St. Pete: August 26, 2026: Work is moving along and on schedule at Puryear Park, as organizers scramble to get the cancha up to “Tournament” standards in anticipation of Saturdays’ Battle Court Event.
See the multiple videos taken by Rastock and a court image of the repairs now underway. The St. Pete court will remain closed till around Friday at 4pm. The first ever Battle Court Event takes place Saturday at 10:30am. It might be a long day, and rain is in the forecast sometime later in the day.
The lineups are noted here.
Here is how the event plays out:
Brodie’s team plays Rule’s team first. 6 matches with 2out 3 sets to 7 points. Whichever team wins 4 matches, that ends it. If tied at 3-3, the Division 1 teams play one 9-point tiebreaker.
Up next, Rastock’s team plays Anthony’s team. Same format at Brodie’s team playing Rule as noted above. Whoever wins 4 matches will then play the Brodie/Rule winning team.
The finals use the same format – 6 matches of doubles. Whoever wins 4 matches wins the tournament and chicken wings from Glory Days. If this is tied, again the division 1 guys play 1 set to 9 to determine the winner.
St. Pete: August 23, 2026: America’s first and only public jai-alai court will be closed to the public this Wednesday thru late Friday afternoon an in anticipation of its first ever “Battle Court” Event this Saturday. So, the cancha will be off limits on August 26th, 27th and a good portion of Friday the 28th. The event starts at 10:30am Saturday, the 29th. A large tent will be set up for spectators for shade protection, as this is Florida in the summertime and feel like temps can easily hit 100 degrees with the sun out.
Renovations are a needed, ongoing necessity for any outdoor facility that takes a daily beating like this cancha does.
Starting Wednesday, led by the great Puryear Park court contracting crew of Scott King and Eric Lanctot, court founder Paul Kubala. Volunteers Rastock, Garby, Butler, Alex will be assisting them in this week’s project.
Hopefully they will be able to complete the final repairs to the front wall (as noted in video). A stucco crew will chip off the loose areas and float out coating of sika quick VOH vertical grout. This alone is a major project.
Other work needed includes reattaching a 3” pole at the gate and fix the large overhead sunscreen that also protects spectators outside the cancha with the huge netting.
Some spline on the top of the side wall will be replaced.
And for cosmetic reasons to help judge calls going off the court, red paint metal strip on the side wall at the top and the choppa. Balls are considered off the court when it hits the top of the wall, which the red will help identify better. Same old true for the front wall’s choppa.
Miami, FLA: August 14, 2026: We have a lot more details to share on the sale of the “World Jai alai Leage” to actor & entrepreneur Rob Gough.
First, people need to know a little bit more about jai alai. There are some stories out there with the headline like “World Jai Alai League Begins its Second Century Under New owner Rob Gough”. Sorry, but I’ve got dogs, cats, and saltwater fish older than the World Jai Alai League and none of them are named Dick Van Dyke, either. OK, I know, they are trying to say Jai alai has been at that location and is entering the second century, but no leagues ever existed for 9 ½ decades plus. You ask anyone in the Tampa Bay area “What is jai-alai”, and they will tell you it is a great beer brewed here and on tab in about every bar & restaurant in the area. Jai-alai has new blood and an envision that could dramatically change its perception in America.
Attention Rob Gough: Definity get with Joey Redner at Cigar City Brewing and Monster Beverage, now owners of Jai alai beer for a unique sponsorship relationship.
Here are some details of the sale:
Scott Savin is remaining onboard and will continue day-to-day COO functions. This is a wise decision. He’s brilliant and no one has his experience in the parimutuel industry and developing casinos around it. Gulfstream Racing, Dania Beach Casino/Jai alai, Magic City Casino, Magic City Jai-alai and finally the JAM arena. No financial details have been released, but Savin is a likely investor/owner in the project and has been for 9 years now starting with Magic City Jai alai and the good old Nate “The Great” days.
There will be no Human Resource changes in the organization. Again, great news. The foundation is in place, ready to move forward. Awesome production and social media already exist, but that will be enhanced to levels never thought possible. More on that later.
Rob Gough had bought a team franchise at the beginning of the year and the plan all along was to have him take over ownership of the entire operation.
Gough has “a long-term vision to modernize one of America’s most historic professional sports traditions and carry it into its second century” according to a press release.
The press release also says that the World Jai alai league will invest in an elevated live experience, enhanced broadcast production, premium storytelling, expanded digital content and a modern commercial platform built around its athletes, teams and partners.
The league will pursue that transformation while preserving its traditions, distinctive style of play and connection to Miami that have defined the sport for generations.
Gough said “Jai Alai already has what most modern sports properties spend years and fortunes trying to create: extraordinary athletes, unmatched speed, authentic history, and a deep connection to Miami. My role is not to reinvent what makes the sport special. It is to give it the investment, presentation and platform it deserves and to build a league capable of carrying jai alai into its next century”.
This all sounds exciting. As reported yesterday, eight figure numbers ($10 million and up) is the reported cost to be a team owner. Will cities like Vegas, New York or LA have teams? Would that price include a fronton?
Gough has been a very successful entrepreneur since his mid-20s and his devotion to sports is evident in that he made international headlines by buying a 1952 rookie Topps Mickey Mantle card for a record breaking $5.2 million dollars.
Miami: August 13, 2026: World Jai-alai has been sold. Yes, that is correct. A jai-alai team owner, actor and entrepreneur, Rob Gough is now the owner of World Jai-alai and the operator of the JAM arena. He has made the purchase of the entire organization from the Havenick family, who formally owned the Flagler Dog Track where Magic City Casino stands now, and of course, the old Magic City Jai-alai.
We have no word on if Scott Savin is still involved now. This explains why there are no tournament events, normally held in early September (including the big amateur event), from being scheduled.
Big changes are coming to the sport of jai-alai, and Gough is not playing around. The entire structure of the team format that currently exists, will be go bye-bye at some point. Instead of buying the right to a team for one year, the American Siege star is now looking for team investors with the asking price of 8 figures, which equates to $10 million dollars and up $99 M. Other ideas are coming regarding the sport, and will be feature a story on that as we obtain more details on the plan.
Gough has totally fallen in love with the sport, its history, cultural meaning and says the sport has unrealized potential. He realizes this is not a one-year thing and wants investors who can envision twenty (20) years from now where the sport could be. With $10 million dollar investors, jai-alai has the potential expand and grow nationally to other cities like Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and others with investors from those areas.
This news is the best jai-alai has had in past 35-40 years. Lets wish them the best of luck, and a big thank you to the Havenick Family and especially Scott Savin for all they have done in the past 9 years.
St. Petersburg: August 11, 2026: Puryear Park’s first ever “Battle Court” tournament draft was held last night at Glory Days Grill, at their north St. Pete location. A crowd of about 20 showed up, all of whom were drafted. Attendance was not required, but may have hampered players in the bottom half of the lineup
The chart, made by Brodie, was posted on a wall as the four team captains all made their draft picks. You can see the draft chart as well as entries for the upcoming event here as well as a few photos.
We will analyze the teams over the next couple of weeks and talk to others to come up with some “odds” to win the event, etc. The Hard Rock and other betting sites will not offer odds on this – you will have to wait till the middle of September with JAM jai-alai operating then!
The main event is on Saturday, August 29th – now scheduled to start at 10:30am. Games will go to 9 points and 7 points for the deciding set if it is tied at 1-1.
Puryear Park Players Excited for First Battle Court Draft
August 9, 2026: St. Petersburg, FLA: Battle Court Jai-alai is coming to St. Petersburg on August 29th and the first ever draft will be this Monday night at Glory Days Grill.
Four team captains – all front-courters – will draft from a roster of 24 players. Brodie won the rights to the first pick, event organizer Rastock will pick second, Anthony will pick 3rd, followed by Rule with the 4th pick. Each team will comprise of 6 players and will follow the exact format that Magic City “invented” – but not allowing a second serve. There will be best of 3 format for each match. The number of points to win a game has not been determined. A 9-point game all going to 3 sets in every match could result in a 9-hour day! Organizers may elect to match the 6 points as used by Magic City or go with 7 or 9 points for the win.
The draft will be held Monday night at Glory Days Grill on 4th Street and 99th Ave in St. Petersburg, just north of Derby Lane. There will be a normal performance Monday evening at Puryear Park, and the draft will follow afterwards. Assuming no rain (yes the forecast has it mainly dry for the next week or two) the draft time could be around 8:30pm, but no guaranteed time set. Several players are expected to attend. Glory Days Grill is a chain of 39 restaurants located in 6 states. The principal owner is Bob Basham, the co-founder of Outback Steakhouse, which started across the bridge in Tampa Florida in 1988. Players on the winning team each get a certificate for chicken wings. Oddly, Puryear Park has had a rule of any team not scoring a point in a game (they normally go to 15 points) they would have to buy chicken wings for all the other players after the performance.
The Pelota Press will have the full draft results and story Tuesday.
If the event is successful, look for future events like this.
St. Petersburg, FLA: July 27, 2026: Magic City’s (yes, I’m still calling them MC!) popular sports betting format of Battle Court Jai-alai is now coming to St. Petersburg’s Puryear Park.
The event will be held Saturday, August 29th, tentatively set for 11am, but the time is subject to change. The rain date would be held the following day – Sunday, August 30th.
and the draft will be held at their north St. Pete location on 4th Street (about 3 miles north of the cancha) on Monday, August 10th immediately following the normal Monday night performance.
There will be four teams that will be drafting 5 players each. The four team captains are Anthony, Rastock, Brodie and Rule. They will be picking the players over 5 rounds to fulfill the 6 player teams.
Tentatively, the team’s nicknames and logos have been assigned, subject to team leaders’ approval. The names were the ideas of event promoter Rastock, Alex and JLaca with the team logos the idea of Alex and of course, AI.
Here are the teams:
Anthony’s Aces
Brodie’s Barracudas
Rastock’s Rebels
Rule’s Rollers
The draft order of the team captains is as follows:
1 Brodie
2 Rastock
3 Anthony
4 Rule
Round two will go backwards, per the Snake Draft format. 4-3-2-1.
The first match will feature the Barracudas vs. the Rollers, and the second match features the Rebels vs the Aces.
Here is the roster to be drafted from, not including the four team captains:
Front court
Alex *
Armando
Cachin *
Daniel *
Echeva
Eric A
MagicMike
Seminole King *
RG3 *
Ty
Armenta *
Back court
Adam
Belota *
Butler *
Chip
Fred
Garby
George
JLaca (on IR will announce)
Sea Cow Leo
Matt
Paul B *
Rick B
Scott King *
Thomas
Castanos
PhatBoy
Not all of the above have been confirmed or even any knowledge of the event.
* means player can play front or back court.
With a shortage of frontcourters, it appears most of the backcourters with the asterisk will end up in the front. This is something the team leaders need to consider when drafting their teams.
The Battle Court style will have the best of 3 set to 9 points a game. The games will all be doubles with teams winning, not individuals. There will be six matches and then a playoff only happening by the # 1 doubles team if game day is tied 3-3.
A total of 20 players will be drafted. There will likely be a few that are not drafted, but they would be available on the day of the match to get drafted if someone does not show up.
With Glory Days Bar and Grill sponsoring the event, the winning team’s 6 players will each receive a certificate for free chicken wings. There is no cost to play or watch the event live at Puryear Park. Parimutuel wagering will not be available on the Hard Rock app.
The event should last around two hours or so, allowing for plenty of open play after the event.
Keep an eye on the Pelota Press for more details as the event unfolds. Brodie’s Barracudas are on the clock!
Dania Beach, Fla: July 20, 2026: The 5th Annual Dania Beach Invitational Event held at the Casino @ Dania Beach, has announced its schedule for 2027. The three-month event has been pushed a full month ahead of when the previous 4 events were commenced. Instead of opening in early December, the season will now start on Tuesday, January 5th with a matinee at 1pm.
The new running dates are January 5th-March 31, 2027 with a new matinee and evening lineup. There will be 3 matinee’s a week – Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday’s all beginning at 1pm and 5 evening performances – Tuesday thru Saturday, all beginning at 7pm.
Management decided that it was best to avoid the holidays when most people are spending money on gifts for everyone and not gambling. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day all fall on a Thursday and Friday this year, further complicating the schedules for many. March is also the traditional spring break time and the busiest time of the year in Florida with tourists. Missing out of that month is missed opportunity, especially with Easter falling on the 28th of March when the beaches, hotels and cruise ships are loaded with visitors.
Behind the scenes, Benny Bueno continues to work on putting together a roster, signing contracts, handling licensing, and filling in a few vacancies that are on the roster. We’re still many months away from the season and getting more details.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Dania could pull off another “season” in the middle of the year – such as mid-June thru mid-September – right in the middle of the “dead” jai-alai time of the year with World Jai-alai closed? At least Dania opens its doors to the public. Watching jai-alai live is like watching hockey in person – much better than your phone or on a TV. But competition from the casinos, the lottery and now sports betting on your phone makes it difficult to turn a profit.
Laca had his leg brace removed Tues 7/14 morning and continues to improve way faster than expected. I anticipate being able to play in about 3 months – just in time for the nice weather and play 100% by the Scott King tournament.
Anthony wants to play this weekend and getting ready for Matt’s tournament in October. He will play with Rocco for the first time up there and is expected to be a top finisher.
The I-4 Boys are not expected to play again until the beginning of August. Former I-4 player Rastock is expected back sometime in August. He’s in South Carolina now as you all know.
Skinny Joe C is expected to join Laca in basic workouts sometime in mid August, information that might be news to him! He is getting antsy to play again and thinks he might have trouble hitting the wall initially.
Alex is expected back very soon from his arm surgery.
