In today's world of inflation its not uncommon to hear people talk about the value of a dollar. Many of us can remember when tennis shoes were $6, Jack Kramer rackets were $14, and gut strings were $12--but those days are now long gone...
Just received a notice from the USTA about the junior's Grand Slam tournament this summer.
Entry fee: $81.13 per person.
And we just thought the dollar was diminishing...
14 comments:
It's called greed. The tournaments can charge these outrageous fees cause they know people will pay. Besides, the tournaments have to charge more to pay the officials, due to their greed in always wanting to get paid more for less. Maybe one day, there will be some decent officials working these events to substantiate the huge pay scale. What happened to the day when officials worked events because they loved the game of tennis, and not because they love the color of money?
I agree that is a very high entry fee. But such is the recent history of the event:
2010 - $81.13
2009 - $81.13
2008 - $75.75
2007 - $75.75
2006 - $60.00
2005 - $60.00
'05 was the last year in Wichita Falls. Subsequent years have been in Bryan/College Station.
And what do they want to pay officials? Subminimum wage?
If that is what they have been charging over the years then the Section office should have curtailed this by now. My reliable sources tell me they make a huge profit on this tournament.
When the Texas Section grants a sanction to a tournament they are also sanctioning these huge entry fees. Does anyone in that office have a conscience?
Be aware that there are other metroplex events this summer with higher entry fees:
May - B/G 14 Nat'l Open - $91.88
June - B/G 18 TX Open Championship - $91.88
July - USTA Zone Team Championship - $90.00
No wonder we sometimes have parent behavior problems . . . look at the money they are shelling out!
I agree that these entry fees seem costly. I too think $85 to $90 is a lot of money to spend, unless it's something I really want and don't think I can live without...But please keep in mind...There are varied levels of tournaments that provide a wide range of entry fee costs based on the monetary output of that level tournament. National level events, such as the Texas Open (18s/16s/14s/12s) expect that a certain level of monetary commitment be made to the players and the tournament. This means that everything purchased, be it balls, food, snacks, umpires, ice, player give-a-ways, player packets, draws and the list goes on and on, are the finest quality to exceed customer expectations or the tournaments are no longer sanctioned for this particular tournament director at their particular club. I can speak from first hand experience that these entry fees are higher because tournament costs are higher each year and sponsors are still sought to help offset costs. If these tournaments really made SO VERY MUCH MONEY, why aren't we all banging down the USTA's door to sanction one of our own...it's a HUGE amount of work, one deals with a huge array of issues and complaints from both players and their parental figures from before the sun rises to way past sunset. When you figure one's hourly rate of pay as a TD, you'd be lucky to run $10 per hour worked. It's more realistic that it is even less than this. In most cases, it's just not worth the time and the trouble. Perhaps one tourney might make good bucks, (I've not seen one that did up close and personal) but if it's the Junior Grand Slam we're talking about, it too is an ASTRONOMICAL AMOUNT OF WORK! I challenge any good blogger out in bloggerdom to step up and walk in the shoes of our Texas Tournament Directors. Then write on this blog what really goes down at your tournament with an income to expense ratio publicized....If you do as most directors, and you put on a customer friendly tournament that exceeds customer expectations, you'll see for yourself why I write the above.
I always hear how much work the TD's do and I don't disagree with that but you cannot tell me that with an entry fee of over $90 that you can't make a ton of money.
As officials we are very open with our charges and invoices. I would challenge these TD's to show us the truthful figures from their income and expenses and then we will see.
I think most of the people would be astounded at the amount of money being made in tournaments. If they didn't, they wouldn't be having them...
Perhaps we'd be astounded...I know VERY LITTLE money is made for local community tennis associations. I'm sure there are those TD's amongst us who are in it for the money so they cut corners and expenses wherever possible. I still don't think they make a ton of money or we'd all be banging down the doors at USTA Texas to serve as a TD.
Any idea of how many entries there would be in a tournament like the one under discussion?
Texas Grand Slam entries:
2010 still has another couple of weeks before entries close.
2009 - 883
2008 - 919
2007 - 859
2006 - 878
2005 - 747
Let's see...
883 (last year) x $81.13= $71,637.79
That's a ton of money folks.
There were actually 878 players in '09. Of the $81.13 entry fee, the tournament receives $75. The remainder is a "convenience" fee charged by and paid to Tennislink. The income for 2009 was likely $65,850, which is a huge amount no doubt. Along with this large income are very large expenses though. I'm sure the tournament likely clears a good bit of money, but no where near 20k. This is an 8-day tourney so officiating expenses alone are at a minimum triple what they'd be for a routine SCMZ. Court fees alone would top $8-10k and USTA player fees would be in upwards of $1k. This doesn't include player give-a-ways, site directors, balls, officials food expenses and much, much more. I'm still glad it's someone else doing the job and not me :0
This seems to be a hot topic... I can tell you that MANY facilities use the is income to offset MANY other expenses... If you are asking to see a budget - make sure they include the electric, water, insurance, worker comp etc... most of the time the "profit" as you see it - goes to other areas - you do not see!!!
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