Southwest and World Championships Clarification

March 1, 2021

This post is in response to a spurious social media post by the Las Vegas Senior Softball Association Board (LVSSA) accusing Senior Softball USA of cruel and unethical policies.

It is a ridiculous accusation. Senior Softball USA has stood for fairness, integrity and transparency for the past three decades.  We resent the implication and stand by our reputation.

The LVSSA posts have also created confusion concerning the two Senior Softball USA (SSUSA) tournaments in Las Vegas after the Las Vegas Senior Softball Association (LVSSA) withdrew from a joint agreement last September.

SSUSA continues to run the two largest tournaments in Las Vegas: The 200-plus team SSUSA Southwest Championships and the 600-plus team SSUSA World Championships in September-October.

Under the agreement, LVSSA only provided field prep workers and help in registering teams.

2020 was an unusual year because the fields in Nevada were not open due to the Governor’s Pandemic Order, forcing SSUSA to move the Worlds to Utah and Arizona.  Now that Nevada fields are opening, we are excited to bring the tournaments back to Las Vegas.

Here is what happened:
The Las Vegas Senior Softball Association Board notified us in September 2020 – in the middle of the Worlds -- that they were withdrawing from our joint Tournament Production Agreement (TPA) after 8 years. 

They also sent a cease-and-desist order to stop using the World Masters name for the tournament.  We complied and in one day re-branded the tournament the SSUSA World Championships (which we had used for the largest senior tournament in the sport since 1992).

Under the agreement, LVSSA had provided field prep and help with registration.  SSUSA ran and paid for all other aspects of the Southwest Championships and the Worlds – including payments in excess of $80,000 a year to LVSSA for providing the field prep and registration help – and more than $50,000 for the equipment used by their field crews over the 8 years of the agreement.

Shortly after LVSSA’s notice of withdrawal, we learned that LVSSA had approached Clark County, the City of Henderson and BLD in back-door attempt to secure the dates for both tournaments.

That underhanded effort failed when all of the entities informed LVSSA that Senior Softball USA was the organization that ran and paid for the fields and all other tournament costs.

After that effort failed, LVSSA approached SSUSA to sign a new naming rights and non-compete agreement.  We told LVSSA that we had already re-named the tournament the SSUSA World Championships, but we were still interested in a non-compete agreement.

After several months of negotiations, we have received notification from the LVSSA that they would not sign a non-compete agreement – which they initially proposed.

In an effort to ensure players and teams from Southern Nevada do not lose the money, SSUSA is offering them the opportunity to continue doing field prep for the tournaments.

Most important: Senior Softball USA intends to continue running both the Southwest Championships and the World Championships for many years to come in Las Vegas and we look forward to seeing senior teams there!