Tournament entry fees.

[roman]

I just read through the Rockford thread and I was a bit surprised to see all the whining about the entry fees, but then I realized why it happened.

While the Chicago area does not have the best courses in the country, we are spoiled with some of the best run (for the players) tournaments in the country. Someone told me years ago that we are spoiled with IOS events, and after playing several tournaments with no ties to IOS I can see why. I remember playing a tournament in Iowa last year that had a $50 entry fee for advanced players and NO players pack (because C tiers are not required to have one).

Please do not get bent out of shape about tiered pricing for different amateur divisions. This is how most tournaments are priced around the country. The flat pricing that IOS offers for all amateur divisions is an IOS thing, and we are lucky to have it. If you don't like the pricing of other events, then you don't have to play them. Don't give other TDs shit about their entry fees (which are on par with the rest of the country) just because you're used to your discounted IOS entry fee.

I would like to thank all the people involved in making IOS events happen. You guys put on a show that very few can match. I play tournaments out of state for the great courses, I play tournaments here because of how great the events are run.

[Bruce Brakel]

There were two ideas behind the flat pricing at IOS tournaments.  We wanted to take away the excuse for non-member bagging, that I could not afford to pay $50 in Advanced so I played Rec.     We also wanted to make it simpler for the crew that was running the show.  If you have 8 divisions and 4 different entry fees, for each division there are 3 chances to screw up and one chance to get it right when collecting entry fees or calculating payouts.  We wanted to tighten the odds a little there.   

I think most TDs run higher entry fees simply because they get rewarded with higher profits.  Even when they are running the tournament for the club, or shifting the profits to the pro purse, higher profits are more rewarding than the alternative.  Jon and I tried not to sweat the financials or worry about profits.  We just wanted to run a good show. 

My latest idea for how to run a tournament is to run two simultaneous tournaments, one sanctioned and one unsanctioned.  So everyone can get PDGA stats, points and ratings and the TD can get the insurance, the sanctioned tournament would be a $5 trophy-only affair with two divisions, MPO and MA1.  So that most people can compete for cash against people of a similar skill, the unsanctioned tournament would be a $40 entry with a Half-In option, and divisions would be created by dividing the players into four equal sized divisions based on their ratings: Gold, Silver, Copper and Tin.  If the park was requiring the insurance, participation in the PDGA tournament would be required to participate in the simultaneous unsanctioned tournament.  Otherwise, you could play either or both. 

[roman]

Exactly, your pricing scheme is very attractive to amateur players but some of the bigger pros looking for more cash will prefer the tournaments with higher cash payouts.

Some people run tournaments for business, some do it for fun trying to just break even on costs. I don't think either approach is wrong.

[Jon Brakel]

I just read through the Rockford thread and I was a bit surprised to see all the whining about the entry fees, but then I realized why it happened.

While the Chicago area does not have the best courses in the country, we are spoiled with some of the best run (for the players) tournaments in the country. Someone told me years ago that we are spoiled with IOS events, and after playing several tournaments with no ties to IOS I can see why. I remember playing a tournament in Iowa last year that had a $50 entry fee for advanced players and NO players pack (because C tiers are not required to have one).

Please do not get bent out of shape about tiered pricing for different amateur divisions. This is how most tournaments are priced around the country. The flat pricing that IOS offers for all amateur divisions is an IOS thing, and we are lucky to have it. If you don't like the pricing of other events, then you don't have to play them. Don't give other TDs shit about their entry fees (which are on par with the rest of the country) just because you're used to your discounted IOS entry fee.

I would like to thank all the people involved in making IOS events happen. You guys put on a show that very few can match. I play tournaments out of state for the great courses, I play tournaments here because of how great the events are run.

Thanks, I appreciate that! I love to see what people are running in other areas. What they've come up with for player packs, trophies, entry fees. I'm always on the look out for new ideas. It's always hard to ask what other TDs are doing without sounding like I'm passing judgement because it is not the IOS way of doing things. But I'm really just looking for ideas. Here's two examples I've seen over the years that did not make it into the IOS: Painted rock trophies? Those were so cool! ...but I don't think I'll be doing them for the IOS. You have to have a really good rock painter to pull that off...and they did! Their player pack was as much beer as they could drink during the lunch break? Really? Well I won't even go there but it was funny to hear about that!

There are three things I really look to see what other tournaments are doing: Trophies, player packs and entry fees. If you see anything cool or unusual out there feel free to let me in on the news!

And imagine what we could do if we had lots great courses in Chicago and the immediate area?