When Dan Fasulo was growing up in the early 1970s, Portland supported nine Little Leagues.

On Wednesday night, he took part in discussions at North Deering Congregational Church about consolidating the city’s three remaining Little Leagues – Bayside, Deering and Portland North – into two leagues with one board of directors.

“A big part of it is declining numbers,” said Fasulo, communications director for Portland North. “That makes it hard throughout the whole system. You wind up with some kids who might make Majors who maybe wouldn’t if we had better enrollment. It’s not a good experience if they’re not at the level that’s best for them.”

Nationally, participation in team sports has been in steady decline, with the number of youth baseball players, those from 6 to 17 years old, dropping from 7 million in 2009 to 6.7 million in 2014, according to the most recent annual study published by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Over that same period, the number of fast-pitch softball players in a similar age bracket rose from 988,000 to just over 1 million. The number of youths participating in Portland’s Little Leagues wasn’t available Wednesday night.

“As popular as baseball is, it should be stable at worst,” said Mike May, a communication specialist with the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, a trade group based in Silver Spring, Maryland. “The downward trend is concerning.”

The pool of available players has been shrinking, too, at least in Maine. The number of Maine children 5 to 14 years old dropped by 10.6 percent in the past decade, from 163,465 in 2005 to 146,125 in 2014, according to census estimates.

Portland’s Little Leagues include boys and girls as young as 4 who progress through Tee Ball, Double A, Triple A and Majors in baseball. In softball, players go through a juniors and seniors program for girls up to 16. The softball program for older girls, through annual waivers granted by Little League, actually has been a consolidated team for the past three years.

“The player experience has been improved under that consolidation process, so this is the next natural expansion of efforts,” said Scott Stacey, the president of Portland North. His daughter Grace played in that program and is now a freshman at Portland High.

SINGLE LEAGUE WAS CONSIDERED

The city contracted from four leagues to three when Portland West was disbanded in 2001, sending some of its players to Deering and the rest merging with Portland East to form Bayside. Portland North was not affected.

The latest push to consolidate Portland’s leagues gained momentum in September. Portland’s original proposal was to form a single league, but it was denied by Maine’s District 6, which includes leagues from Buxton, Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland/North Yarmouth, Falmouth, Freeport/Pownal, Gray/New Gloucester, Hollis, Raymond, Scarborough, South Portland, Westbrook, Windham and Yarmouth.

The district gave preliminary support to a two-league, one board proposal that needs approval from the Little League International in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Stacey, the Portland North president, said he was told to proceed with consolidation plans.

“Unofficially, I’ve been told it’s a go,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “But again, I don’t have any official word. It’s been a journey and we’ve had some twists and turns, but I think we’re nearing a conclusion.”

Major League Baseball has taken notice of the decline in youth participation nationally.

In June, MLB launched its Play Ball initiative shortly after new commissioner Rob Manfred took office. The program is a collaboration with USA Baseball designed to get more kids involved with the game in all forms, including stickball, Wiffle ball and kickball.

“The average age of a World Series viewer is 54 years old,” said May, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association representative. “It’s too old. Major League Baseball would like a younger group of followers.”

FEWER ADULTS VOLUNTEER

Fewer players isn’t the only reason for consolidating Portland’s Little Leagues. Recruiting volunteers continues to be a challenge.

“There are more things that you have to do and greater expectations by the parents of what sort of product they’re going to receive,” said Mike Curtis, a Bayside Little League parent who has coached two of his three kids and helped run the Triple-A program last year. “I think there’s very little consciousness, sometimes, on some of the families involved that the organizers are unpaid volunteers rather than someone who is hired to provide a service.”

Background checks and safety courses are standard for adults involved in youth sports, which certainly makes sense, but does add to requirements asked of volunteers, Curtis said. “There’s a lot of hoops to jump through just to get a bunch of kids out on a field,” he said. “But that seems to be part of all youth sports.”

COMPETITION FROM OTHER SPORTS

Gibson Fay-LeBlanc of Portland is in his fifth year as a Bayside coach. His oldest son turned 10 last summer and resisted entreaties to try out for Majors and play alongside 11- and 12-year-olds.

“He wanted to play Triple A for another year so he could pitch and play,” Fay-LeBlanc said. “That seemed preferable to going to Majors and playing right field for a couple innings.”

Seeing more kids playing lacrosse in the spring, and sports such as soccer or ice hockey throughout the year “means a lot less kids doing baseball,” he said. “So the idea that Portland should have three leagues seems a little silly. I think (consolidation) makes a ton of sense.”

Portland North’s Stacey said consolidation also would make it easier to implement a Challenger League, for kids with disabilities, and a 50-70 League that would provide a bridge between smaller Little League and full-size diamonds by playing on fields with 70-foot base paths and 50 feet between the pitching rubber and home plate.

“My main point is that this is an effort to improve the player experience in all of our leagues and divisions,” he said. “It’s not pure numbers. By consolidating down to one board, we think it will yield greater consistency and oversight of the league.”

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