Where are the buyers and private operators for the WSRC Sparta IL?

Last year there was all the hype about Illinois planning to dump the WSRC on a private operator or buyer. So where are the buyers? Where are the private operators?

After a year there must be a plan. Auction? Sealed bids?

 

I recall that the IL General Assembly allowed the IL DNR to entertain bids on several properties, WSRC being one of them. No news that IL DNR has made a decision to move forward and if they have, I doubt a bid package has been created (as of today).

Mod Edit: If anyone asks who deleted the link you posted you can tell them it was me.

A link is a link is a link. If one is permitted, then they all are permitted.

 

That dog can't hunt. Please tell me what investor would pay for that track record. The place is well designed for a links golf course. Lead cleanup would be a problem for the state.

This could be the year the ATA has a big event there. As is a kids shoot at the CC draws more shooters than the Grand.

The SCTP said no thanks to free targets.

Buy it for the land not the business.

 

Do you realize there is more than just trap shooting there,have you ever been there.

 

I apologize, I forgot.

 

Yes Alf I have been there. Thanks for responding The local politicians have been there. The State Politicians have been there. The SCTP has been there. The high school league won't go there. If it was a good investment it had a chance at a sale. It is a money pit.

The layout is a joke.

A car show every week won't pay for the place. The trap line alone is 3.5 miles long. Who's idea was that? Why spread it out. My guess is a 72 hole links golf course designer was in charge.

Would you buy it?

 

Alf....
The facility is beautiful. It looks like a state park. It is designed to be a state park. It is a state park. The layout should have been like Vandalia or the CC. Or like PA's top tier.

I think if they chopped the line in half and moved the traps closer and put two cheap motels there the place would be packed.

 

just 2?

 

How many could they need now?

 

wasnt that the main complaint when they opened? maybe if they had enough to accommodate all the shooters that first went there, it would have done better? just wondering.

 

The premium camping should have been right behind the main vendors and the shootoff traps where the water tower is now not miles away.
Most camping is 2 miles away from what the shooters want to see. No fix for that brain dead idea of where camping should go.

 

If you think that the camping is so far away. Just think how far the rest of us with no campers have to drive to our motels.
Plus the motels are gouging us on the prices during the Grand. They say there is a Special event going on, but some can’t tell you what it is. Most of the campers have golf carts so it is not so far for them. I have never seen a camper shooter walking from his camper to the traps. The trouble with Vandalia was each camper took up about 4 parking spaces. The east end of Vandalia was for the overflow of parking for shooters arriving later in the morning. It is a vary nice place in the wrong location and the wrong state.

 

This is what I was apologizing for, I forgot - no links.
I've been to WSRC. From a biz stand point it would benefit if there was more lodging and restaurants close by.

 

It will never happen. there must be a big draw to get business to spend money on infrustructure and Sparta will never fit the bill. Roger c.

 

IF it does come up for sale, I think the ata should buy it and pay the state of ILLnews whatever they want. Hopefully it is MILLIONS.

Better yet, gipson should find a group that wants to buy it then when they do, they can sell it to the ata at an even more inflated price.

 

That would work for me. Lynn has done a great job running the place.

 

sparta sid, I guess running it in the ground is great for you, but we have to consider the source of your version of greatness. Witch falls in with all of your other great ideas of the Sparta screw up. Roger C.

 

I have wondered if that was to sell more golf carts.

 

Oops, sorry Mrs. gipson, hit a nerve huh? Not enough “finders fee” money in that kickback on the building deal right? We warned the ata not to go there. Now looked what happened. You set up shop, dumb move to begin with, and now, after all the years of failure, you are in denial and have resorted to trolling. Sad really, but not unexpected.

You should have told him to ask for more money BEFORE he proposed that deal.

BTW, how much money do you think your store lost when the SCTP told your husband to pound sand and moved their shoot to Ohio?

What four letter word did he use when they told him they wouldn’t come back to that place, even when they were offered FREE targets?

Now, if this isn’t Mrs. gipson and it’s just some troll, you are going to have to do better.
Guys like Roger are just good guys that don’t know a POS troll when they see one. I on the other hand, can smell one immediately. That post you made was just way too easy to spot. If you are going to try and start something, try harder.

And I told you before, you should change that name to El Cid. That was the movie about a dead guy they propped up on a horse so the people would think he was still alive. Same thing with that place in ILLnews

 

Sparta will be here long after most of the posters "non-shooters alike" are below ground. No, I never went and have no intention of going. It's more fun to argue about 7.5's vs 8's anyway. At least Sparta (which never set attendance records) seems to be holding its own while other shooting venues attendance is plummeting. Many years ago I predicted the trapshooting market might be headed toward the mid-West and that just might be occurring. It was a great ride but it's near the end.

 

Holding it's own huh?

You should drop by.

The US Open has to give extra "woke points" (not my term but it fits) to get people to shoot there.

The SCTP turned down a contract with free targets.

The Cardinal Center has an event with over 4,000.

MIchigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, have huge kid venues.

The Grand struggles to get 1700 in the flagship shoot.

When the kids leave the place seems empty.

And the State is trying to unload it.

 

There were approximately 53,000 youths in the Clay Target High School League. That does not include the SCTP or smaller youth leagues. The SCTP claims to have around 20,000.

That is 4X more than the active adults in the ATA. They are shooting somewhere.

 

Family Guy, Isn't it amazing what competent leadership can do. The DOB should be ashamed of them selves, for what they let happen to our sport, but I do not think any of them are capable of realizing what they have let happen. Roger C.

 

#1 son was on 4 or 5 All-American sub-junior and junior teams in the early and mid-90's. I know of only one or two that are still shooting. Thousands of kids are nice to see shooting but will be long gone in a few short years. Sure, the ATA shores up its' declining shooter base with young shooters but when daddy and granddaddy stop paying the freight they're long gone. It's an unfortunate fact. PA attendance was down 30% in 10 years and Cardinal Center looked like a ghost town at the August shoot. The ATA will remain in Sparta with all its' warts until the bitter end and the few crybabies left will still complain even when they no longer shoot or die. That said, on to 7.5's or 8's, 51, 52, 53 or 60 yd. targets!

 

True because the PA rocket scientists had their shoot at the same time. PA couldn't get 200 in an event.
The ATA is of little consequence to the CC. They have an event that dwarfs Sparta's shoot once called grand. The 4200+ shooter event pays the bills. Sporting Clays brings in more money than the ATA's Trap.

 

Attendance at the August CC championship events was down 18.09% while attendance dropped at PA a bit over 25%. Neither one could be called a success story. Maybe that big bad Sparta took all their money, they avoided both and went home.

 

We know that isn't true by looking at the attendance at the Grand. Hardly anyone from any state goes there.