Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the basketball courts inside the Circle K Fieldhouse at NexusPark in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.
The official in charge of scheduling events at the Circle K Fieldhouse at NexusPark has resigned as revenue at the sports complex lags behind projections.
Columbus Parks Director Mark Jones confirmed that NexusPark Fieldhouse Sports Manager Harvey Scruggs resigned earlier this month. Scruggs had held the role since July 2023, according to his LinkedIn account. City officials told The Republic in February that he was responsible for scheduling events at the fieldhouse.
When contacted last week, Scruggs said “there were several factors” that led to his decision to resign but declined to comment further.
“I didn’t know that was newsworthy,” Scruggs said, referring to his resignation.
“I prefer not to talk about it at this time. I have my reasons,” he said.
At least three of the tournaments and one league held at the fieldhouse during Scruggs’ tenure were booked by his own company, H3 Athletix Sports Group LLC, according to NexusPark’s website.
Scruggs describes H3 Athletix on his LinkedIn profile as a “muti-brand media and event management team based in Columbus” that includes several brands, including Elite 7evens Tournaments and MidAmerica Total Sports, among others.
The company charged teams, in some cases, up to a few hundred dollars each to participate in events at the fieldhouse while he was employed by the city’s parks department.
For instance, Elite7evens advertised on its Facebook page that the cost to participate in a two-day jamboree held at the fieldhouse earlier this year was $600 per team. The company later said on X (formerly Twitter) the day before the jamboree started that 50 teams from six states would be participating in the event, suggesting that his company potentially collected up to $30,000 from the teams.
As of Friday, city officials had not replied to a public information request from The Republic filed Sept. 13 seeking Scruggs’ salary, dates of employment and a copy of his contract.
Jones said the parks department was aware that Scruggs’ company was interested in holding events at the fieldhouse and that Scruggs did not participate in any scheduling or negotiations involving his company.
“The process we put in place whenever those events were going through negotiations (was) that he was not part of that,” Jones said.
The parks department is currently looking for Scruggs’ replacement, Jones said.
Revenue lower than projections
Scruggs’ exit comes as the fieldhouse has underperformed revenue projections this year and is expected to lose money next year, according to parks department officials.
Last month, parks department officials told the Columbus City Council during a budget hearing that consultant Legacy Sports Group had projected that the fieldhouse would pull in just over $300,000 in revenue during the first three months of this year.
The fieldhouse ended up bringing in $38,000 in deposits for future tournaments over that period, officials said during the hearing. In a parks board meeting last week, officials said the fieldhouse had made just over $146,000 from rentals as of the end of August.
Parks department and city officials have attributed what one parks board member characterized as “a pretty sizeable difference between anticipated revenue and actual revenue” to the fieldhouse opening later than expected due to construction delays and that many large events that might be a good fit for the fieldhouse are generally scheduled a few years in advance.
Columbus Mayor Mary Ferdon said the projections were prepared in summer 2023, when city officials expected that the fieldhouse would open Jan. 1. However, the fieldhouse did not open until toward the end of the first quarter.
“Events take three to five years to get booked,” Ferdon said. “In the summer 2023, we began to get concerned about (the) construction schedule, so we held off bookings until we knew we had solid dates and could accommodate. We didn’t want to have to cancel events.”
Pam Harrell, associate director of business services at Columbus Parks and Recreation, told the city council during a budget hearing last month that she thinks Legacy Sports Group “overshot (the projections) because it was our first year, and we didn’t get as many big events as what they thought.”
Harrell also told the city council that the parks department is working with Legacy Sports Group to “find out what the differences are (between) what they forecasted versus what we were actually getting.”
Last week, Harrell told the parks board that the parks department will be paying Legacy Sports Group less than before and that the company will be “marketing and helping us with the events now instead of what they were originally” doing.
Legacy Sports Group, for its part, also has had ties with Scruggs in the past, according to state records.
Earlier this year, Legacy Sports Group and H3 Athletix formed a venture called Select Athletics, The Republic previously reported in its coverage of the Hope Area Volleyball Club merging with the newly formed Columbus Select Volleyball team.
The new volleyball team is owned by Select Athletics and expected to practice at the Circle K Fieldhouse.
Scruggs was listed as a “member” of Select Athletics LLC as late as June 11, according to filings with the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office. He was no longer listed in that capacity in a more recent state filing that was current as of Aug. 28.
In April, Scruggs said in a news release that “joining forces with” Legacy Sports Group and the merger between the two teams was a “game changer for us.”
Legacy Sports Group President and CEO William Knox said in the same news release that “creating this new business makes sense with the development of the Circle K Fieldhouse and the huge interest the community is showing for club sports.”
Multi-year process
City and parks officials, for their part, have said they are starting to see more interest in holding events at the fieldhouse, with most weekends from October through the next spring already booked.
Ferdon said some of those events include a wrestling tournament, gymnastics tournament, taekwondo, volleyball, basketball, IU Columbus sports and “numerous baseball and softball tournaments.”
As of Wednesday, there were 17 events listed on the fieldhouse’s online calendar from Sept. 24 to Feb. 22. Twelve of those events are IU Columbus basketball games. Our Hospice of South Central Indiana has also booked the fieldhouse for its annual concert next year.
At the same time, the parks department is planning to ask the city council next month for a $300,000 subsidy related to the fieldhouse, officials said during last week’s parks board meeting. The city previously provided the parks department with $500,000 this year and $260,000 last year to help with startup costs related to the fieldhouse.
Even with the help from the city, the parks department is budgeting for a $71,000 shortfall at the fieldhouse next year, officials said.
Parks department officials said they expect whoever they hire to fill a new position called the “NexusPark Fieldhouse Sports & Event Coordinator” will help make up the difference.
“We think we can probably make that up with added leagues,” Harrell told the parks board. “By adding this new position, we’re probably going to be able to add more leagues, so it’s going to give us more money and more revenue. So, that’s why we think we’ll be OK (with budgeting for a shortfall).”
In addition, the Columbus Area Visitors Center recently filled a vacancy for a sports marketing position. Ferdon said the city is looking forward to “working with them more closely as we continue to grow our sports tourism.”
“We knew that it would take several years to get NexusPark completed and filled with tenants and tournaments,” Ferdon said. “But an important piece of our vision is NexusPark being a health and wellness facility which we are already seeing with the (Columbus Regional Health) medical offices, increased use of the walking space, use in the AEI Fitness Center and the teaching kitchen. I’m proud of the work our Columbus Parks and Recreation staff has put into the development of this facility, and we are already seeing it become the community facility and gathering place we envisioned.”
