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The calendar has turned to July, the month where some of us looked forward to watching GW players and newcomers take the court for practically meaningless games. This changed last year when McDonough wanted a fee from Kenner organizers to turn their air conditioning on (and essentially make the gym available). Kenner said no, vowed to move the league to Howard only for the Bison to say no thanks, and eventually settled at Bowie State University. There may have been a handful of GW appearances but as someone who did not make the trip to Bowie, I couldn't tell you with any certainty. The result was a shortened season which came and went with little fanfare.
The rumblings this year are as follows:
A rumored three week season in July (though I can't find any dates).
Catholic University is the possible venue.
Nike is no longer affiliated with the league.
A loose report out of Georgetown is indicating that their players are not expected to play
No mention on the GW Sports website.
All of this adds up to a shame. It's frustrating that this league existed for decades yet somehow can't continue. Gtown undoubtedly witnessed higher energy costs, the league, which does not charge admission to games could not afford this, and Nike (or any other sponsor) wasn't willing to provide above and beyond what they were already providing.
Catholic would be a very nice place to hold the event but if Georgetown is against playing, would they be the first domino to fall or can the league continue in any meaningful sort of way without them? We'll have this answer soon enough, and it's likely to be a sad answer.
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I don't know why I am going to post this given my position that it is largely a waste of time but here are the details on Kenner for 2025 for those who wish to partake ...
Catholic University is the venue
League begins play July 19th
No word of any college commitments yet
No sponsorship of league as of yet.
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It is a shame this DC institution is going the way of the C&O Canal boat and the Kilimanjaro Club, but with tight restrictions on off-season workouts and any semblance of college players being "students" being things of the past, summer leagues are not what they used to be. I agree that it is a pitty and personally loved going to Kenner games. But its purpose (to provide players a chance to stretch their legs at the mid-point between seasons) seems lost when teams are working out together in the summer-- GW posted a video from a workout earlier this week, Coaches might prefer the controlled environment of an on-campus workout to the, shall we say, "less structured" vibe of the Kenner. And paying for Kenner (especially now that teams want to insure their investments--a.k.a. contracted players) is probably now more than just buying for some t-shirts and printing a couple of copies of the schedule each day at Kinkos. So sadly, we might be losing what was a nice thing. Sigh.