News Update- March 11, 2010

The following is to clarify with facts the ESPN/Premier National Tournament. We know there will be many comments and opinions but we have no intention of arguing with the detractors who will state their views. We thank all who have made positive comments.

The very first thoughts of this venture included the hope of getting a company such as ESPN to participate in the event. As we had our early discussions with them, it was clear that they wanted to “own” the tournament so that they were sure it would meet their standards and that they had the freedom to cover it as they saw fit. We on the other hand had to be certain that we could control the on-field and tournament specific aspects of the event, so that we did not again have
people who do not know the game as we do, making decisions that would adversely affect what the teams and coaches, who will make this a great tournament, wanted and were assured would be delivered.

Many meetings and discussions were needed to satisfy both parties in order to make this work.

We signed the contract last week and while there remain some issues to be worked out the following is in place.

ESPN/ESPN Rise will own the tournament. It is their right to name, publicize, promote, and acquire sponsors. They will Internet stream and/or provide a game tracker type application for
all of the games; they will televise some number of games, maybe only the HS Division Final, maybe more HS Division games, maybe the 16U Final. They will provide videographers to do interviews and such, they will be responsible for all of the costs and they will collect all of the fees.

Premier Girls Fastpitch, Inc. will own the qualifiers. With the assistance of the PGF Coaches Committee we will choose the teams for the Championship tournament and setup and run the qualifiers, we will do the tournament draw, we will do the opening ceremony, we will do the schedule, with their input as to what fits their needs. We have control of the city facilities and we will oversee the actual tournament as we would have without their ownership.

That Committee is Jim Barsalona, Jonathan Lampl, Bill Conroy, Don Minard, Bruce Richardson, Dan Hay, Gary Haning with Garland Cooper from ESPN.

Dan, Don, Bruce, Bill and Gary have done the bulk of the work in dealing with ESPN. Jim, Jonathan and Bill have worked to set up quality qualifiers and ESPN will be represented at the qualifiers, as will the PGF be represented at the Championship.

It is our belief that this will become a positive event for Fastpitch softball, we will need many volunteers at the various venues and we will need your support to show ESPN that people do care about the game. As we get closer to the summer, we hope to initiate a campaign to flood ESPN with letters, in the hope of getting the maximum possible television exposure.

The finals for both age groups will be at Col Bill Barber Stadium in Irvine, as it is the only real
softball stadium in OC (other than CSUF) and it is built to deal with television cameras.

Gary Haning/Dan Hay