City of Austin’s indoor adult sports leagues to continue ‘until further notice’

The reversal comes after the city’s Parks and Recreation Department announced it would cancel all indoor sports leagues for the 2027 fiscal year.

AUSTIN, Texas — The city of Austin has reversed course on canceling all of its adult indoor sports leagues “until further notice,” the city said in a statement to KVUE on Tuesday.

The reversal comes after the city’s Parks and Recreation Department announced it would cancel all indoor sports leagues for the 2027 fiscal year.

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A spokesperson for Austin Parks and Recreation said the department “made the tough decision to begin outsourcing its two indoor adult sports leagues — volleyball and basketball.” Other leagues, including sand volleyball, softball and flag football, will still continue to be run by city staff.

The spokesperson initially said the city’s indoor leagues would be paused beginning this fall, but now the department needs more time to “shift to a third-party operating model.” City officials said once the city develops a “sustainable model” to continue to run those programs, staff aims to focus on ensuring access and affordability for its indoor leagues.

In August, an Austin Parks and Recreation spokesperson told KVUE that the city was and still is facing a challenging financial landscape. To support a balanced and sustainable budget, the department made reductions and reallocations across the general fund, including adjustments to its basketball and volleyball leagues, in an effort to save $400,000.

Parks and recreation officials reiterated that with these adult sports leagues, city staff manage all aspects of the league, including but not limited to “facility management and maintenance, marketing, registration, official contract management and scheduling, league schedules and participant communication.”

With that, city staff will continue to “operate indoor volleyball and basketball leagues until further notice.” 

As for what’s next, parks officials said they will need more time to find a third-party vendor to manage the indoor leagues. Once that is determined, the city will develop a request for proposals. After a vendor is selected, it would manage all aspects of the league.