Bellwether Year for ATA Trapshooting

Look at the trends. Can we objectively see where our sport is going? There is not much time.

Considering the recent ATA minutes how much lower can our biggest shoot get and survive? How much smaller can our membership get and organization still survive?
We have venues that are doing great other areas not so well.

Our leaders had better have a plan quick or no plan at all. Failure to act at this time will be disaster.

 

ATA has been on the verge of collapse for decades. Yet, it's still alive.

 

I believe the ATA will remain a viable association as long as the member clubs continue to throw registered targets. The AtA may not be as large as it once was or as large as it is now but it will still be here. We as shooters may have to drive further to large competitions but we will still have them. The cost to shoot will in all probability increase due to less participation ( increase target cost due to less production, ammunition, lodgings and fuel)

 

Still alive, still has a pulse, still breathing on its own but, Brain Dead.

Flyersarebest

Edit: Brain dead?
I thought about it and should have added the ? There have been patients that have come out of it and returned to their former selves.

 

It appears that the powers to be feel that they are presently doing the right thing(s) for the ATA or do they have another agenda? I certainly don't know. Our sport at the present time is certainly not growing. Some individual clubs are attempting to increase the registered targets thrown but that is about all I see at the present time.

 

5 months later and here we are. This must be part of the plan.

 

The ATA can (should be able to) survive and operate on the daily fees, of course there will have to be considerable cut backs in the operation and the presidential gun give away program ... The clubs collect the fees and for the State Association and the ATA at every registered shoot and it adds up at the end of the year ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

You know the number 12 millions dollars that some on the other site brandish about that the ATA has, well one of my sources pointed out to me that not all that money is available for everything. He told me that some (he didn't know exact amounts) of the ATA's money is to be used for only specific programs and earmarks. Likewise the HOF has money that was donated in wills that can only be used for specific things, so according to him the amounts claimed aren't actually amounts of dollars available.

I was asking him about the HOF building and if the trustees borrowed any money to build the pole barn or if they had the 2.1 million on hand. He didn't know but is making some inquiries for me.

Has anyone heard what the HOF trustees plan to do if Sparta closes for good? I asked him if they could sell donated stuff to pay off a building or not, again he didn't know. I also asked who was on the hook if the building was never used. There are so many questions which no trustees has addresed with answers. When I have more time I'll post a picture of the HOF building that was drawn up by an architect for the Cardinal Center. I have it someplace, that was 2010 I believe, if the Trustees would have accepted that offer from the CC and OSTA the HOF would have been in operation for at least 4 seasons in a building and on property that they owned. Instead it looks to me like donor's money has been pissed away in the same way the government does with tax money everyday. Sad. Brad

 

Brad is on the right track for the $12,000,000!

 

The State of Illinois invested 31.4 (31.7, depending on where you look to find the numbers) million dollars (to date) in the construction of WSRC, the 50 million dollars that everyone always talks about was a projected 10 year completion at a final cost of 50 million barring any over runs, so this past year there was obviously 1.6 million dollars worth of improvements yet to be made ... I talked to some friends who attended the grand this year and they said the black top is in terrible shape, lifting and crumbling, that when they laid down the roads they graded and laid out the black top without a base, which would pretty much be the reason for the deterioration already ... The WSRC had camping spots all around them that were not being used or utilized so that can't be good for the bottom line either ... The latest news is that the facility will be closed as of Oct 1, 2015 until farther notice, so that's not looking good unless they strike some kind of a deal for the future ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

Here we are a year later. My original post on the mark. We will find out how much lower the org can get and still remain alive. As the year has gone by it has become increasingly clear that none of this is about the sport. Never was about the sport.

It has been about protecting a few and their special interest.