help starting league

[raehl]

Better question...

Why do the fields need you? What's your value add?

If I were a field owner, and you emailed me saying I should help you start a league, your email would go straight to the trash bin. It's obvious that if you're posting on a web forum asking this that you don't have any prior promotions experience, so what are you bringing to the table? Anything you can do I could do myself, AND not have to pay you to do it.


If you want field owners to help you run a league, you better figure out what it is you're offering that they need. Since you're short on expertise and fields, do you have money? Are you willing to assume the risk of renting fields and paying for promotion? Assuming the risk so field owners don't have to is about the only thing I can see that you really have to offer.


- Chris

 

[jeremy7]

i wasnt' asking for there help running a league, i was asking to use there field in a series, it will be bringing players from fields to other fields along the series that have never or dont' usually play there...they will make the money off of the paint and air just like they always do and they wouldnt' be paying me a dime...one field has already emailed me back saying they want to be apart of this series btw...and theres' no battle between series or anything here since this would be the only one that i know of unless someone else is working on which would be great, then i would be able to participate in it...im' just trying to bring something to the players here, if i lose $$ oh well, atleast i tried

 

[Richard Kirke (DUPS Rocket) UK]

Good luck to you mate

I see what your saying, but will the site owners really make more money on paint/air than they woudl if the site was open just for an ordinary days play?

If you can book the site with deposits collected from teams, then that'll be good for the owner, but remember, unless you can promise the owner more money he may not be interested.

BTW Listen to Chris, he has a fair bit of knowlege and experience, be nice to him and he may share some of it...

Richard

 

[jeremy7]

i thought thats where all the money came from....all the tournies i played in gave away all the entry fee money in %'s to the top 3 or 5
like 1st got 65% 2nd got 25% and 3rd got 10%
the only help i would be to the field would be bringing players from other fields to there field...thats' really all i have to offer
but you're saying i should get sponsors or something and pay the fields to let me bring the series there?

 

[raehl]

Well, it all depends.

In order for a field owner to be interested in hosting a tournament, they have to believe that they'll make more money by doing so than by doing something else. In order for them to be HAPPY about hosting the tournament after the fact (and this is VERY important) you have to DELIVER more money than they would have made doing something else.

Can that be done with paint sales? If you get your paint inexpensive enough and sell it for enough, yes. But what if only 6 teams show up? Then you have a pissed off field owner, and once you have one of them, the chances of you being able to host any more events are pretty much shot.

I suppose I should ask a better question: Are you doing this for the sake of having a local league in your area, or are you trying to turn a profit doing this? I'm all for non-profit local leagues, but if you're trying to make money (i.e. you keep some portion of the entry fees) I really don't see field owners going for it in the long term - they could all get together, cut you out of the equation, and keep any of the money you're getting for themselves. If you're taking a cut, you need to figure out what you're going to offer for the money you're keeping that NO ONE ELSE CAN OFFER. That can be as simple as working for free to organize the league, but if you plan on making money, you're going to have to find something else.


Once you've got that, how are you going to get teams to actually play? Are there enough teams in your area? Are they willing to travel to the events? How large are the teams? Are they mostly 3-man? 5-man? Are there enough to do 10-man competitions? More importantly, do these teams know who YOU are? Are they going to trust you?


Then there's the whole reffing thing - that's actually generally the largest expense in running a tournament. Are you going to have teams ref fo series points? Pay people to do it? How are you going to find them? Are you going to expect each field to provide reffing? That's a cut of the money they're making on paint sales. If fields have to sell paint at $100/case to run events, you're not going to have many people playing.



And most importantly, why should someone like me spend time detailing step by step how you should run a series? I think I should be charging a consulting fee.

- Chris

 

[jeremy7]

damn maybe i should just pray that someone starts on here....i know theres' enough teams, there has been 20+ teams at every 5 man event i went to last year
maybe i can talk someone else into starting one

 

[Richard Kirke (DUPS Rocket) UK]

Well, it all depends.

Originally posted by raehl
And most importantly, why should someone like me spend time detailing step by step how you should run a series? I think I should be charging a consulting fee.

- Chris

'Cause you're such a nice guy

Jeremey,

I wouldn't let anyhting put you off trying, just accept the advice you're being given. Have a pop and if it all goes pear shaped then just puty it down to experience, and if you suceed, who knows you could be the next Chuck Hensch.

Richard