Legion national organization cancels all baseball sponsorship
FRITZ NEIGHBOR | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 10 months AGO
SPORTS EDITOR Fritz Neighbor is the Sports Editor for the Daily Inter Lake. He oversees sports coverage across the Flathead Valley, including high school athletics, youth sports, and regional competitions. In his leadership role, he helps shape the newspaper’s sports coverage and editorial direction. Fritz’s column, Full Count, taps into his decades’ long career covering Montana sports. You’ll also see Fritz sharing his thoughts and insights on the Big Sky Now podcast. IMPACT: Fritz’s work celebrates the athletes and teams that bring Northwest Montana communities together. | May 11, 2020 9:51 AM
The American Legion announced Sunday that it is withdrawing all sponsorship for Legion baseball activities for 2020, but the upcoming season for Montana teams appears to still be on.
The organization sent out a release retracting previous statements, noting that in addition to cancelling its national and regional tournaments, “The American Legion National Organization has shut down all sponsorship and all involvement in baseball for the 2020 season.
“(It) means that those baseball teams that wish to continue playing 2020 season baseball shall be participating in a sporting event not sponsored, nor endorsed in any manner, by the American Legion. … but sponsored and endorsed solely by the group the team is named.”
Ryan Malmin, head coach for the Kalispell Lakers program, noted that the door remained open. Insurance that the American Legion normally provides will have to be replaced; a state-wide meeting of Legion coaches and administrators Sunday was positive.
“We still plan to continue on,” Malmin said afterward. “We serve over 1,000 kids in Montana for baseball. It’s our plan to follow through with that.
Everybody is still committed to the kids of Montana.”
The release noted that all Legion fees that had been paid will be reimbursed to its programs, and that while North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin had previously canceled their 2020 seasons South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming were planning to play.
“The complete cancellation of the 2020 American Legion National Organization baseball means there is no… program ‘national rules,’ nor are there ‘national guidelines,’ ” the release reads. “These departments that conduct this 2020 baseball season program will need to determine their rules, guidelines, schedules, insurance coverage, etc.”
Carl Hennell, a former Lakers coach now on Montana’s Legion committee, said the decision came amid liability concerns. Another meeting is planned Tuesday to address the insurance issues.
Malmin and the Lakers began practices at all three levels — Class AA, A and B — last week, and hoped to have games Memorial Day weekend.
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