The director of a Kalamazoo youth hockey club testified before a House subcommittee in Washington this morning.
Matt Kakabeeke, the executive director of the Kalamazoo Optimist Hockey Association, addressed the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education in a hearing titled “Field of Fees: Private Equity’s Role in the Commercialization of American Youth Sports.”
KOHA was evicted from the former Wings West arena in Texas Township by its new owner, the private equity-backed Black Bear Sports Group, in March.
“These issues are not isolated to a single community," Kakabeeke said in his testimony. "Rather, we believe they reflect a broader pattern in which acquisition of community sports facilities by single operator is often followed by pressure on long-standing non-profit organizations to conform to a vertically integrated profit extraction model or risk losing access to the facility.”
"During our negotiations with Black Bear Sports Group, we were met with coercive and heavy-handed demands that demonstrated how they would like to control the essential ice hockey facilities and how they can be weaponized against the longstanding non-profit organizations," Kakabeeke added.
In emailed comments after the hearing, Black Bear spokesperson Evan Nierman said called the company a "small player" that owns three in 100 rinks across the country. He said the company had “saved dozens of rinks from closing."
"Black Bear’s mission is to be a safeguard for the sport, keeping rinks open and operating so that families and children have a place to skate and play hockey for years to come," he wrote.
The hearing took place as the House and Senate consider the Let Kids Play Act, which aims to restrict the role of private equity in youth sports. It was introduced in both chambers in May.
In April, the Michigan Attorney General’s office began investigating potential anticompetitive practices in youth hockey, "including but not limited to Black Bear Sports Group."
