Merger FAQ

Why are we considering a merger?

 Here are some of the potential advantages of merging:

 -        Overall “numbers” and managing team sizes –  A large pool of players allows us to optimize team sizes based on the number of participants and available coaches.  As other sports options have become available in the area, we have seen a steady decline in the number of kids playing baseball and softball.  In 2016, we had a combined 64 players in our minors & Majors baseball levels.  As of 2021, there were only 45 minors & Majors players.  And of those 45.  That’s a nearly 30% reduction in the number of players in just the last 5 years, at a time when the overall population of the township saw an annual growth of ~0.7%.  To make matters even worse, 6 of the 45 players in 2021 were from outside Bushkill township and 7 were playing “up” at a higher level to make the numbers work.  Imagine if we did not have those 13 “extra” players.

-         Cost control – We would expect a merger to help keep costs down as we leverage a single larger organization to receive better pricing for insurance and bulk purchases of equipment & supplies.

-         Volunteers – Getting volunteers remains one of our biggest challenges…  A merger could help us better utilize the volunteers we have.

o   Administrative - As 3 separate organizations, there are several administrative tasks that each organization needs to do. Currently, these are being done by 3 different people (one at each organization).  Merging would allow some of these volunteers to refocus their efforts on other needs in the organization.

o   Coaching –  You’ve probably seen the pleas over the years looking for coaches.  We are such a small organization that in any given year, losing 1 or 2 coaches can leave us in a bind.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, we occasionally have more coaches than we can roster at some levels.    Again, having a larger pool of players and teams  would allow these discrepancies to be more easily leveled out.

o   General – Most of the general volunteer opportunities available at BTAA involve the concession stand and field clean up.  The other organizations have needs for field lining, maintenance, etc.  We would expect a merger to increase the pool of volunteers AND to increase the variety of volunteer opportunities available to everyone.

-         Earlier integration  - If the kids continue to play baseball & softball, they will eventually end up on a team comprised of kids from all over the Nazareth area.  Efforts have already been made in the Nazareth area to start promoting this through the Middle School Baseball Team, Middle School prep team and the Nazareth Junior Blue Eagles Softball program.  A merger at the younger ages would continue to further these efforts.

-         Other Opportunities available with greater numbers

o   T-ball and/or Rookies could possibly become an “in-house” program allowing us to better control the schedule… and helping to minimize travel at the younger ages

o   Additional playing opportunities – With a larger pool of players we could start to consistently offer more opportunities ( perhaps in-house tournament teams) for kids to play baseball together thru the summer without having to jump to a tournament team.

 The New Organization

Is this a new organization or would we just be joining an existing organization? – This would be a new organization.  The current name being considered is Nazareth Area Baseball & Softball Association (NABSA).  This organization would have a new leadership structure and new by-laws.

How would leadership of the new organization be determined? – These conversations are ongoing, but the conversations have revolved around creating a new board with equal representation from all merging organizations.  If necessary, traditional board positions could be turned in to “co-“ positions to allow for more representation.  Co-positions would exist for a prescribed period of time(2-3 years) after which time they would be filled via the normal election process.

How will the finances of the merging organizations be handled?  Are the organizations all "equal" with funds?  Are they all stable?  Is this merger a bailout? – All three organizations are stable. Obviously we are not all "equal" right now.  There are a few strategies being discussed to handle the merged funds.  

Will the registration costs increase?  We wouldn’t expect registration fees to change because of a merger.  In fact, for the last few years, BTAA and NAYBA have coordinated before the season to make sure our registration fees were the very similar.  There is hope that a merger could allow us to better control costs going forward through the following

-          Insurance – portions of our policy are based on the number of participants, but portions of our policy are fixed.  If we can distribute the fixed costs over more participants, it should decrease costs

-          Equipment & Materials – Some equipment & materials that we buy decrease in price when we buy them in larger quantities – hats & jerseys, game balls, paint & lime for fields, etc.

Will there be additional work bond requirements?  We would not expect the work bond requirements to increase.  As you know, Bushkill recently increased our bond to $150 and the volunteer requirement increased to two 2-hour activities.  Nazareth did not previously have a work bond requirement.  It’s possible that with an increased number of families, the work bond requirements might decrease after a merger.  It’s also possible that would be more “non-concession stand” opportunities to fulfill the work bond.

Team Formation

Would team sizes increase if we merged? One of the biggest challenges we have at BTAA in running our program is making the numbers work each year.  Each level of play has an optimal team size.  At Bushkill, every season, we have some levels of play where the number of players does not work and we have to rely on moving players up and signing up players from other areas to round out teams.  With a larger pool of kids, we would have more flexibility to optimize the team sizes.

How would a merger affect playing time?  For most of our players, the 2 biggest factors that affect playing time are team size and the rules of the league we are participating in.  Having a large pool of players to form teams would allow us greater flexibility to keep time sizes closer to optimal.  Regardless of whether we merge or not, we will still participate in the same leagues.  These leagues generally mandate playing time for each level of play.  For instance, at the Majors baseball level, players are required to play 3 innings unless the team has 14 players, and then the playing requirement drops to 2 innings.    At the 13/14 age level, there are no minimum playing time requirements.

How will teams be formed? Team formation would remain essentially the same.  The younger ages (T-ball & coach pitch) would be assigned to teams.  Older teams will be formed via draft.

Will there be super teams?  At the competitive levels, a draft process would be utilized in an effort to make teams as even as possible.  Having a large pool of kids would open some opportunities for the organization to field tournament teams for kids that want to play beyond the normal recreational season. 

Will Bushkill kids be kept together or intermixed?  We would expect teams to be Intermixed.  Considering that one of the major advantages of a merger is the ability to better optimize team size, that is only possible if look at the entire pool of players at each level.  If we tried to keep “Bushkill” teams in a larger organization we would either have the same problem with numbers that exists today, OR we would be asking a few kids to play on a “Nazareth” team… which doesn’t seem fair.

Will there be consistency of teams & coaches? There definitely would not be the same level of consistency that we currently have at Bushkill.  RIght now, we have so few teams and so few coaches, that a large percentage of our players seem to play for only one or two coaches their entire careers.   While there are many advantages to that, there can also be some disadvantages.

There is a belief that by merging organizations, the pool of volunteers will increase and it will allow us to devote some volunteers to focus on coaching development/training.  This would hopefully lead to a pool of coaches that are more consistent in their messaging and coaching abilities.  This is something we always wanted to do at Bushkill but have frankly never had enough volunteers to make it happen.

Where will practices and games be?  That would depend.  Teams could have practices and home games on any of the available fields in the Nazareth area (Bushkill, Nazareth, Lower Nazareth).  This would be very similar to how the soccer club operates.

Will we have to drive more for games & practices?  For most people it will probably result in a little more driving for practices. 

There are some levels where we anticipate some improvements in driving.  For instance, at T-ball, a merged organization would have enough teams that we could run an “in-house” program.  Last year, our T-ball teams were driving to Bangor and Pen Argyl for all their games.  In a merged situation with an in-house T-ball program all the games could at least happen in the Nazareth area.