Jill Cowan, and Melanie Balakit

The Tennessean

Young figure skaters and hockey players were left scrambling to find new places to hone their skills Thursday, following the abrupt closure of a popular — though financially struggling — Williamson County athletic facility that many of them described as a second home.

Though the owners of A-Game Sportsplex in Franklin had said months ago that they had found a buyer for the property and that the facility's sports club tenants must eventually move out, athletes and their parents thought they had until at least the spring to do so.

But relations between the owners and their volleyball and hockey club tenants soured.

And when the facility finally closed on Thursday, players — and members of the ice hockey community in particular — said they were stunned by the abrupt closure. A Franklin police cruiser even blocked access Thursday morning. Tearful youth wondered where they would get future ice time.

Dozens of parents and children rallied later Thursday night to try and keep the complex open. They chanted "Let us play!" and "Save our rink!" as they marched from CoolSprings Galleria to A-Game. An online petition was also created to reopen the complex.

"It was totally without warning. I don't know what's going to happen now," said Shelby Tull, a 16-year-old figure skater, her voice quivering Thursday morning. "I have a competition in two weeks that I'm supposed to be training for, and figure skating is the kind of thing you're supposed to practice every day if you want to do it."

The loss of the facility, one of very few ice rinks in the region, was frustrating and disappointing, Predators CEO Sean Henry said.

“The disturbing part is how we’ve heard all week how they’re going to stay open,” Henry said. “The sheer volume of those kids who have tournaments coming up … These kids need ice time, court time. It’s just a real shame. It’s more than unfortunate.”

Centennial Sportsplex could help, Henry said, and so could the Ford Ice Center, which the Predators operate.

“Whether we expand the hours to 24 hours a day or eight days a week, both Centennial and (Ford) will work to keep these programs alive," Henry said.

All Junior Predators team practices will take place at Ford Ice Center, but plans are unclear for other hockey teams.

In a statement Thursday, the complex's current owners, Sports Land Group LLC, said that they had enjoyed providing a place for young athletes in recent years, but that they were forced to close the facility as it continued to hemorrhage money.

Youth league impact

The center's closure could have a major impact on the Greater Nashville Area Scholastic Hockey league's upcoming playoffs.

“We’re juggling steak knives," said Ravenwood’s head coach, former Nashville Predators defenseman Dan Keczmer. "We’re still trying to make up games from when it snowed."

The loss of A-Game's ice facilities dealt a major blow to a region where rumors about possible new rinks are plentiful, but concrete plans are in short supply.

"It will definitely change the landscape of hockey and skating-related activities for years to come," he said.

Trigg Wilkes, general manager of Franklin Fieldhouse, said he started receiving calls from concerned parents of volleyball players almost immediately after a judge’s decision in an ongoing legal battle between A-Game's owners and the sports tenants was announced Tuesday.

“It’s unreal," Wilkes said. "Our phones are blowing up."

Wilkes said he plans to build a new 50,000-square-foot facility on 5 acres adjacent to the existing Franklin Fieldhouse building. The new facility would hold eight volleyball courts in addition to the eight courts already inside Franklin Fieldhouse.

But the plans are on hold until March 31.

For now Wilkes said he is doing all he can to accommodate volleyball games and tournaments. Four tournaments originally scheduled for A-Game will be held over the next seven weeks at the facility, with the next event set for Feb. 27-28, Wilkes said.

The legal battle

The closure of A-Game came two days after a Williamson County judge lifted a temporary measure that had forced the beleaguered property to stay open for athletes.

That decision cleared the way for the property’s planned sale to a Cincinnati-based developer, Al. Neyer LLC, which is slated to convert the 175,000-square-foot building on Franklin’s Gothic Court into office space.

Sports Land Group LLC includes five investors and has owned the building since paying more than $8 million for it in 2008. In addition to A-Game Sportsplex, tenants include STAR Physical Therapy.

"We are particularly disappointed that the facility must close on such short notice and in a manner that disrupts the ongoing sports seasons," the owner's statement said. "But Sports Land Group has run out of options."

In court and in the statement, the group has said that the facility averages a monthly shortfall of more than $72,000 and has never generated a profit.

“The business is not sustainable,” the statement said.

The statement said power at the facility will remain on "for a few days," to allow tenants to make other arrangements.

"We remain hopeful that agreements may still be possible which would allow the sports seasons to run through March 31," the statement continued.

Later, in a second statement Thursday, the owners took issue with the way their dispute with tenants has played out.

"Efforts to resolve the issues have included proposals to provide financial assistance in relocating, to delay the transfer of the facility to allow the clubs to wind up their seasons, and to provide other incentives," the second statement said. "In our view, respectfully, Alliance and MDG have not worked with us toward a mutually satisfactory solution."

In a statement last year, A-Game co-owner Trevan Townsend said A-Game Sportsplex would operate until this spring.

But the transition turned rocky.

Alliance Volleyball Club and MDG Management, a hockey tenant, sued over their lease agreements with the owners after the owners of A-Game threatened to prohibit access to the property

In his memorandum on Tuesday, Williamson County Judge Michael W. Binkley wrote that the sports facility was losing more and more money by staying open and delaying the sale — which could put the facility at risk of foreclosure.

Still, Brad Guzda, a partner in MDG Management said on Thursday that he was angered and caught off guard by the situation.

"It was very surprising that we'd be locked out," he said..

Plans approved for offices on A-Game Sportsplex site

How A-Game closure might impact Nashville hockey

He said it was galling that the sportsplex's owners had agreed to a five-year lease with MDG and then decided to sell shortly afterward.

"There were a lot of long-term plans made," he said. "It's a special facility, in particular, because there's only four or five sheets of ice in the city and the facility represents two more ... and the only sheets of ice in Williamson County."

Alliance Volleyball Club director Jeff Wismer wrote to parents Thursday saying that the club's legal team views the closure as illegal.

"While this may be strictly a business matter for the A-Game ownership group, it is much more than that for the youth sports community," Wismer wrote in the email.

An attorney representing Alliance and MDG Management did not return requests for comment on Thursday.

Stunned parents, youth

Thursday morning, teens and parents milled around at the edge of the Franklin facility’s driveway, where a Franklin police cruiser blocked off access early in the morning. Parents and students trying to retrieve their equipment were escorted in one-by-one at the request of A-Game’s owners, police said.

Signs read “Facility closed,” and yellow tape was strung across the entrance.

Families returned to the driveway Thursday evening to protest, hoping A-Game owners would see the human impact of the closure.

They cheered and chanted, holding signs that read " What About Our Leases?" and "Save A-Game, Save Youth Volleyball."

Lanie Vantrease, 15, wore her Alliance Volleyball jacket and walked in the protest alongside her teammates. Vantrease's team is searching for a new place to practice.

"I'm really mad cause we weren't supposed to get kicked out for a while," Vantrease said. "We still have a lot of tournaments left in the season."

Despite the unknown, spirits were high at the protest.

"Our hope is that the county is going to wake up and see we need a facility like this in our community," said Michele Benoit, whose son attends the Southern Elite Sports Preparatory School housed in A-Game.

"We love our school. We really hope people step and say we need to keep this open," Benoit said.

Staff writers Collin Czarnecki, Shelley Mays, Natalie Alund and Cecil Joyce contributed to this report.