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gasbag
281 Posts |
 Posted - 04/20/2009 : 16:05:59
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| I think they should charge each team a flat additional $ 100 per tournament and then let all family and friends into the park to watch the ballgame. |
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Learnpatience
69 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2009 : 19:23:03
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Gate fees stink. The responses on this thread are probably about 50:50 coaches:parents. I would wager that the ones who think that gate fees are fine and dandy are the coaches. After all, they do not have to pay the fees.
I think it is better time spent coming up with new ideas to shirk the gate fee takers and here are a few of them (feel free to add):
1. Get a nasty bucket and fill it with a couple of baseballs and walk in the gate. It may help to yell at a few kids on the way in to make it look authentic.
2. Bring some wire clippers and cut your way in.
3. Tunnel your way under the fence.
4. Use a fungo and pole vault your way in.
5. Find out what stamp they are using that day and make a copy.
6. Wait until a large group of people comes in at the same time and circle your way around.
7. Pretend you just don't hear the gate keeper and keep walking (this one probably will cause them to grab you on the way in later, but worth a try).
8. Say you work for Travel Ball Select and that you want to bring exciting youth baseball information to the masses..........for free...........yeah right.
Travel ball is expensive and being nickel and dimed every weekend is frustrating. Do what most parents, grandparents, and siblings would prefer and charge the team a 1 time gate fee included in the price for the tourney. It also guarantees the hosting team a certain $ amount. It would also prevent the parent, who is stuck with gate duty, from having to endure the snide comments that are occasionally thrown their way. Incidentally, the ones who are forced to endure this duty are the moms. Dads never step up and take this duty because it flat out stinks. Rake a few fields and chalk a few lines.......easy duty. Take gate fees from parents.......not so easy duty.
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FLBASEBALLFAN
40 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2009 : 22:55:29
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I hear people say "I should not have to pay to watch my kid play baseball". Well who is supposed to pay for you to watch your kid play baseball? Should the tournament director pay the sanction fees, field rental, $5,000.00 or more in umpire fees, throw in field rentals and other additional cost, plus all of the work involved so you can bring your kid out to play. If the parent does not pay then who is supposed to pay for all of this? The tournamtn entry fees generally don't cover the expences of the tournament. It kills me that people complain about spending $20 for a husband and wife to get a weekend pass, the younger brother or sister gets in for free if they are under 12 and the player does not play yet the same parents will spend $40.00 to go see a hour and half or two hour movie. ($8.50 x 2 + $6.50 x 2). Keep in mind the player and the sibling both pay to get in the movies. You actually get alot for you money if you think about. The same parents that complain about paying to watch their kid play will turn around and spend $80.00 on a 2 oz. bottle of perfume or cologne.
quote:
Originally posted by Strike 2
Drop the Gate Fee. Parents are already paying to play in your tournament via the entry fee. They are also paying at the concession stand. The "We charge a gate fee to keep the riff raff out" does not fly. The riff raff could care less about a baseball tournament. What say you?
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kbuck
33 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2009 : 13:26:07
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Amen bbfan.
I host tournaments at our park and I have two boys that play travel baseball so I understand both sides of the gate fee. I don't see why it is too much to ask parents to pay $10 for a Sat and Sun to see their kids play baseball. I have memories from tournaments that I would gladly pay big $ for. We could take the gate fees out of the equation and raise team entry fees. To me that is not accomplishing anything. But it is hard to put on an event and not do one or the other. There are too many expenses involved in running one of these events. I have to pay for fields, trophies, shirts (for 1st place teams), sanc. fees, umpires (huge expense), field workers (i drag & chalk each field between every game), trash container (so the park does not have to bother with my trash), priting brackets, etc. I do not get any concession money and 15u are free through the gate. I only charge $350 for 13u -14u all the way down to $175 for 6u. I give nice trophies and a CHAMPION shirt to all the 1st place team players. I thnk this is reasonable.
quote:
Originally posted by FLBASEBALLFAN
I hear people say "I should not have to pay to watch my kid play baseball". Well who is supposed to pay for you to watch your kid play baseball? Should the tournament director pay the sanction fees, field rental, $5,000.00 or more in umpire fees, throw in field rentals and other additional cost, plus all of the work involved so you can bring your kid out to play. If the parent does not pay then who is supposed to pay for all of this? The tournamtn entry fees generally don't cover the expences of the tournament. It kills me that people complain about spending $20 for a husband and wife to get a weekend pass, the younger brother or sister gets in for free if they are under 12 and the player does not play yet the same parents will spend $40.00 to go see a hour and half or two hour movie. ($8.50 x 2 + $6.50 x 2). Keep in mind the player and the sibling both pay to get in the movies. You actually get alot for you money if you think about. The same parents that complain about paying to watch their kid play will turn around and spend $80.00 on a 2 oz. bottle of perfume or cologne.
quote:
Originally posted by Strike 2
Drop the Gate Fee. Parents are already paying to play in your tournament via the entry fee. They are also paying at the concession stand. The "We charge a gate fee to keep the riff raff out" does not fly. The riff raff could care less about a baseball tournament. What say you?
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FLBASEBALLFAN
40 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2009 : 22:55:03
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I feel it is better for the teams budget if the price is a little lower and you charge a gate fee. The reason is becasue if a team is on a tight budget, say $1200 for tournaments. If the tournaments run $500 and no gate fee a team can only play in two events. Now if the fee is $350.00 and their is a gate fee, they could probably scrap up $200 more and the kids could now play in 4 tournaments. The parents need to realize teams need to budget and if they look at the big picture it is not too much to ask. $5.00 a day, come on.
quote:
Originally posted by kbuck
Amen bbfan.
I host tournaments at our park and I have two boys that play travel baseball so I understand both sides of the gate fee. I don't see why it is too much to ask parents to pay $10 for a Sat and Sun to see their kids play baseball. I have memories from tournaments that I would gladly pay big $ for. We could take the gate fees out of the equation and raise team entry fees. To me that is not accomplishing anything. But it is hard to put on an event and not do one or the other. There are too many expenses involved in running one of these events. I have to pay for fields, trophies, shirts (for 1st place teams), sanc. fees, umpires (huge expense), field workers (i drag & chalk each field between every game), trash container (so the park does not have to bother with my trash), priting brackets, etc. I do not get any concession money and 15u are free through the gate. I only charge $350 for 13u -14u all the way down to $175 for 6u. I give nice trophies and a CHAMPION shirt to all the 1st place team players. I thnk this is reasonable.
quote:
Originally posted by FLBASEBALLFAN
I hear people say "I should not have to pay to watch my kid play baseball". Well who is supposed to pay for you to watch your kid play baseball? Should the tournament director pay the sanction fees, field rental, $5,000.00 or more in umpire fees, throw in field rentals and other additional cost, plus all of the work involved so you can bring your kid out to play. If the parent does not pay then who is supposed to pay for all of this? The tournamtn entry fees generally don't cover the expences of the tournament. It kills me that people complain about spending $20 for a husband and wife to get a weekend pass, the younger brother or sister gets in for free if they are under 12 and the player does not play yet the same parents will spend $40.00 to go see a hour and half or two hour movie. ($8.50 x 2 + $6.50 x 2). Keep in mind the player and the sibling both pay to get in the movies. You actually get alot for you money if you think about. The same parents that complain about paying to watch their kid play will turn around and spend $80.00 on a 2 oz. bottle of perfume or cologne.
quote:
Originally posted by Strike 2
Drop the Gate Fee. Parents are already paying to play in your tournament via the entry fee. They are also paying at the concession stand. The "We charge a gate fee to keep the riff raff out" does not fly. The riff raff could care less about a baseball tournament. What say you?
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BaseballJunky12
49 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 00:52:22
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| I agree with FLBASEBALL. Good post. |
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triple7
20 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 09:19:43
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| flbaseball.. I have no clue were you get the idea that kids 12 and under are free. I have a daughter who is 8 years old. They have been making me pay for her the past 2 years. Its only 5 and under are free. I drove to north carolina last year they wanted me to pay $10 for a weekend pass for her to play on their play ground. Your info on paying for small children is wrong. If she hears we have a ball game she ask me is their a playground. You might want to check out the gate fees again. |
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bball-fan
89 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 09:46:21
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| 12 and under and senior citizens should be free. Like it was just said, the under 12 crowd are only there for the playground and snack bar, and the grandparents should get to watch the grandkids free. |
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FLBASEBALLFAN
40 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 09:50:37
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Here in Central Florida, unless it is a State Tournament (7.00) or World Series ($10.00), we generally pay $5.00 per person and kids 12 and under are free. That is AAU and USSSA. That is were I get my information.
quote:
Originally posted by triple7
flbaseball.. I have no clue were you get the idea that kids 12 and under are free. I have a daughter who is 8 years old. They have been making me pay for her the past 2 years. Its only 5 and under are free. I drove to north carolina last year they wanted me to pay $10 for a weekend pass for her to play on their play ground. Your info on paying for small children is wrong. If she hears we have a ball game she ask me is their a playground. You might want to check out the gate fees again.
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SportsDad
293 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 10:18:56
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| Gate fees suck...I don't know how nay team makes 8K on a santioned event...we hosted a USSSA state tournamant with 24 teams and we made just 0ver 5K after expences and that was for a week long state touney with 24 teams in it.. We only got the gate. but with each team playing a minmumun of 5 games there was 300 dollars mimimum/per team in umpire fees, more for everyteam that made it pass the first double elimination.. I'm sure after other expenses gas/light maintenance over 600 dollars in speedy dry, ect the park didn't make anything.We charge 5 per game with a week long pass at 20 and we had people complain we were ripping them off. Of coarse when you look at the man hours that were put in by the team parents, we would made more if we just flipped burgers that week and didn't host anything. I'm sure there are some teams that put on tournaments that are outragous, but most aren't. I agree don't go if you feel you're being ripped off. I'm sorry, in my experience most of the people who complain about tourney's cost have never put one on themselves, and don't realize the amount of work and the true cost are. |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 10:40:14
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While I agree that a team gate fee is much easier, both on the tournament director and the families, the tournaments cannot charge enough for the team gate fee to make it financially beneficial.
Let's do the math.
Assume that a team only gets the gate fee (does not get concessions or the registration money which goes to pay for the sanction fees, facilities and umpires) if they had 8 teams in the tournament, and charged $100 per team, they would gross $800. Then subtract trophies and printing costs for brackets and pitching cards (~$200) they would net $600. divide that by 12 families you get $50 per family.
So you are asking families to come out to the park and work Fri night, all day Sat, and most of the day on Sunday raking fields and picking up trash for $50 per family? Even raising the team gate fee to $200 per team, which I would bet every one of you would scream about, would still only net each family $100.
Of course it works out better if you have 32 teams instead of 8, but very, very few tournaments have that many teams in it at any one age group. |
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Critical Mass
277 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 12:55:28
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| It's a simple issue of supply and demand. If tournament hosts charge the teams and not the fans...then their tournaments will possibly rise to the top of the participation list of teams year in and year out. If they continue to charge the fans, then they may die on the vine. I guess you could add the gate fee of $150 per tournament to the intial captial call for the team and have the parents pay that portion for the season and then the team could fund the gate fees. Anybody who thought travel baseball was equivalent to rec ball in relationship to paying a one time fee and never paying to see your kids play, is seriously mistaken. If the tournament directors/hosts elect to only charge the teams and end gate fees....they better be sanctioned, a state tournament, or a prime tournament location /event, or they may price themselves out of profitability and participation. Bottom line here here, nothing is free, vote with your dollar, pony up the cash or go play recball. |
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tater77bug
133 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 15:26:40
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| Good stuff Critical MAss......paying 15 bucks for a family of four for a weekend is $60 bucks....thats for the whole weekend....I spend 75 bucks everytime i go to the movies....and most veteran tourney folks realize that the tourney is trying to make money....fields are not free, umpires are not free, lights are not free, maintenance is not free...and as long as it's quality I have no problem with it...they have to make money our guess what????they go out of business!!!!And as grandparents go...my folks will spend whatever to see their grand kids play ball...heck they would pay to watch them mow grass....tagging it to the tourney fee only means it is coming out of your pocket a different way...to quote the great Critical mass...."pony up the cash or go play rec ball" or stay at home... |
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highcheese
71 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 18:13:01
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| Got to comment on this one. The last couple of posters are hitting the nail on the head. There is a cost to playing competitive travel baseball, which we all know going into it. Some people can afford the fees involved, no prob. Others need to reshuffle the budget system to make things work. If it was a rec program on a municipal run park then you would not be paying a fee. But..... we chose to get our guys into the best possible programs they can compete in and we can afford. It is an equation of what value do you put on the baseball experience? What value do you put on paying 5 bucks to watch some little guys have a blast, learn a wonderful game, create friends for life, improve their social character? This goes for the parents and siblings as well. Many great times and relationships have been built on a 5 dollar fee. I have moved fiscal budgets and time budgets in order to maximize the "value" our family has put on this experience. I personally would put being at the park for five bucks a person high on the list of activities to do. i also have an opinion on siblings, be it a boy or girl, that some directors should look just a hair past trying get maximum dollars from this age group but be looking at the bigger picture of seeking participation from these future ball players and encouraging them to come out to the park and furthering their love for the game. Off my box now. |
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Peanutsr
171 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 21:54:33
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My son likes hanging out at the ball field. During the Spring break tournament at East cobb we spent three days at the park.We weren't even in the tournament. Eight bucks a day, my son had a blast running around, playing wall ball and playing with kids from different teams. I got to see a lot of pretty good Ten year old baseball. Sunday night we were beat. 24 dollars and some snack money. Where else will 24 bucks buy that?
It's funny, we'll spend three hundred dollars for a bat, two hundred for a glove, then complain about ten or fifteen bucks for day at the park. |
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Strike 2
61 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2009 : 23:57:21
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| "pony up the cash or go play rec ball?" Looks like the tournament directors are ganging up and speaking out. Cool. Glad to hear their side. Comparing a baseball tournament to going to the movies is bs. When did you invest in the making of the movie, and then pay to go watch it? |
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ECB Mom
14 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2009 : 07:40:36
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Great posts by Critical, Tater, High.... $5.00 can buy you a pizza or a sub sandwich(approx. 15 minutes of enjoyment while you eat it) It can also give you a wonderful DAY at the baseball park, watching a friend, son, daughter play the "All American" sport of Baseball! The economy is rough right now, but it is really a small price to pay for a DAY at the park....to watch a game or two and...."creating friends for life."....this is so very true!
FYI...The gate fees do not stop at the Travel Ball Fields.....don't forget about the High School baseball games, football games, lacrosse, etc..... parents sometimes pay more for their child to be on those teams than they do to play travel ball. No gate fees waived at those games and typically it is for only ONE game! I guess it is a choice each family must make. I will gladly pay the gate fee. |
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Critical Mass
277 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2009 : 12:48:41
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| Please enter this into the record, I am not affilliated with any tournament organization. I have put together a few tournaments and have a general sense as to "what it takes" to run a good tournament and the "net profit" result. ECB Mom, all I can say is "True Dat", the fees don't stop with travel baseball, if you child has the opportunity to play at the H.S. level, I would advise that you seriously consider your "consititution" for more gate fees, expenditures and booster club fees for the program, otherwise there's always <Edited for publishing purposes> where nobody loses. |
Edited by - Critical Mass on 04/24/2009 08:35:03 |
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tater77bug
133 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2009 : 15:25:51
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Trust me...I'm no tourney director...at least not anymore...there is no money in it....LOL quote:
Originally posted by Strike 2
"pony up the cash or go play rec ball?" Looks like the tournament directors are ganging up and speaking out. Cool. Glad to hear their side. Comparing a baseball tournament to going to the movies is bs. When did you invest in the making of the movie, and then pay to go watch it?
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AllStar
762 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2009 : 21:12:10
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We live close to ECB. My son and I pop over there all the time if his age group is playing and his team is not. If he's in uniform they just make me pay. Sometimes they just wave us in, or it's free if it's late. Whatever, the $8 is worth it to watch all the players he's been playing with and against for the last 3 years. That's to watch other kids play. Watching ours play is easily worth it.
His team is playing 9 straight non-tournament games. Sometimes they're sharing umps, sometimes they're handling the umps themselves, sometimes the opponents are handling them. The 9 games are going to cost the team $300 total w/no gate costs. Then they are setting up two round robins later in the season. 4 games, $225 each weekend.
You're only getting ripped off if somebody has hacked into your checking account or is holding a gun to your head, but you can get creative and still play a lot of games w/o paying a ton of dough.
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balldad
43 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 20:08:31
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| I know of a man who does tournaments. He quit his job because he toke home over 200k last year hosting 15 tournaments. |
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awilson8407
337 Posts |
Posted - 03/17/2010 : 23:20:04
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When I run a tournament, I charge $3 on Friday Night, $5 on Saturday, and $5 on Sunday or I will do a tournament pass for $10 (saves you $3). That of course is for Adults. We Charge Students 13 - 17 and Seniors 60 + $4 on Saturday / Sunday.
People do have to realize that you can't run a tournament for free very many times. There are expenses that the tournament director incurs ie: field rental, umpire fees, cell phone usuage, purchase of tournament material, etc...
It has to be worth the tournament director's time to run a tournament. It is a job and they should be allowed to make money at it. |
Edited by - awilson8407 on 03/18/2010 09:13:18 |
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bstand
56 Posts |
Posted - 03/18/2010 : 10:01:17
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| I think that this is all great conversation. However, at the end of the day, simple economics will decide the outcome and which sanctions will be successful and thrive, or fall by the side and go out of business. Whether you agree with the gate fees or not, they aren't going anywhere. The question becomes if there is perceived value for your expense. If not, you will play somewhere else. If so, you might pay a premium because it is a better product. Let USSSA try the higher gate fees and if the market won't support it, they will see a decrease in business, while other sanctions will get busier. Supply and demand works every time. |
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whits23
596 Posts |
Posted - 03/18/2010 : 10:44:24
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| You should worry more about the cost of tourneys and lack of guaranteed games instead of gate fee's. Venture outside atlanta area and most tournaments are about $350 and 4 GG. |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 03/18/2010 : 11:18:10
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Here is the admission fee for a competitive cheerleading event going on in Jacksonville, FL this weekend. 2 day event.
Admission: $15 a day or $25 for a two day pass. Children 5-18 are $10 a day. Only Cash is accepted.
Each squad competes for 2.5 minutes per day.
After 3-4 years of this, I have no complaint about the gate fees at baseball tournaments. If you love baseball, you can sit and watch games all day and really get your money's worth. If you are really not into baseball, but come to only watch your kid, then head out immediately afterwards, then it may not be as good of a deal. I think it is all relative.
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GATE FEE
