There are plenty of under used municipal and school pools across the country that could be bought or managed by an outside organization, just for the promise of occasional public access. USMS is not loaded with money, but has lots of knowledge and experienced people who could pull off a stunt like this. One club in Indiana has done just this thing by taking over a county pool that was in peril of closing because it could not afford to operate it. As far as I know, the agreement is still in force and the USMS club is still paying for operations by its own management and programming.
San Diego has three public pools but cannot afford to keep them all open at once, so they have one or two open and close the other one (or two) on a rotating basis. Not a good way to keep programs filled.
The title of the thread is misleading, I am sorry for that and cannot change it. The intention is for USMS to possibly manage OR buy existing pools that are underused. It is possible to get a facility for free, if you agree to certain terms. My proposal is based on the idea that USMS will not be foolish enough to agree to just anything or buy a pool in a flood zone, Cartel war zone or on top of a skyscraper.
Dues should not be affected at all, because operating money should be provided for by program money at the facility. If it only breaks even, we have won a huge victory in keeping one more pool open.
I fully realize that until we operate or own all municipal pools across the country (if one is to dream, one should dream BIG), many members not in proximate driving distance would not have th opportunity to use the pool(s). One of a large number of opportunities would be to install new clubs and new members, neither of which are flooding our rolls in the last 5 years.
Now this makes a lot more sense that what you are getting at is more clear. Without upfront capital, operating expenses are probably not all that bad, especially if the pool is in a shared resource facility (e.g. a municipal civic center), where some operating costs would be reduced. I would suggest that perhaps management of teh pool, rather than ownership, would be a better way to go about this. That would have the potential to reduce the cost to the owner, while still allowing the community resource. Team dues could fill in some gaps. I think there may be some opportunity there as municipalities are going away from city run sports leagues to church and other non-profit run ones.
Here's an example. City near me in an adjoining county has a pool. It has a bubble on it. An older one. My kids' club team used to use it, first as a 5 day per week satellite pool, then a 2 day a week. This past year, the bubble was reported to have failed, and be irrepairable. We found a structure for a tent, used, for a really small price, I think $40K, and presented it to the city. The said said "no, thanks." All kinds of local high schools started raising funds, and working to try to get the bubble replaced. There may be 6 high schools that use that pool. Eventually, the bubble miraculously worked, and it was put up, albeit a couple of months later than normal. Speculation is that the city didn't want to deal with it. If that speculation is right, then it may be ripe for another entity to take over it.
The title of the thread is misleading, I am sorry for that and cannot change it. The intention is for USMS to possibly manage OR buy existing pools that are underused. It is possible to get a facility for free, if you agree to certain terms. My proposal is based on the idea that USMS will not be foolish enough to agree to just anything or buy a pool in a flood zone, Cartel war zone or on top of a skyscraper.
Dues should not be affected at all, because operating money should be provided for by program money at the facility. If it only breaks even, we have won a huge victory in keeping one more pool open.
I fully realize that until we operate or own all municipal pools across the country (if one is to dream, one should dream BIG), many members not in proximate driving distance would not have th opportunity to use the pool(s). One of a large number of opportunities would be to install new clubs and new members, neither of which are flooding our rolls in the last 5 years.
Now this makes a lot more sense that what you are getting at is more clear. Without upfront capital, operating expenses are probably not all that bad, especially if the pool is in a shared resource facility (e.g. a municipal civic center), where some operating costs would be reduced. I would suggest that perhaps management of teh pool, rather than ownership, would be a better way to go about this. That would have the potential to reduce the cost to the owner, while still allowing the community resource. Team dues could fill in some gaps. I think there may be some opportunity there as municipalities are going away from city run sports leagues to church and other non-profit run ones.
Here's an example. City near me in an adjoining county has a pool. It has a bubble on it. An older one. My kids' club team used to use it, first as a 5 day per week satellite pool, then a 2 day a week. This past year, the bubble was reported to have failed, and be irrepairable. We found a structure for a tent, used, for a really small price, I think $40K, and presented it to the city. The said said "no, thanks." All kinds of local high schools started raising funds, and working to try to get the bubble replaced. There may be 6 high schools that use that pool. Eventually, the bubble miraculously worked, and it was put up, albeit a couple of months later than normal. Speculation is that the city didn't want to deal with it. If that speculation is right, then it may be ripe for another entity to take over it.
