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Online now: 2 members: hovde, rabbithunt; 8 anonymousDiscussion: player fees
| Posted | Discussion |
| Dec. 19 HAT MAN Men's 50 229 posts | Just wondering what you all think of player team fees? With about $18,000.00 in costs for the 2017 year we thought about charging each play a fee to be paid in full by April to help offset costs. Clearly we will outline what it covers, doesn't guarantee a starting spot etc. Just wondering what ideas others have done. Sponsorship is hard to find and collecting/fronting entry fees is a paid as well. What are your ideas? |
| Dec. 19 Fred S Men's 85 297 posts | A lot would depend on how your league and teams are organized. In the league I play in we use a per player fee ranging form $140-190 depending what division you play in. The league organizes the teams with the goal of have balanced teams in each division. If teams form their own team then per team makes more sense. |
| Dec. 19 HAT MAN Men's 50 229 posts | sorry to clarify this is for 1 tournament team that plays tourneys only. |
| Dec. 19 missouridave Men's 60 166 posts | Hatman, that is a lot of money for tourneys. Not sure what all you are including. Our team is not sponsored (except for shirts and hats). We decide up front what tournaments we are playing and simply divide up the tournament fees evenly among all of our players. Everyone pays the same even if you miss a tourney. Everyone pays up front before the season starts. Getting too old to chase down old guys for fees for every tourney. I will add that almost all of our guys go to every tourney. I try and get the best deal for hotels and each person takes care of their own hotel and most of our guys room together to save a few dollars. Everyone is also on their own for food. Hope that helps. Missouri Dave |
| Dec. 19 Fred S Men's 85 297 posts | If you include hotel rooms it is not that bad. 5 yrs ago when I played for a sponsored team and sponsor gave us $15,000 to go to as many tournaments as we could. The only thing it cost us was air fare and car rental. |
| Dec. 19 Omar Khayyam 1357 posts | HAT MAN, missouridave's solution is very similar to ours. Our sponsor only buys shirts and hats so we also scan the calendar and decide in February what tournaments we are going to participate in. We add up the tournament fees, divide by all players on the roster, and everyone pays the same share. If a guy misses a tournament, there is no refund since the fee is still the same whether 12 guys play or 16. Occasionally, when a player is injured and misses several tournaments, we refund part of his fee. Where does that money come from? It is an unusual year when we don't end up dropping one or two tournaments because we can't get a reasonable team together, so there is usually some money left over each year. This is what covers injured players. Most of our tournaments are in northern California so the normal fee is around $300 for a tournament. We also go to 2 or 3 SSUSA tournaments which are much more expensive. Still, the cost is not much for the fun of the tournament. It also helps that we are an older team, so we have 20 on our roster to divide the amount owed. We don't guarantee any playing time although we try to get everyone into some games in the tournament. We typically play 5 or 6 games on a weekend, so there is ample opportunity to give everyone playing time even if 16 show up. As to league fees, everyone pays a flat $55 fee for the year. Being in California, we usually get in 90 games a year. Some are present for every game; others seldom attend because of work schedules. I'm stunned by Fred S having to pay $190 a year for league play! However, we ump for ourselves and the City rec department is very generous with field costs, so we have enough money left over from our $55 to subsidize a holiday party, a skills contest with prizes, an annual free tournament just for members with a free barbecue including families, batting practice every week, and sponsor some tournament teams (about $600 each). We have a good group of unpaid volunteers who take care of organizing and hosting all the events throughout the year. |
| Dec. 19 HAT MAN Men's 50 229 posts | thanks love the input, keep it coming. yeah a big chunk of the 18Gs is hotels, being from Tucson there is nothing local so 7 of our 9 events are out of state. I just wonder if we say $250.00 a guy and must pay by April 1 are we risking problems? What is a star player isnt paid in full does he get benched? do you cut him? Looking for the negative as well in doing a player fee |
| Dec. 19 PoollShark Men's 50 90 posts | I am a sponsor so my/our situation is different. I, as sponsor, pay for uniforms and all entry fees. Travel and lodging is the responsibility of the players. Hasn't been a problem for us. Would you be able to just calculate Uniform costs and entry fees and have your players book their own travel and lodging plans? It simplifies things and will make the amount you need to collect from your players much less. George Comerford #17 PGC Enterprises Softball facebook.com/PGCsoftball/ |
| Dec. 20 Omar Khayyam 1357 posts | Yes, hotel costs do add up. In our case, with teammates scattered over 150 miles, we have always left lodging up to individual players. Some have the means to pay easily; other room together; others stay with family that may be in the area; some have special travel club deals; others are close enough to drive or willing to get up very early to drive to the tournament. We do usually book a block of rooms at a discounted price at a nearby hotel, but only about half the team uses them. Some even want to pay a bit more because their wives prefer better accommodations. Some don't mind the cheapest rooms in an area and book a Motel 6. Taking those costs out of the equation has never been a problem in the years of our team. |
| Dec. 20 Webbie25 Men's 70 2414 posts | This is a huge consideration for me, living in New Mexico-ALL of my tournaments are travel tournaments. Period. We drive to as many as we can, because of air fares, and rental cars. Being Major Plus, there are few teams. I considered playing in Northern Cal, but it costs us (my wife travels with me as much as possible) well over $1000 for each tournament that we would have had to fly to Sacramento for. $600-1000 for flights-3 nights hotel for at least $300, rental car $200-300, and then eating out every meal, water and snacks in the dugout,--you do the math. And do that several tourneys a year. We go to Reno, Vegas twice, Sacramento, Mesquite, and hope for Dalton. Add in smaller tourneys like Prescott-twice last year, Phoenix-3, Tucson-1, Las Cruces, NM-2, and it costs a lot to play this game I love. I know most teams don't have to travel like that to play, but the hotel costs alone for 16 guys(8 rooms) can run easily $3000 per tourney) unless you take the cheapies and take the chances. I have played on teams that collected $300 for a year before. It can work. But you have to decide what the team pays for and what the players are responsible for. And I am an advocate-you don't pay, you don't play-not fair to those who do. |
| Dec. 20 curty Men's 60 187 posts | being from Massachusetts, ALL tourneys are travel & air fare, hotel, rentals & incidentals for 2 -- wife always goes, generally exceed $1000. I don't play much because of bad knees- but have never considered not going. We limit tourneys to 1 a month because of this, and with a minor sponsor. we pay a player fee based on total for entry fees, with a couple guys "chipping in" for shirts, hats, pants. we love the game, the experience, & the family of people involved, so consider it well worthwhile investment. Just can't imagine not being with softball family. |
| Dec. 20 woodies1023 49 posts | We make in really simple on my team, the sponsors we have pay the entry fees for all of the tournaments we go to and each player pays the team $150.00 before the season or at the 1st tournament and that will cover the cost of their uniform, pants, shirts, hat and pullovers, there are no refunds and if you leave the team you leave with your uniform you paid for, this $150.00 does not quarantee you any thing other than what you leave with if you leave. |
| Dec. 20 bernie Men's 55 77 posts | Not all our players have even $150 to throw down each year. We have each guy sell signs for our golf tournament. Either come up with $ 150 or sell $200 in signs. Easy for those with cash shortages.Our team raises the money thru softball tournament and a golf tournament. I really prefer the latter as you get sponsorship for tee and green signs with company logo on it. At $100 or $200 a sign, you can make over $6k. Make a little on entrance fees and get people to donate prizes. You would be surprised how many people will donate to "Senior Softball". |
| Dec. 23 swing for the fences Men's 50 1224 posts | The way my North Cal Warriors run it...is we all chip in $150 per player... then we get some help by a few sponcers... I wouldn't care if we got the whole thing paid for, it's nice to know that we have skin in the game from each of our Teammates. Air and hotel is on every one to pay for.. we run in about 14 tourneys a year, water, ice and sometimes beer get put in cooler by our manager! Balls are bought and then, I think big Ron makes his jeep payments with the rest ;-) That covers it! |
