By Luz Moreno-Lozano, KUT News

Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department plans to stop running some adult sports leagues, and find an outside company to run them. But that won’t happen as quickly as they thought.

After the adoption of the city’s $6.6 billion budget last month, the parks department announced it would cancel city-led adult indoor basketball and volleyball leagues, saving about $400,000 per year.

Several other programs were cut, including youth and teen outreach programs, some other recreation and senior programs, and the lending library, according to parks officials.

The cuts happened despite a $5 million increase to the overall parks budget, which mostly accounts for salaries and admin needs. More than $1 million was also set aside for city pools and parkland maintenance.

But this week, following backlash from people who play indoor sports at the Austin Recreation Center, the city reversed course, announcing that the basketball and volleyball programs will continue.

The leagues remain under the city for now and will be outsourced in the future.

“The city needs additional time to find a suitable third-party vendor so the leagues will continue until further notice,” the city wrote in a statement.

Finding community

Every Monday night for the last 25 years, Leslie Ivey and her husband have played indoor volleyball at the Austin Recreation Center.

“We started playing at an outdoor sand Friday night fun league,” Ivey said. “And we were looking for something more competitive and not in the Austin climate all the time.”

As their family has grown to include three children, Ivey said they have continued to dedicate their Monday nights to volleyball.

“Even through crazy kid schedules and all of that, it’s really important,” Ivey said. “It’s a date night for us. It’s a cheap date night, too, because if you look at the cost per league per person, it’s 5, 6, 7 bucks a night to play. You can’t get a cheaper date than that.”

That doesn’t include the reward at the end of the night: a cold drink and snack at the nearby pub.

Ivey said it’s been good for their marriage, their mental and physical health, and their socialization. She said the league has allowed them to form a community with the people they play with each week.

“We love it,” she said.

Alina Scott, who plays for another team in the league, said players become part of each other’s lives.

“The team that I currently play with, we’ve played together for almost three years now,” she said. “We’ve gone through different life cycles with each other. We’ve seen graduations and weddings and trips.”

Many who play in the league shared the same story, saying it gives them a sense of community.

Priced out

While the city said it will save money by outsourcing the leagues, players worry they won’t get the same financial relief.

Playing indoor volleyball for an eight-week season costs $250 per team right now. Each team has six players, not including substitutes.

Pete Signore, who is captain of his volleyball team, said it comes out to about $42 per player. He fears if the city starts using outside companies, like Austin Sports and Social Club or Sportskind, some people will be priced out.

“Those leagues and companies tend to charge a lot more money,” Signore said. “I think Austin has had an affordability issue for many, many years, and in the last couple of years, in particular, it feels like things are ramping up even worse.”

For example, an indoor volleyball league through Sportskind currently costs $725 per team, nearly three times what the city charges. Teams competing in Austin Sports and Social Club leagues pay $529 per team.

KrystaLea Phillips, who plays volleyball on Monday nights with Ivey, said the shift to private companies running the leagues is disappointing.

“Austin has already changed so much,” she said. “Keep Austin — just a little piece of it — weird. … Everybody is moving here, and everything is increasing in price.”

Several others said they felt blindsided by the decision, having not been given the chance to give feedback.

Austin Parks Director Jesús Aguirre said during a Parks and Recreation Board meeting last month that the decision was not up to him.

“It was one of those decisions of many in that we submitted this list [for proposed cuts]. Then the city manager selects those, working with the budget office and working with the council,” Aguirre said. “Then, of course, the council has the opportunity to make changes before they adopt a budget.”

What’s ahead

Registration for the fall leagues will not open until later in September, so teams have time to decide if they will play for another season. After that, things could change as the city searches for a company.

Bri Longoria, who plays volleyball on Mondays, said her team is not sure how they will proceed once a company is selected.

“I don’t think we’ve discussed it,” Longoria said. “Like are we boycotting it or are we just going to suck it up and play because we want to continue to play? To stay healthy, to stay active, for our mental health and our physical health.”

The future of the league remains uncertain as there is no timeline of how soon that transition could occur, but the Austin City Council will have to sign off on it.