NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The 10-year-olds on Greg Taylor's team are on the move -- not just on the ball diamond, but to find a ball diamond. They move from field to field, wherever they can find a place to play. There isn't much available in west Nashville, where they live.

"So we come out to Brentwood and play at nice facilities," said Taylor.

It isn't that Metro Nashville doesn't have public ball fields. It does. But Metro leases out the recreational facilities at more than a dozen Metro parks for the entire season.

Even though they are public parks, they can't be used unless the private leaseholder allows it. There isn't a lot of oversight to the groups that get these exclusive rights.

"It's sort of been a process that's evolved over the years," said Tommy Lynch of Metro Parks and Recreation.

Metro, Lynch said, can't afford to run all of its own athletic programs and keep up the fields.

"Instead of the parks sitting vacant, the Parks Department decided through the Park Board to issue permits to these groups to operate sports leagues at these specific parks," said Lynch.

The leases approved by the Park Board vary widely. Some organizations pay utilities or mow the grass; others don't. Some pay more than $1,000 in rent per season. Others, like Harpeth Youth Soccer Association, pay nothing.

"All I can tell you is what we do out here, and what we do out here is soccer," said Sterling Nabours of Harpeth Youth Soccer.

HYSA is a not-for-profit organization. It's an example of what the city is trying to accomplish: a huge program -- 2,500 kids -- that costs the city nothing to maintain because HYSA pays all the maintenance.

But in exchange, HYSA has the exclusive right to say who can use what's technically a public park.

"It's a soccer facility, and people that want to come play soccer have to come through us," said Nabours.

The city continues to invest tax dollars at the complex -- recently building a bridge that leads to a planned soccer field expansion and greenway across the river.

Metro invests tax dollars in its facilities yet doesn't set many ground rules for the leaseholders. The private groups that run the facilities can charge whatever they want for people to play there, even if it's hundreds of dollars a season. The city doesn't ask if the group provides scholarships to the needy or if it's a for-profit corporation.

Lynch said there's no prohibition if a for-profit group wanted to play there.

The Channel 4 I-Team discovered a for-profit company leasing a city ball diamond in Paragon Mills Park, where a company called Nashville Sports Leagues runs softball games.

"We organize and host the games that they play in," said Phillip Steen, who charges players $40 a season to play softball in the city-owned park.

He filed reports with Metro showing his company made a $15,000 profit last year on the Paragon Mills ball diamond.

It's a good deal for the city, he said, because he pays rent to the city and maintains a ball field that Metro had all but abandoned.

"It was not being used at all," said Steen. "There was no organized activities at all at that park."

Metro requires its leaseholders to turn in financial statements every year. But the I-Team found a lot of them missing and that some that were turned in were short on details.

"For the most part, we look at them, but, unless there is an issue that comes up in the operation, we're not going out and auditing them," said Lynch. "There is no template that requires us to."

The 10-year-olds have tried to book some parks near where the kids live, but they're all leased out. Taylor isn't debating public policy; he just wants more ball fields. Metro can't meet the demand and considers its system, though flawed, a solution.

"There might be specific details that need to be hammered out, or done better, but the programs themselves don't need to go away," Lynch said.