W. C. Fields once said, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No sense being a damn fool about it."
After a year of disappointing growth and participation, TurfNet has pulled the plug on TurfNetSports as a standalone entity.
"We launched TurfNetSports in January, 2013, with all good intentions, figuring what has worked well in golf turf for twenty years should be successful in sports turf management as well," said Peter McCormick, founder of TurfNet. "We have always had a few handfuls of professional-level sports turf managers as regular TurfNet members, and all of them as well as many others encouraged us to take the product to sports turf. We did not fully appreciate how different the two markets are," he continued.
"We quickly found that much of what resonates with golf course superintendents doesn't necessarily appeal or apply in sports turf," McCormick said. "Job listings, for instance, are huge on TurfNet.com, but jobs above entry-level laborers in sports turf are few and far between. Used equipment is also big on our golf site, but most of the municipal or school facilities in sports turf can't buy or sell used items. That was two big strikes against us."
Sports turf education was universally desired, but not without it's challenges... and as long as it was free.
"Sports turf is very stratified in its levels of competence and education," McCormick said. "You have custodians at the lowest levels who have little interest beyond mowing grass, all the way to highly-trained turf managers (many of whom are former golf course superintendents) at the college and professional levels managing sand-based fields, in some cases with subsurface heat and artificial lighting. It's tough to offer a schedule of Webinars without boring some or being over the heads of others. Arguably the greatest need is at the lower levels, but they have little-to-no discretionary budget."
All paid members of TurfNetSports have been offered a free year of membership at TurfNet.com. A Sports Turf Management conference has been established in the TurfNet Forum, and at least six sports-turf related Webinars will continue to be offered through TurfNet University each year. Former TurfNetSports members will have access to all TurfNet University webinars, and regular TurfNet members will also be able to attend the sports-related events.
"Our decision was based on both the apparent lack of interest at the paid membership level and on the fact that our staff is flat out as it is," McCormick concluded. "Every business today must continually reexamine its offerings and allocation of resources and adjust when necessary. In this case, it was time to 'cut bait' and focus on our core business."