Empire State Games lose state funds; fees added, events cut
All Open, Masters and Seniors competitions: suspended. Scholastic boxing, fencing, and shooting: suspended.
Imposed for the first-time: fees of $285 for high-school athletes in the summer Empire State Games and up to $100 for the Winter Games.
Almost every aspect of the Empire State Games is touched by plans, formally unveiled Friday, that make drastic cuts as part of the scramble to close New York’s budget deficit.
Carol Ash, commissioner of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said the only way to keep the Games going right now is to sharply narrow the competition.
“We have sought to strike an appropriate balance that allows the Games to continue for high school and physically challenged athletes, while also helping the state address its record $15.4 billion deficit,” she said in a prepared statement.
The agency provides the major source of funding for the Games.
As for the 2010 Summer Games in Buffalo, funding is up in the air, too. Ash said her office will be “pursuing private sponsorship with the hope of reinstating the suspended competitions, as well as revisiting the new fee structure.”
Eileen Larrabee, a parks department spokesperson, said it is too soon to determine if any state funding will be restored by then. The Games went from receiving about $2.7 million from Albany to nothing for the coming fiscal year.
“We recognized the times are changing,” Larrabee said. “Adding support from the private sector is appropriate.”
She said the agency has made cuts to all aspects of the services it provides.
“Every aspect of what we do has been impacted,” she said.
The Games, one of the largest amateur athletic programs in the nation, features nearly 6,000 of New York’s finest athletes participating in 28 Olympicstyle sports.
One organizer of the Games said Ash’s cuts were too deep. Lou Reuter, western regional director for the Empire State Games, said elimination of state funding constituted far more than the 10 percent cut that Gov. David A. Paterson sought for state agencies.
“They’re preserving it [the Games] but in a vastly weakened way,” Reuter said. “It’s a travesty. They’re turning it into a third-rate competition. It’s not an expensive program and it has vast value, both to the athletes and the host communities.”
Organizers had feared losing state funding and recently unveiled plans for downsized games in response. The state plan announced Friday, however, was more drastic than they anticipated.
Among the changes:
• The Summer Games: July 2009, Mid-Hudson Valley. A $285 fee for scholastic- level athletes will be charged to play. The fee will cover the cost of room, board and local transportation during the four-day event. Scholastic boxing, fencing, and shooting will be suspended for the 2009 summer games. There will be no open or masters competitions or seniors games.
• The Winter Games: February 2010, Lake Placid. Scholastic athletes will continue to pay for their own meals and lodging, as they traditionally have done, and they also will be asked to pay a fee of up to $100. There will be no open or masters competitions or senior games.
• The February 2009 Winter Games will be held as planned with no fee. However, bobsled, luge and skeleton events are suspended.
• The Games for the Physically Challenged: In May 2009, Long Island, and October 2009, Brockport, will continue for athletes ages 5 to 21. However, activities and events are being “streamlined,” according to the parks department. Details were not immediately available.
Reuter said organizers will continue their campaign to rally public support in hopes of pressuring officials to give them some funding.
“We will not stop,” he said.
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