Stay to Play

[KillingMeSmalls]

Aside from occasionally being able to get a better rate, my biggest complaint is many times my preferred hotel where I a
gain points is not an option. But the biggest issue is we use our hotel points to stay free during the travel season. If we are forced to STP this is not an option.

 

[Hilliarddad3]

Is the problem with STP the fact people just dont want to be told what to do? Honestly, the rates for the hotels for the majority of STP tournaments i've come across has a BETTER rate than what that particular hotel would usually charge. And if thats the case, i dont give a shit who gets a kick.

Hitter, what irked me is I work for a major chain and would get the team discounted rates from rack pricing where I could. Sometimes it was simple supply and demand rules of law that came into play when I couldn't get those rates. Some parents thought the 79-99 dollar rates I mostly got were even too high. But even with that the quality of the room was much better than where some would choose on their own to stay. But with that said I would never be held hostage to the dirt balls holding teams hostage and not book their rooms not a one........ Even being in the industry, that turns my stomach and yes hotels are always looking for the heads in beds, but usually the ones that STP are not quality ones..."usually".....

 

[freddieball]

For some with RV's and such its the fact that you are told you must stay in a hotel, or else. Even if we do not need one. If the entire team does not need a hotel, your forced to pay for the hotel anyway? Doe not sound too legal to me.

 

[Coach_Tom]

http://www.lostateminor.com/2014/06/07/pay-hotel-rooms-can-sleep-comfortably-car/

 

[orrvillefirefighters]

We were contacted by a company that offered us Stay to play. We considered going that direction to help keep hotel prices down and to lock up hotel rooms so all our teams have an easier time of finding a place to stay. After working with the company for a year we were very displeased and felt like we and the teams were getting ripped off. TD's need to be careful with outside companies coming in to "help".

 

[jd100]

Stay to Play is a money grab for the organization and nobody can make an intelligent argument to dispute that... yes I have read all of these posts. Just because ?everyone else is doing it? does not make if right.

Let's look at Stingrays Summer Showcase (at the risk of being banned from posting for life). I don?t know if they are STP. If not, still good for this analysis. I know absolutely nothing about running a softball tournament. But I count 200 teams and calculate about $150,000 in entry fees if the tournament is full. I don?t know what a decent profit % is on a tournament, let alone a high profile one like this, so let?s just say 40%. So that is $60k profit on just having the tournament. Let?s not even get into shirts and concessions profit.

But take those 200 teams and assume that just half of them have to use STP because not local. With 10.5 players per team and that is 1050 players. 1050 heads in beds. STP probably nets a $20 per head per night kickback. They probably call it a finder?s fee. $20 x 1050 x 2 nights (min) = $42k. Money grab.

 

[poden-smoden]

I know absolutely nothing about running a softball tournament.

You should have just said that part and left it alone!

 

[jd100]

That's funny!
You think I overestimated? The return must be huge on an event like this.

 

[3ballbratz]

We were contacted by a company that offered us Stay to play. We considered going that direction to help keep hotel prices down and to lock up hotel rooms so all our teams have an easier time of finding a place to stay. After working with the company for a year we were very displeased and felt like we and the teams were getting ripped off. TD's need to be careful with outside companies coming in to "help".[/QUOT



Great post ! Thanks for the insight. And thanks for not making your tourney a stay to play. This will be my oldest daughters first year at fire in the Sky we are very excited. We rented a cabin at Mohican for the week which we would not have been able to do with STP. This is the primary reason I dislike STP. There are 5 of us. Hotels don't cut it for long stays. I love my wife and daughters to death but its no treat being cooped up in a hotel room for a week with 4 women. Lol.

 

[lewam3]

That's funny!
You think I overestimated? The return must be huge on an event like this.

Man... what's the issue here? It's Capitalism 101. There is a huge waiting list at these big PGF and TC events- I mean, who can blame the organization for making as much money as the market will allow? These teams come and pay on their own free will. There is no one forcing them to do so. Why do they come? It's because there is a product being offered that is worth the price to them. No one says that PGF or TC has to be altruistic. It is a business. Why do we pay $350 for a bat?
Hitter will crack up reading this because he thinks I'm a Liberal, but I understand and appreciate capitalism as we all should.

 

[steve77621]

lewam3, i agree with you that is capitalism at it's finest but let me tell a story. last yr i signed up for a tournament (this was not, i repeat was not hosted by the org. that people love to bash on here) i paid there fee early to get a spot in this tourney because it was filling up fast and nowhere on their entry page did it say stay to play. about 4 weeks later i get the stay to play info. in a email and when i said i wasn't interested they said i had to or we couldn't play. i asked for my money back and was told this wasn't possible? i just wish everyone knew up front which tournaments were stay to play up front and what they will charge for a room because we stayed in a average hotel and it was almost $130 per night. i wish the administrator on here would seperate tournaments by those that are stp and those that are not. instead of just by asa,nsa,usssa, and pgf.

 

[bman0303]

I guess some are in the softball world for capitalism. I'm in it to better my daughter's life. Any -ism (capitalism, communism, fascism, etc.) without morality is doomed. Keep taking advantage of little girls and their families and you may not have many friends in the end. If you believe there is judgment in the end.

 

[jd100]

It's actually not capitalism. It's crony capitalism.

 

[coachjwb]

I've expressed my opposition to STP a couple of times in this thread, but the last couple of posts seem a little off/extreme to me. Doesn't crony capitalism pertain to government involvement ... did I miss something? Also, I think it's a bit over the top to imply that the STP'ers are going to be in trouble on judgment day! It is capitalism, pure and simple ... nothing more and nothing less in my opinion ... and as consumers, we have the right to not participate. And before someone goes there, don't anyone tell me that their DD isn't going to get to play in college some day if she plays on a team that avoids STP tournaments ... there are still plenty of choices out there in terms of tournaments and other avenues to achieve that goal.

 

[poden-smoden]

I have, over the years, tried to pinch as many pennies as possible. In the grand scheme of things, an extra twenty bucks on a room would surely not have put a dent into the thousands and thousands that are spent per calendar year on softball. You win some and you loose some as to the quality of the hotel.

I do not recall ever questioning the hotel about there rates whether it was STP or not. I do not recall calling up Demarini when purchasing a bat asking about there profit margins, etc. I do not hassle the gas station owner as to if he feels good about making profit from my darling daughter and her right to "FREE" softball. LOL! My only discussions with umpires is to ask if they need glasses or if they need help on a call, just simply ask the parents, not how much they make per game or if they will accept less!

I am directly responsible for all financial obligations for two companies along with one household. I am in it too make money and we are not a charity organization.

I may have been guilty of it too but I think from what I see is that this is really just a case of not wanting to be told what to do! We all have the "YOU DON"T TELL..ME!!" Said with a finger wave and a head shake!!!!

I hereby am now a fan of STP when really thinking about and reading some of these responses!

 

[Stupid Jim]

I see so by your logic you will not care if the store raises the price of the bat an extra 20 dollars, while the store next door has it for 20 less, just as long as someone tells you its ok to pay more, you will? not a really good argument there. I'm pretty sure that those two companies that you are financial responsible for do not practice business that way.

 

[Stupid Jim]

or get this, what if you were told that you have to buy the bat from the more expensive store, and that you had no choice

 

[poden-smoden]

What I am saying is that everyone has to make choices! If the case was to buy a more expensive bat in addition to a STP, that would be entirely different. If the twenty bucks is for the room only, that to me is not really that big of a deal. If you cannot afford to be at this level and it is all about twenty bucks then you might as well pay the $75 dollar spring rec league fee, get your Jim's auto salvage shirt and be on your marry way. There is a price to pay for these bigger and better tournaments it is as simple as that. If it is $100 for the room that you can find yourself and $120 for STP, deal with it. The other choice is to pull off the highway at the sign that says $39.95, tell them it is for you and then sneak the whole family in the back door.

 

[Stupid Jim]

So being told that you have to pay more, and stay where they tell you to stay, doesn't bother you? So because you stay and pay where they tell you gives you the right to look down on others. who are you to judge others maybe I like to stay at the $39.95, maybe that where I met my wife. I hope that you don't step on the rest of us when you come down off of the top of that mountain.
So I guess that every kid that plays rec league is also beneath you, I just hope that the girls can have fun in there Jim's auto salvage tee shirts, with out having to be shamed for not playing travel ball.
your first sentence makes no sense at all "everyone has to make choices" that pretty much goes against everything that stay to play is? not much of a choice

 

[bman0303]

Amen. Stupid Jim isn't so stupid in my book.