(Clearwater Fl.) May 16, 2016 The dramatic rise in childhood obesity and childhood diabetes is a national health crisis. Diet, nutrition, and physical activity are considered vitally important to addressing the problem, but how? How do you tackle a nationwide inactivity epidemic? The answer, according to Dev Pathik and Jason Clement, CEO’s of The Sports Facilities Advisory and The Sports Facilities Management, is to “think small” by equipping local governments with financing solutions to develop new venues and to improve ways to better manage underutilized sport and recreation centers. Partnering with the Aspen Institute Project Play is a key strategy of SFA|SFM.
Dev, Jason and their teams at The Sports Facilities Advisory (SFA) and The Sports Facilities Management (SFM) are no strangers to dreaming big. Since 2003, the firms have helped plan, fund, and optimize the use of more than $6 Billion in parks and recreation and community sports assets. These assets serve the critical role of increasing access to sports and physical activity for children across the nation that otherwise may not be possible.
Some of these include large scale developments like Rocky Top Sports World, the Myrtle Beach Sports Center and others that include hotels and other private sector tourism industry partners seeking to take advantage of the growth in the Sports Tourism Industry. These developments are funded through hotel tax collections much as convention centers. Unlike convention centers, sports tournament venues can have thousands of hours of underutilized inventory during weekday and non-event weekends which can expand parks and recreation offerings without over-burdening the Parks and Recreation or general obligation budgets to build new venues.
SFM CEO Jason Clement said “Sports tourism project planning, funding, and management is just one of the ways we are living our mission, we are leading other major initiatives to help local governments finance new parks and recreation facilities without having to use general obligation funds. These programs are turning ideas into reality and will lead to millions of hours of play for kids that might not otherwise have this same access to sport.” In response to the SFIA reporting an uptick in sports participation numbers, Clement said, “It’s pretty major and we are seeing the fruits of our labor with facility openings all over the country.
Furthering their commitment to improve the health of the communities they serve, both SFA CEO/ Founder Dev Pathik and SFM CEO/ Founder Jason Clement will attend the Aspen Institute’s Project Play Summit in Washington D.C. this week to discuss a new project funding tool and to share ideas with other thought leaders. In 2015 SFA|SFM and Aspen Project Play agreed to partner to develop an online funding tool that will assist local governments and citizens to identify ways to fund new parks and recreation developments or improvements to existing facilities. The Aspen Institute’s Project Play was formed under the leadership of Executive Director and ESPN Correspondent Tom Farrey, to improve access to sport for all.
During the Summit, Pathik will introduce the “Think Small” Panel which provides discussion related to local solutions rather than large national solutions that require major policies change at the state or federal level. Pathik said, “This is the session we love the most. It’s where the rubber hits the road. It will be led by an incredible team of panelists and will respond to the question – What can I do today and who do I need to gather in my community to improve access to sport?”
Other attendees of the Aspen Institute Project Play summit include Tennis Icon Billie Jean King, NBA great Alonso Morning, MLB’s Marquis Grissom, and first lady Michelle Obama representing her Let’s Move initiative.
For more information about the Sports Facilities Advisory and its suite of planning-funding-opening-management services, visit http://www.sportadvisory.com/
About Sports Facilities Advisory:
The Sports Facilities Advisory & Sports Facilities Management (SFA | SFM) are leading resources in recreation facility planning and management. Since 2003 the company has helped more than 800 communities to plan, fund, or optimize more than $6 Billion in community based sport and recreation assets. SFA | SFM’s mission is to improve the health and economic vitality of communities. For more information, visit http://www.sportadvisory.com/
Media Inquiries: Ashley Whittaker, Marketing Director
Phone 727.474.3845 ext. 118
awhittaker@sportadvisory.com
