Shuttered baseball facility leaves kids’ dreams shattered, questions over S$200k in fees

SINGAPORE — A dispute between private baseball facility The Hit Factory (THF) Singapore and the Singapore Baseball and Softball Association (SBSA) has left 71 children and their parents in the lurch after the abrupt shutdown of the facility last month.

THF, which opened in 2013 and was based at the Kallang Diamonds field, had collected an estimated S$300,000 in training fees from the participants, who had signed on for a programme comprising baseball training by qualified coaches and competitions in Australia and the United States. Priced at about S$4,600 per player, the programme was scheduled to run from August this year to May next year.

However, parents received bad news in November when THF’s American owners Mike Froemke and Brad Finefrock informed them via email that the company had been ordered by its landlord SBSA to cease all activities there due to an ongoing lease dispute with the national sports association.

Subsequent emails from THF said that it had no viable way of staying in business without a facility as it could not sell programmes for next year, and that it would not able to refund the fees of approximately S$200,000 for six months of unfulfilled programmes.

Sixty children have since transferred to the Singapore American School’s (SAS) baseball programme — at an additional cost of between S$350 and S$500 — and the SBSA has lodged a police report to retrieve some S$40,000 in rental allegedly owed to them by the THF.

A parent, who only wanted to be known as Naveed, said he was shocked by the news as his two children aged nine and 13 had been part of the programmes for the past two years.

“The fees are not insignificant, and to offer absolutely no refund ... I think that’s not really honourable,” he said. “There’s a lot of fees collected and rent they didn’t pay, so where did the money go?”

Another parent, who declined to be named, told TODAY that THF’s coaching roster had dwindled from four to two, and its director of operations Owen Reid also left abruptly last month.

“After Owen left ... Mike and Brad sent an email on Nov 8 saying everything was fine,” he said. “Then we get another email saying THF is in financial difficulty and locked out of the fields and they haven’t been paying the rent since September. Everyone was in a full-stage panic.”

Responding to TODAY via email from California, where he is now based, Mr Froemke said THF was unable to continue as training fees only accounted for 50 to 60 per cent of their annual revenue.

“Without the ability to sell (additional) programmes, this forced the owners to declare the business insolvent and close indefinitely,” said Mr Froemke, who claimed that THF had to declare bankruptcy after raking up S$20,000 in debt.

Mr Froemke blamed their dispute with the SBSA, with whom it had signed a one-year lease for 2016 for the rental of the Kallang field. An additional one-year extension would be valid only upon confirmation from SBSA, which also depended on the association being allocated continued use of the field by Sport Singapore (SportSG).

However, THF was informed by SBSA in September to leave the field by the end of this year as SportSG would be reclaiming the venue. This was confirmed by SportSG.

Despite SBSA president Jack Tay informing them that the association had been granted an extension till March 31, THF’s weekend lease hours would be significantly reduced, and Mr Froemke claimed they were unable to continue as a result.

When contacted, SBSA secretary-general Sheng Thong Yin said the reduced hours were part of a rental concession of 20 per cent offered by the SBSA as a gesture to THF for its late notice of the developments.

“My understanding (for THF not paying rent) is that they said they wanted the extension, which we are obviously not in a position (to grant) and they wanted to use that to leverage or bargain,” said Ms Sheng.

SBSA lodged a police report last week on the rental payment default, and it has since locked up THF equipment’s and other assets. “If they had been prompt with the payment, they would still be playing,” said Ms Sheng.

Mr Froemke insisted the SBSA did not honour its agreements and that THF was not guilty of any “nefarious conduct”. “We have been a part of the baseball community in Singapore for the last eight years and are deeply saddened that it ended so poorly for everyone, especially the kids,” he said.

That is little comfort to the affected families. “The kids were really into the programme, the coaching, the camaraderie,” said Naveed. “Most of the kids, when they finished the last tournament, they were crying — for me, that was really the most hurtful.”