Default Policy

This policy is intended as a deterrent–while it is each team’s prerogative to decide whether or not to play each week, it is our expectation that as part of the agreement we make in allowing your team’s registration, we will allocate a space for your team in return for your team attending and utilizing that space. Our business and the satisfaction of our entire membership are predicated on this agreement being honoured.

Any team that defaults, which is defined as failing to be able to field the minimum required number of players for the sport which is being played. A team will also be considered in default if they fail to field the minimum required number of women or men for that sport.

In the event a team defaults, the following steps will be taken:

  1. The team will be removed from the schedule for the remainder of the posted schedule for that league until such time as they pay the required default compensation of which approximately half goes towards their scheduled opponent and the remainder is held as a bond which is refunded at the end of the season should the offending team not default a second time.
  2. In the event that a team does not pay the required default compensation they will be removed from the league without compensation.
  3. Required default compensation is as follows: 

Default compensation is required to be paid in full no later than 2 business days after the default. This compensation can be paid either in cash at the Urban Rec offices OR via credit card over the phone or via secure web transaction.

  1. The default compensation collected will be distributed as follows:
    1. the team(s) that were defaulted on will be reimbursed for the cost of their missed game(s). 
    2. 10% will be charged for administration fees.
    3. the remainder will be held in trust until the end of the season that the default occurred. If there is no subsequent default, the remainder will be refunded in full to the team. If a second default occurs, the remainder will go towards any amounts owing as laid out in points 1 and 2 above. If the amount of the remainder is insufficient to cover the amounts in points 1 and 2 above, then the defaulting team will be required to submit payment for the difference.
    4. This compensation must be paid by credit card or cash ONLY
    5. Default compensation that is paid out to teams will be paid by refunding the credit card used to purchase the team registration. In the event that card has expired or changed for some reason, a cheque will be issued. It is the responsibility of the team captain to distribute any default compensation as they deem appropriate.

Urban Rec will make every effort to collect all default compensation. However in the case that a team does not pay its default compensation, they will be removed from the league and banned from further Urban Rec participation. In this situation no compensation will be awarded to the teams that were defaulted on until the defaulting team pays the compensation.

Note that Urban Rec does not profit from the default policy.

Common default policy faqs

The short answer: to be fair to the other team that missed a game because your team didn’t show up.

The long answer: our experience tells us that teams that are prepared to play in accordance with the schedule are very dissatisfied with the provision of service when they are not compensated in some way for having missed that game opportunity for reasons not directly related to their own team’s circumstances. As such, many years ago we implemented our current Default Policy which as we note at the very top of our description: “This policy is intended as a deterrent–while it is each team’s prerogative to decide whether or not to play each week, it is our expectation that as part of the agreement we make in allowing your team’s registration, we will allocate a space for your team in return for your team attending and utilizing that space. Our business and the satisfaction of our entire membership are predicated on this agreement being honoured.”  We think this is entirely reasonable, and by agreeing to abide by it when you registered, you expressly consented that you thought it was reasonable also. 

The reason for this is twofold:

1- we value the security of our members’ contact information, and giving it out without their explicit permission violates privacy regulations

2- even if we could give out our members’ private contact info to you, it’s not fair to put them in the awkward position of having someone contact them in an attempt to coerce them out of being compensated for missing the game that they paid for.

This is the very first suggestion we typically get in situations like this; the idea that Urban Rec should compensate the team that missed out on the game and the team that opted out or defaulted should not have any economic consequence associated with reconciling the loss for the team that was prepared to play.  This is typically offered up because the team who was unable to play does feel sorry for the team that did not get a game. While they don’t really want to take any accountability themselves or be in any way adversely affected by the situation beyond already having lost a game they would have liked to play had everything gone according to plan, it is easy for them to not feel any empathy for the corporate monolith brand name “Urban Rec” who it is convenient for them to frame as the nameless, faceless, “bad guy” in these circumstances because it is Urban Rec that has developed the flawed policy and apply its clear consequences. 

However, that approach fails to acknowledge that Urban Rec is a very small business, locally owned and operated by a group of human beings. The development and application of these policies and all of our policies, terms, and conditions to which EVERY TEAM AGREES prior to being granted the opportunity to participate with us, are fundamental to the integrity and very existence of our business.  They directly support our ability to employ our staff, pay fair wages, pay our taxes, pay our facility fees, acquire appropriate insurance and financing that allow us to provide fully insured, fully provisioned and facilitated recreational play. 

If we had no Default Policy and teams were allowed to not play for any reason without being required to compensate their opponents who missed out on a game, our experience tells us that missed games would increase and accountability of teams to each other would decrease, resulting in leagues that would not remain viable.

Compensation collected by Urban Rec as a result of the Default Policy is used to compensate the team that did not receive a game as a result of the offending team not showing up for their scheduled game as well as cover the administrative costs of processing the payment from the offending team and the refund for the team being compensated.  The remainder of any amount is held as a bond and if the offending team does not default again that season, it is refunded to that team at the end of the season.

Urban Rec does NOT profit from the Default Policy.

This is typically the final chapter of this type of discussion we end up having with a very small percentage of participants.  They feel mistreated in some way and demand a resolution that is to their satisfaction without consideration of all the elements we have tried to express or inform leading up to that moment and the information that was readily available to them upon registration.  They make thinly veiled threats of slander, suggesting they will conflate their circumstance with something that might have been deemed to be newsworthy.  The answer is simple, you will be held accountable to these policies because you expressly consented to abide by these policies, terms and conditions of participation when you registered.  These policies, terms and conditions have so far allowed us to satisfy all regulatory mandates associated with our operations and the majority of our participants, the majority of the time.