Dear Centennial Families,

I’m very much looking forward to our upcoming Spring 2026 season. It will be great to see you all out there at Golden Eagle, Shadow Mountain, and Aimone. With just a couple of weeks left for registration, I wanted to take a moment to proactively address the recent increase in registration fees, explain what is driving that change, and ensure everyone has clear, accurate information.

As your new league president, my goal is to lead with transparency, communicate early, and make sure families understand how and why decisions are made.

We have a lot of interconnected parts in running this league. If it were as simple as making sure boys and girls had fun playing baseball and softball, this would be the easiest gig I ever had. Unfortunately, there are many additional operational factors we must manage to keep the league running safely, responsibly, and sustainably.

Field Costs & Facility Changes
Historically, fields were assigned through the Sparks Youth Sports Foundation on a seasonal basis. Centennial Little League paid player fees to the foundation to cover costs such as port-a-potties and maintenance, and in return we received seasonal field allocations alongside our neighbors, Sparks National.

Beginning in 2026, that process has changed substantially due to the end of the joint use agreement between the City of Sparks and the Washoe County School District. Centennial, along with other nonprofit youth organizations, must now rent fields on an hourly basis.

Given the number of teams we field each year, this represents a significant new expense that did not exist in prior seasons. Compounding this challenge, the hourly rate for field rentals will increase each year for the next five years:

• 2026: $3/hour

• 2027: $6/hour

• 2028: $9/hour

• 2029: $12/hour

• 2030: $15/hour

To the best of our knowledge, the City of Sparks fields available to us include Golden Eagle, Shadow North Fields, and the Shadow T-Ball fields.

Because of the dissolution of the joint use agreement, the Shadow South Fields (the four baseball fields closest to Reed High) must now be rented directly from the Washoe County School District. While final pricing has not yet been provided, all indicators suggest these costs will exceed what we currently pay for City of Sparks fields.

Together, these new and increasing field-related costs are a major driver behind the registration fee increase.

Other Rising Costs
Like many organizations, we also face rising expenses for jerseys, hats, sweatshirts, umpires, utilities, and field lighting. Our Board works very hard to absorb as much of these costs as possible, but registration fees alone have never fully covered the cost of operating the league.

Sponsorships play a critical role in helping offset these expenses, and increasing fees for families is always our last resort. We remain committed to keeping registration costs as low as possible while continuing to provide a safe, positive, and high-quality experience for our players.

Looking Ahead
One of our Board’s goals is to clearly understand and document the true cost per player to operate the league. For the first time in quite some time, Centennial now has a full operating budget, which will help guide more informed and consistent decisions moving forward.

My hope is that this larger-than-normal increase in 2026 will better position the league to absorb ongoing cost increases and help us avoid another registration fee increase in 2027.

I wanted to share this information clearly and directly to prevent confusion or misinformation. If you have questions, concerns, or would like additional clarification, please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected]. Open communication is extremely important to me.

I’m just like many of you, a dad with kids in the league who lives in Sparks, learning what it takes to be a Little League president while trying not to get fired from my real job.

Enough soap box - I’ll see you all this Spring!

Jeff Cromer
SCLL President