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Online now: 4 members: Mos, Schibs, TABLE SETTER 11, dalberghetti; 88 anonymousDiscussion: How Entry Fee Discounts Work
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| April 14, 2009 TerryH 17 posts | How Entry Fee Discounts Work Over the past few weeks, we have received several questions about our new entry fee discounts for some of our Championship-level events. These questions illustrate that the new system is misunderstood, with local teams feeling that they are being singled out to pay more to play senior softball. In reality, the local teams now pay the actual tournament-fee cost. The teams staying in Host Hotels (in selected tournaments this year), receive a sponsorship from the Host Hotels toward their entry fee. This new fee structure is only in place for a few tournaments this year, as a trial. It has been put in place to better reflect the actual cost of the tournament to teams. It is based on these realities: 1. Championship-level senior tournaments are expensive to run. 2. The entry fees cover most of the costs of the tournament, the rest comes from city sponsorships. 3. Cities only provide funding if the tournaments can prove they brought economic impact to the city in the form of hotel room usage. This is becoming more of a factor as city budgets shrink and cities are becoming even more careful about funding tournaments. Previously the teams staying in the Host Hotels actually subsidized the entry fees of all of the other teams in the tournament. We also reduced some entry fees for local teams in a number of tournaments, including the Winter Worlds in Las Vegas, Midwest Championships in Chicago, the California Cup in Yolo County, the Pelican WomenÕs Championships in Panama City Beach, and the Rock ŌnÕ Reno Qualifier in Nevada. To receive the Host Hotel Sponsorship, teams need to register through Housing Connection and use a minimum of 5 rooms for each night of the tournament (usually 3 nights). Players using their own Hotel Discounts to register do not qualify for the Hotel Sponsorship. Those players have a choice of using their personal discounts for rooms, or going through the Housing Connection to get credit for the Entry Fee Sponsorship. We are working on standardizing rates for Host Hotels for 2010, which should resolve the issue. (Senior Softball-USA is using a similar system for the World Championships in Phoenix called Passkey). All Host Housing is available at www.seniorsoftball.com. Go to 2009 Tournaments, select the correct Tournament and click on the Housing Connection logo (click on the PHX logo for the World Championships). Thanks for your understanding and for participating in Senior Softball-USA. Terry Hennessy |
