RIOC

Sportspark Renovation Proposal

Cornell Students: Evan Kesten, Summer Shi, Jersy Liu
RIOC POC: Mary Cunneen

Executive Summary
This report constitutes the recommendations for Sportspark improvements based on the
discussions between Mary Cunneen and the Cornell Tech student team, as well as objective
data gathered by a community-wide survey. The goal is to take advantage of the planned
resources for renovation to make Sportspark more available, accessible, and relevant to the
community, as well as drive conversion from daily passes to memberships. To this end, we
recommend a use case for the upper floor, elucidation of Sportspark information, opening
enabling facility amenities outside of class-hours, the creation of additional activities, and other
suggestions as determined by the information we collected.

Survey Description
In order to ensure that we had input from the community, our team created a survey about
Sportspark using Google Forms. This survey was then distributed it to the Roosevelt Island
residents via multiple announcements on the Advisory notification service, current Sportspark
Members, as well as an email to the Cornell student body. The questions were designed to
learn more about community members’ interest in the current and potential offerings of the
facility, as well as any issues they would like resolved. We received 281 responses, and the
Google Forms results view has an excellent representation of the quantitative data. We
included the link to this page and a summary of the “Additional Comments” section in Appendix
A.

It is important to note that while the Cornell student body were invited to take part in this
survey, less than 20% of responses were from Cornell Tech and Cornell Medical School
students. We hope this shows that the survey is representative of the broader Roosevelt Island
community.

Demographics
The following charts show the demographics of the survey respondents.










Age

Gender

Number of Children

Ages of Children

Increasing Amenity Availability
Non-Scheduled Activities
The qualitative interviews we conducted revealed that the lack of non-scheduled activities is a
cause of some discontent with the facilities. According to our survey, 74% of people want
access to the multipurpose room during all open hours, and 34% of people want access to the
basketball courts during all open hours. The renovation of the upper floor provides an
opportunity to move some of the scheduled classes upstairs, and make some of the lower floor
accessible during all open hours. The upstairs space has more natural light than the lower floor
and about as much space, making it perfect for Yoga and Zumba classes. This leaves the multi-
purpose room available for use as a fitness center, providing enough space for more equipment
and more members than the current fitness center, which could then be put to use in other
ways. One use for the current fitness room could be to move some of the files out of the squash
court and make that accessible, and another would be as a recreation room.

Converting Multi-Purpose Room to a Fitness Center

According to our survey, 61% of people want continual access to a fitness and weight lifting
room. There is currently a small fitness room on the first floor but it has been made inaccessible
to the public. If the upper floor becomes home to scheduled activities like Yoga and Zumba, the
multi-purpose room could be converted to a fitness center.

Since this part of the facility would ideally be open at all times, there would need to be at least
one staff member to keep watch for accidents, theft, misuse, and unauthorized entry.
Depending on legal implications of this, we suggest an on-boarding process that at a minimum
requires signing a waiver, and possibly completion of an equipment usage lesson. There should
also be clear instructions posted on how to properly use the equipment, and in the best case
the staff member should be available to help guide members.

Since RIOC does not currently have the budget for an additional staff member, there may need
to be a realignment of current staff. Creating a single fluid entrance, as discussed in the
Logistics section, would aid in that process.

According to our survey, the following is a list of the most desired equipment:
• Treadmill
• Elliptical
• Stair Stepper
• Stationary Bike
• Rowing Mach
• Leg Press
• Leg Extension
• Lateral Pulldown
• Free Weight
• Chest Bench Press
Current Fitness Room
If the multi-purpose room is converted to a fitness center, the current fitness room would be
available. A good use of this space would be to use it as a file-storage room, allowing one of the
squash courts to be cleared and made accessible. Alternatively, having a games and recreation
room could bring in people who are interested in more than just working out.

The games that could potentially be played in this room are:
• Ping Pong
• Billiards
• Foosball
• Table Shuffleboard
• Air hockey

A big challenge with a recreation room is the maintenance of equipment like the cue sticks,
billiards balls, ping pong balls, etc. A solution to this problem would be to keep these items
accessible only to the staff member on the floor, and allow members to borrow them in
exchange for their ID card. This would make it easy to keep track of damage or theft of
equipment.

Sports Teams
According to the comments on the survey, people are really passionate about the Marlins. As
such, it might be worth seeing if adults or children would want to form teams around other
sports like soccer and basketball. Sportspark already hosts soccer for children, has both indoor
and outdoor basketball courts, and could reserve outdoor spaces for warm-weather games.
With regards to outdoor soccer, the only option currently is to get a permit for the Octagon
soccer field and pay $45 per hour to use it, so Sportspark could provide a great alternative.
Tournaments could be held on a regular basis to draw in players and possibly spectators,
ultimately forming a community culture.

Additional Activities
In our survey, we asked respondents which additional amenities and activities they would like,
and many indicated that they are interested in playing soccer (41%), volleyball (29%),
badminton (26%), and squash (24%). These were all of the available choices for the question,
but there were many other activities requested in the “other” responses. These can be seen in
the survey results (Appendix A) and might warrant further exploration.

In addition, we asked specifically about interest in group activities and got very high positive
responses for a 6:00AM Workout Before Work (47%), an 8:00PM Workout After Work (51%),
and a mid-day Boot Camp (47%). Workout Before Work and Workout After Work are exercise
classes designed to be taken by adults before and after work, so the hours would need to be
catered towards that group. Sportspark is already open late enough for this, but would need to
open earlier to enable the early workout. In the “other” answers to this question, there are
quite a few people who requested pool-based activities like pool yoga and water aerobics, so
these may be worth exploring.

Finally, 69% of respondents were interested in outdoor classes. When the weather is warm, it
may be a good idea to hold Yoga, Zumba, or other classes at one of the nearby green spaces.

Additional Activities for Children
About 39% of respondents to the survey have at least one child, with about 70% of those
having more than one. The majority of these children are 10 years old or younger, so we
believe having additional children’s programs could incentivize parents to visit Sportspark.
According to the survey, parents seem most interested in swimming, soccer, tennis, and to
some degree, basketball. Some parents want badminton programs, but not enough to warrant
a new program.

Logistics
There are some important logistics that should be put in place to improve the experience for
patrons and enable some of the changes we recommend. The first is to allow payment with
credit cards or online payment tools, since the only way people can currently pay is by check.
Payment methods in today’s technology driven consumer culture have become so simple for
business and consumers that having checks as the only payment option is unacceptable.

Another important piece of logistics would be to have security cameras and an employee
monitor the fitness center at all times. There will be people that need oversight and possibly
help with the equipment, so it is definitely necessary to have employee presence. Due to the
financial constraints of Sportspark, it is not possible to hire an additional employee, so a
realignment of current staff would be necessary. We recommend converting one entrance to
exit-only so people can still leave wherever is easiest for them, but an employee will only need
to be present at one side of the facility. This would leave a staff member available to oversee
the fitness center, while security cameras could be used to discourage fights or the like.

As a final note for this section, there are many people that would like lock rentals to be
available (35%). This could be managed in the same way as ping-pong paddles, billiards cues,
and other “borrowable” equipment as explained in the earlier Current Fitness Room section.

Elucidating Amenities and Schedule

Clear facility information is essential for getting people through the door, and especially for
converting people to members. In fact, over 41% of people that don’t have a membership cited
that their reason for not getting one was not understanding what was available. The main
points of confusion for patrons are regarding what amenities are available, when are they
available, and how to access them. While the current website has this information, it is not very
clear. In addition, some people don’t even know that the website exists.

At the time of this report, the website is currently being rebuilt from the ground up, and the
new design seems to solve many of the problems. When the new version goes online, it is
critical to make sure customers are able to easily view Sportspark amenities, sign up for classes,
find out the terms for reserving a space, and manage their account. A full review of the new
website should take place post-launch.

Finally, according to the survey, over 50% of people would prefer 8-week class cycles to 12-
week class cycles. However, 8-week cycles and 12-week cycles were the only options offered
and some respondents noted in the “other” answers to that question that 4-week cycles would
be preferable. For now, it seems that 8-week cycles are acceptable, but 4-week cycles should be
explored.

Membership Options
Dry/Wet Memberships
Currently, there are limited dry-land activities that would be available under a dry membership,
but there is still interest in one nonetheless. According to the survey, roughly 20% of
respondents were interested in a dry-land-only membership, and over half of respondents are
interested in a combined dry/wet membership. In this membership structure, the pool would
be covered under a Wet membership, and everything else would be covered under a Dry
membership. The appeal of this would depend highly on what dry-land activities are made
available for members, which could include use of basketball courts, free entry to classes, use
of the lounge space, and use of the ping-pong/yoga space.

Single-Entrance Access
If the pool-side entrance remains open and the opposite entrance becomes exit-only, it would
be easier to verify memberships for people using the facilities. Access to the pool-side and dry-
side of the facilities can be managed from the pool-side entrance, which can be made even
easier by using the POS App discussed below.

POS App for Check-Ins

An important part of metrics tracking and logistics simplification is a POS app for patrons to sign
in. This would be on a tablet that people would use to sign in instead of pen and paper. The
service used by Sportspark for membership management, CivicRec, has this available and
provides an easier way to handle members and day-pass-users alike. The biggest benefit is that
all history is tracked digitally, providing a strong foundation for metrics-driven iteration in the
future. As an additional feature, this POS app can be used for purchases of things like snacks,
swimming caps, and other items that can be made available.

Membership Durations
According to the survey, few people are interested in a 12-month membership option, roughly
21% of people are interested in 6-month memberships, and roughly 27% of people are
interested in 1-month memberships. Introducing a monthly membership option at a slightly
higher price could help introduce people to the facilities with a smaller up-front commitment.
This could help drive conversion away from daily passes without the requirement of spending a
lot of money up-front. The downside, of course, is a less stable revenue stream, but it is worth
trying it out and tracking metrics (acquisition rate, retention rate, etc.) to determine its efficacy.

Maintenance
The survey we created was geared towards finding out what the community wants from the
Sportspark, and had very few questions regarding maintenance and operations. While we have
noticed some of the current issues relating to the maintenance of the facility in its current
state, we have met with RIRA and feel that they have thoroughly done an analysis in this
regard. They have done in-person audits and documented the issues found; after reviewing
their report, we believe it is comprehensive. That report was not generated by the Cornell Tech
student team, and has many more maintenance recommendations than this proposal. With
that said, our survey indicates that there is a lot of interest in repairs made to the lockers (87%),
showers (81%), and steam room (58%).

Closing Thoughts
The biggest current problems with Sportspark are unclear messaging to potential patrons, a
lack of “open-gym” activities, misalignment with the needs of some community members, and
maintenance concerns. Our goal for this proposal was to address those problems, and we
believe that the renovation provides a perfect opportunity to solve many of them. We hope
that Sportspark can benefit from some of the suggestions provided here, and that the survey
data collected can help guide future decisions that are out of scope of the topics discussed
herein.

Finally, we would like to thank the following people for helping us put this report together:

Mary Cunneen - RIOC

Eddie Perez - Sportspark

Appendix A
Link to Google Forms Survey Results:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1I2hlESS722uDp8Aq_qAUdxxbYRMIA5hI9MspqXntlEA/viewa
nalytics

Most commonly cited issues/suggestions from the Additional Comments section:

• The locker rooms need renovation, including:
o Fix the showers to have adjustable water temperature
o Add hooks to hang towels
o Fix toilet stall doors
o Showers should be sanitized regularly
o Soap dispensers should be filled
• The website needs to be updated to be more navigable and clearer to readers
• There should be a weight room with a trainer
• Extend open hours (6am-10pm)
• The water temperature in the pool is too cold
• Make a group-priced membership available
• Make the multipurpose room nicer with a softer floor
• Add more family activities
• Add more Yoga and Swimming lessons
• Increase awareness of the facility across RI
• Basketball Court should be mopped more frequently
• Add Tennis lessons
• Add Yoga-specific membership option
• Add Cardio equipment
• Add mirrors to multipurpose room
• Establish partnership with Cornell Tech
• Better AC in multipurpose room
• Reconsider swim-cap rule for younger children