According to information obtained on the website for the Castle Sports Club, it appears that Arizona Roller Derby may be changing it's home venue from the outdoor venue Casey At The Bat to the indoor venue Castle Sports Club.
The Castle currently hosts the events for the Arizona Derby Dames and actually AZRD used to be at the Castle prior to moving over to Casey's.
The dates currently blocked out for the 2008/09 AZRD season are:
- September 13
- October 18
- November 15
- December 13
- January 10
- February 7
- March 14
- April 11
- May 16
- June 13
While the Castle has it's own share of problems (mainly a leaky roof and a bad cooling system), it is a far superior facility than Casey's. Most importantly, it is an indoor facility, which we believe will attract a bigger crowd. Also too, having AZDD and AZRD in the same venue will solve one major issue from this season and that is the overlapping of bout dates between the two leagues just like what happened this last weekend.
I can only speculate that AZRD is still going to probably use Casey's for practices, especially when you consider that the Dames have the youth rink 4 nights a week for practices.
I had heard that AZRD got an over 400+ paid attendance last Saturday and I figured that AZDD had a pretty significant crowd (including those who purchased reserved seats from skaters) so there are definitely a lot of derby fans out there for the taking. Now with both leagues at the same venue, league loyalty does not have to come into question when two leagues bout on the same night. I personally hope that those who follow one league do check out the other. I will not promise that the grass is greener on the other side but I will say that the grass is just as green, just a different shade of green.
THE ARIZONA DERBY REPORT
Michelle A. Eyre/Michi-chan
