America’s first and only public jai-alai court has just completed a total makeover, with a huge expansion of the court, bringing it in line with standard amateur courts around the world.
This weekend will be filled with jai-alai excitement with over 30 players expected to play over the weekend with several Magic City players joining in.
The big event takes place Sunday Dec 12 at 11am with a 12-game schedule. All NJAA players will appear in 5 games each, with others joining in with ex-players from Newport, Bridgeport, Tampa, Miami, Ocala, Hamilton and Calder all in the lineup.
Buster’s Courtside Grill WILL be open serving chargrilled hamburgers and hot dogs along with soda, chips and water. MagicMike’s talking scoreboard will be setup along with the PA system. An 8-page brochure will be available and donations will be accepted at a special booth setup to help complete the renovation project. New NJAA, Puryear Park jai-alai shirts will be displayed along the wall and available for orders.
The public is welcome to attend the Grand Opening of Puryear Park II !
There’s going to be a true “Magical” weekend at the “New” St. Pete Cancha. Yes, Walt Disney World is only 83 miles to the east. And yes, Magic Mike’s Computer Repair Store is just 1 mile to the west, but it’s going to be a different kind of magical weekend. While Magic Mike will be there with his “Jack Patterson” talking scoreboard, about half the Magic City roster (perhaps more) are expected to be in town to play on the newly renovated and enlarged St. Pete Cancha – America’s first and only city jai-alai court.
It’s a whole new court now and with St. Pete alum and current Magic City player Kyle Kubala arranging things along with permission from Stu Neiman (who might be coming too), this event is shaping up to be the biggest event ever held jai-alai wise on the west coast of Florida. About 25 local players, including former pros Daniel and Corky are signed up to play joining another 10 or so players from Magic City. Chris Bueno will be there and most likely so will be his father Benny, who recently was seen on NBC News with the closing of Dania jai-alai (see previous story for link to the story).
Former St. Pete mayor and the man that got the cancha approved by the city council in 2007, Bill Foster will also be in attendance.
This actual event was set up several months ago, but put on ice and organizers crossed their fingers with the progress of the renovation of the court. In these times of COVID, any construction job that involves a lot of materials and labor like this one is subject to delays. Work has been going on since the day after Father’s Day – 26 weeks ago – or half a year! The wait may be worth it as several games have been played to test playing conditions, net placing and line placement on the court. It was just resurfaced and now only the stripping needs to be done, which should be happening any moment. The court is expected to be open again by Thursday, December 9th. Just in time for our big event! The court is actually not completed yet– an entrance door needs to be completed and perhaps a few other things like tinkering with the ceiling net, etc.
The event this weekend is only an exhibition. It is not an actual tournament. There is no money being exchanged, no trophies, no nothing. It’s just for fun. Saturday is open play with no set time set. Sunday, the event will begin at 11am and is expected to last up to 4 hours given the numbers of players we have. Bring your own food and drinks, Busters Courtside Grill will not be open. The event should end in time for those that want to watch the Bucs-Bill game starting at 4:25pm just across the pond in Tampa. A win by the Bucs will give them the divisional title.
Donations will be accepted from anyone in attendance willing to help keep our public court and the great sport of jai-alai alive! Please help out. The court is amazing and will be around for a long time to enjoy free of charge.
New Lines Painted – Ready for Play – Gates are not up yet, but coming soon and hopefully something done with overhanging screen.
New Surface as of 12/4/21
12/3/21
12/3/21
12/3/21
The St. Pete Cancha is now closed as resurfacing of the entire court and out of bounds area is getting a major makeover. This is the last major step in the renovation and expansion of America’s first and only public court. The flooring was in pretty bad shape and was last recovered about 6 years ago. With the court expanded by knocking down adjoining racquetball court walls, much more flooring needed to be redone. Right now, lots of patching is taking place to fill in large holes and irregularities. The work is expected to last about a week – hopefully in time for the Magic City players second visit to the court to take place in exhibitions to be held the weekend of December 11-12th. Exact planning of the event and promotion has been put on hold till be are assured the court will be playable.
The work on the court has resumed after two delays on the resurfacing project – one where the company with the winning bid went bankrupt – yes, after winning the bid – and then the materials getting backordered again a couple weeks ago.
On Tuesday night, Loren Harris made a special appearance and 21 players showed up including 10 ex-pros including Daniel Love and Jeff Williams.
The J Laca Museum is expanding for the 4th time to make room for a large collection of jai-alai memorabilia just obtained since visiting Dania for the final weekend there.
Additional walls are being extended and the Babe Ruth section getting relocated to make room for a whole bunch of new jai-alai stuff.
The crown jewel is the actual Hall of Champions plaque that was hanging in Tampa Jai-alai lobby. The huge handmade and crafted plaque features all the winners of Overall wins, Singles, Front Court Doubles, Back Court Doubles, and ITM % from their first season in 1953 to 1996 when the 76” x 50” wooden frame ran out of room. Many items were stashed in a storage area at Ft. Piece Jai-alai, but the property was recently sold and they are relocating their poker room to another smaller location. Other items from the vault are books that include all the programs from every year since 1953.
A large collection was obtained from Dania Jai-alai such as a scrapbook of it getting approved and built in 1952-1953, It includes hundreds of newspaper articles. Other items received are a 1982 Playboy magazine with the monthly playmate enjoying jai-alai – her favorite sport!
The museum is expected to be open this Friday afternoon.
Dania Jai-alai may have closed its doors last weekend with record crowds in their remodeled fronton last weekend, and the St. Pete Cancha is hoping to get their newly remodeled and expanded court broken in next weekend with about half the Magic City roster coming up to play, but that’s not stopping Matt DiDomizio from hosting another tournament this weekend.
An amazing 40-players are registered for the 3-day tournament set for the weekend of December 3-5th in Berlin, Connecticut. Virtually all the players except a very small handful appear to be from Connecticut and the greater Hartford area.
Check out the lineup roster shown here for Saturday and be sure to watch the event on Facebook live (CLICK HERE).
Dania Jai-alai staged it’s last performances this past weekend, likely bringing an end of full court, goatskin covered pelota’s, a full roster with parimutual wagering jai-alai in the United States. It was an emotional farewell for a sport that has endured a 120-year run in the United States..
Dania had run itself for nearly 70 of those years with about 6 seasons played in a condensed fronton after ripping out 9,000 seats to make room for slots machines and other amenities like a concert hall, poker room, buffet restaurant and more. Large enthusiastic crowds were in attendance Saturday and the for the closing performance on Sunday afternoon, November 28th.
The big event was actually on Saturday night when over 750 crammed into the 480 seat fronton. Walking from one end to the other end of the fronton was virtually impossible and without running into an former pro player. Yep, everyone was there from Arrigaga to Zulaica, and from Joey to Chimela to Steve “The Hook.” There was more socializing with people that had not seen others in decades and was more of a reunion and a celebration of life atmosphere then watching a good old NAJF event from decades ago. But that’s not to say nobody was watching. The play was excellent including a huge battle in game 8 singles featuring a most memorable volley between Arrieta and Erik. The performance concluded with two partidos to 15 points with the final game 10 between Zulaika and Ladutxe vs. Barandika and Leke. Zulaika and Ladutxe prevailed 15-14 by scoring the final 3 points. A long standing ovation greeted the players for an amazing performance and brought back memories of the great jai-alai days. Fans were into, including one fan that was out of control and cheering on Ladutxe who had to talk to him before and after the match. That fan likely won on a $2 bet to win – of course the only wager available in the two post game.
Sunday was the final performance and the crowd size was about 300 or so people. The players families and children were allowed on the court and ceremonies took place after game 5 both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. It was truly an emotional experience. Players jerseys were handed out to fans as well as an autographed photo of the final Dania roster.
Benny once again stressed “never say never” and has vowed to do everything possible to bring back jai-alai to the Dania Palace. But it likely won’t be a full roster and rather sports betting can be in the picture, Magic City as jumped on that already with 3 states now offering jai-alai wagering. That adventure has been a costly one to date as Magic City will open next winter as the only fronton with jai-alai action left.
A decoupling agreement in Florida had been approved by the legislators along with sports betting to be run by the Seminole Tribe but was recently rejected by a federal judge. It is unclear at this time if the decoupling part will be thrown out that allows pari-mutuals with jai-alai licenses to be able to continue running card games without staging ja-alai games. Already Miami, Ft. Pierce, Ocala have elected to.
Attached is a spreadsheet of the contributions and expenses through 10/01/2021 and the Venmo Qrcode to send funds.
We need people to dig down deep and contribute to this incredible renovation we have embarked upon.
I will provide updates periodically to keep things transparent.
Here is where we stand on the funds.
Lower section in red is projected expenses remaining.
All bills for current items in place are paid leaving a deficit of ($1673.50)
Parks department provided the rubber padding for the lower chopa. We have the material on hand
We need Extra front wall pads to protect fencing from errant throws $ 450-900 ( remnant – full price) the new fencing is won’t hold the impact of the ball
~ $4608.50-5000.00 more should complete what is needed.
Regards,
Scott King
Scott King Contracting, Inc. – CGC 1520251 – (813) 833-5592 – scott@scottkingbuiltit.com – www.scottkingbuiltit.com
Behind the Scenes at Dania jai-alai (To enlarge any small picture – right click it and open in new tab)
As Dania jai-alai completes its 69th and final season, a lot of people are making trips to say goodbye to an era. Crowds have been much larger and a lot more noisier with some faces that many have not seen in decades making appearances.
This week will be the last of Dania jai-alai, and goat-skin jai-alai as we have known it. The fronton will be closed for Thanksgiving, then open for the final weekend. There will be a 7pm Friday night performance, followed by a big twin-bill on Saturday and then the final performance on Sunday afternoon beginning at 1pm. Saturday night will be the big night as hundreds of jai-alai “celebrities” will be there including former Dania star Joey. Awards will be giving out. Gorbachev will tear down that mini red wall that has blocked over a couple hundred seats that was installed to give the players an expanded locker room during COVID-19. A full house of 500 people will be expected. This will be the largest crowd at jai-alai since Calder’s debut performance that drew about 600 people three years ago.
Watching in person is a much better experience than watching it on Dania’s grainy video. These guys are amazing athletes and watching from every view possible angle at the fronton gives it a more prospective. We were able to spend time up in the broadcast booth with legendary announcer “Big Dave” Lemmon and ESPN’s Dave LaMont. Then we were able to visit the players cage in between games with several players from Magic City and players manager Arra. Then it was a visit above the players cage for another amazing view of the game. Finally, we all visited the locker room, where Magic City players were able to meet several Dania players for the first time.
Our trip included a visit to North Miami where I was able to play against Calder players Giddy-up and Post Time, former Newport player Jai-a-Lou and Ralph Holst. Ralph has played since the late 1970s there and at Orbea’s amateur court. It’s been an amazing story for him, as he has just survived lung cancer two years ago and has been working his way back slowing graduating to throwing the ball around.
We look forward to seeing everybody this weekend and the shutterbug will be clicking away.
Is this really the end of jai-alai? That’s the big question everyone is asking.
Benny has been dropping hints that “never say never”. We do know that the fronton will stay in place. The seats, the big red wall, signs and everything else will remain in place till a final decision is made. Could partidos be the next thing? Sports betting? But the sports betting compact has been vetoed by a judge. Ironically, that suit was filed by the Magic City owners. An appeal is coming, which will prolong it. It is also not known at this time if this veto – which also strikes down expanded gambling on live games such as roulette and craps – will halt the decoupling of jai-alai. There are many out there that want jai-alai to resume. The Argentinian owners really do like jai-alai, want jai-alai action going to give them something different than any other casino – but not at a huge loss – some estimate at well over a million dollars a year. It is going to be hard to imagine if pari-mutual wagering will ever return there giving the high player cost and low handles.
Coming next week…………
Why New Jersey is responsible for Jai-alai’s decoupling
The Tribes hypocritical ad campaign to stop a referendum for more sports betting
The Puryear Park Expansion has been delayed once again. The final step to completion is the resurfacing of the newly expanded cancha but the supplies did not arrive in time and the project is hold. Work was supposed to begin Monday of this week, closing the court for the week of Thanksgiving, but those plans are out the door.
Meanwhile, the NJAA contracting staff continues to add upgrades to the court. Now, a sturdy red “choppa” has been added above the black pad area in the front court. With this structure now in place, there is no question at all if the ball was too low or not.
We will keep you posted on any future details, which will include a second appearance by the Magic City gang scheduled for December 11-12th as soon as court construction plans become clearer.
