone’s safety.

The following factors led to this decision: 
- We don't feel that we can safely maintain proper social distancing guidelines with 400+ families and 9 fields of play

- In Michigan we will not be allowed to have increased size gatherings and all outdoor recreation until we reach at least "Phase Five" status which will require continued reduction in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and by the time we anticipate reaching that threshold we don't feel that families will want to participate later into the Summer to complete a season and we don't have the volunteers available to run any sort of league in the Fall season.

- No effective methods to ensure a sanitized ball/equipment can be used at all times

- We don't feel comfortable taking on the liability of anyone in our community becoming sick due to exposure during a Little League event. 

As a part of this decision, our league has implemented the following refund policy:
- We intend to offer refunds for registration fees except for the three-dollar non-refundable processing fee administered by our website provider and any credit card processing fees as we are unable to recover these costs in any way.

- We are currently looking into all of our options to provide refunds, please allow us a little bit of time to get this figured out. We will follow up with a detailed refund policy in the near future. Know that it is our intent to return as much as we possibly can to families and we are working to ensure that we are doing this to the best of our ability.

- We will be contacting all FLL sponsors separately to discuss options on sponsorship funds received.

This decision has also had a financial impact on our operations. Concessions was expected to provide ~$4k to help cover costs of equipment and field maintenance for the league. To ensure that future seasons are successful we will still need to cover field maintenance costs for the season which is expected to be ~$10k+. Without this maintenance, in addition to the lack of use, the fields would quickly become unusable and would require a huge effort to repair next year. We will also have some cost for utilities though we are hopeful that those will be minimal. We had also already kicked off some concession stand renovations that we will continue to move forward with. If you are interested in allowing the league to keep your registration fee as a donation to the league, as we hope to return to the field next season, please let us know. Donations are greatly appreciated and helpful to our continued mission to provide Little League opportunities to our community.

Even though we won't be able to play ball we are hoping that the restrictions are loosened up later in the Summer and will allow for us to hold a Fall Field Clean-Up Day. There are a number of projects we would love to tackle with the help of volunteers to continue to improve the Little League experience for our community. Please watch for future communications with those details included.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time! We had hoped to be able to have a season this spring/summer but unfortunately we just do not feel comfortable doing so at this time. Please be safe out there!! We hope to be back together, playing ball, sooner than later. Thank you for your continued support of our league, and we hope you and your family continue to stay safe during these difficult times.

Sincerely,
Chad Schuette
Freeland Little League President

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