The Barstool Fund - Premier Sports Center
Up next: Premier Sports Center (Shelby Township, MI)
Over the last 10 years, Premier Sports Center has established itself by providing indoor leagues and training to people of all ages. The popular establishment is a new 60,000 square-foot indoor sports facility — the only one of its kind in Macomb County.
Reader Email
Hi Dave and Team,
Long time stoolie here, back to the Milton days. I actually don't have any social media, so Barstool is my way of keeping up with what's going on in the world most of the time. One of our close family friends growing up was actually a Barstool employee a few years back which was pretty cool to see someone I grew up involved with my favorite website's content.
I am emailing you on behalf of my dad and his small business, which has shut down due to the pandemic and is barely hanging on by a thread since they are in Michigan and have been shut down for the majority of the pandemic per the government’s orders.
2020 has been a very tough year for my dad and our family, not just because of the pandemic and his business struggling, but because my dad was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer in September of 2019 and has continued his battle throughout 2020. As you may know, Pancreatic cancer is typically considered a death sentence, taking the lives of close to 95% of those diagnosed with it. Barstool actually covered a lot of Alex Trebek's battle with it over the past year which was something I followed closely and took to heart when reading. This is not my dad's first battle with cancer though, as he already survived bladder cancer about 7 years back. The good news is that my dad has managed to beat the odds at this point after 12 rounds of intense chemo and undergoing the Whipple surgery this past June (feel free to look the surgery up, it’s pretty crazy). The worst part about this all is that after getting this new lease on life and going through so much physical and mental hardship, my dad’s business is now only a month or two away from going under.
My dad has built his sports training facility business for the past 15 years and it is supposed to serve as his and my mom’s livelihood/eventual retirement fund since he has been a general contractor in construction my whole life and does not have a 401k or retirement fund to fall back on. He is only 59 and has already had to rebuild or reinvent his business multiple times, most notably in 2008 when his construction business went bankrupt and then now with this pandemic and his training facility. He has managed to persevere through all of this, along with his health issues, and had finally built a business that was set up for long-term success, until the pandemic struck it down. As Dave continues to bring to light, my dad is one of many whose business has been forced to shut down rather than continuing to have the chance to fight for themselves.
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My dad has always been the point of strength in our family and through everything he has undergone has never once complained or let us see him sweat. The only time in my life I have ever seen him visibly upset and scared is when his business has been on the verge of shutting down. It has gotten so bad recently that he developed a case of shingles due to the amount of stress this has put on him and my mom. He has been under far more stress now than he ever was battling cancer and going through chemo because with the cancer he was given a chance to fight for himself and beat the odds, while with his business he is given no such chance. The decision has been made for him to sit this fight out and watch from the sidelines as his business continues to falter.
My parents have not been able to get any PPE or financial relief since they only have their one employee (who they continue to pay) and then do the rest of the work and management of the facility themselves. They have already put well over $100,000 of their savings into the business and remortgaged their house to keep the doors open. On top of that they have had the burden of all of the medical bills from my dad's cancer treatment since he is self employed and has to pay extremely high premiums for his own insurance just to be eligible for the care he is required to have. At this point they have nothing left from their savings to contribute to the business and refuse to take anything from myself or our family. If my dad can just get enough funds to get the business through the next few months when the vaccine should ease some of the burden and youth sports will be able to come back to the training facility, he will be able to keep the business alive and maintain his and my mom’s livelihood. He is so close to getting through this and beating the odds once again and it would crush our family to see his business stolen away from him for something completely out of his control.
I sincerely hope that you can help my dad and his business through this extremely tough time.
Happy holidays!
Ryan Piccariello
