GABL Families,
We are reaching out to everyone in our GABL family letting you know that the GABL Homefield location is no longer in operation. 45 days ago, GABL received a Termination of Lease letter from the president of Homefield, Dustin Lewis. GABL has leased that space since October of 2020, and purchased and installed courts and goals as a solution during the pandemic to continue to provide youth basketball opportunities when school district and other facilities were unavailable. What was meant to be a 5-month lease for the 2020 winter season ended up being a 4 year stay. This abruptly ended when we received the termination of lease letter from Mr. Lewis.
It is unfortunate that no conversation was had before GABL received the letter. We would have loved the opportunity to create an exit plan to not affect the programs we provide for thousands of children in the Kansas City area. We are fortunate that the beginning of August is a slow time for youth basketball as we take some time to let our participants enjoy the last part of their summer and prepare for the new school year. We had our last summer league games there on Sunday and now it is an empty slab of concrete, we had a fast 3 day move.
As we say goodbye to Homefield, we are reminded of the thousands of practices and games we have been able to host there for our athletes. We have been using school district and other private facilities for our programs while also having Homefield, and we will continue to use those facilities. We are also in the process of finding a GABL controlled facility where we can host games, practices, camps and training so be on the lookout for that announcement!
Big shout out to Fry-Wagner Moving and Storage, a Kansas City born company, for helping GABL with the move on such short notice. As you can assume, there are major costs and logistics when moving a 26,000 square foot facility with little notice. Fry-Wagner stepped up and became a Champion Sponsor of GABL to offset the costs associated with the move. Without their help, that cost would have been absorbed by our participating families in our program fees.
Today, August, 1 2024, is the start of GABL’s 50th year of service to our community (GABL’s fiscal year starts August 1 annually). We will be celebrating that all year long with special programs, a 50th Anniversary Honors Program as well as a commemorative 50th Anniversary logo that we will use the entire year. We thank you for being a part of the GABL family and look forward to another great year in youth basketball!!