Stay to Play....again

[weekendsoftball]

Most of us coaches and parents agree that we dislike Stay to Play requirements at tournaments.

What kind of outcomes have you experienced by not staying at one the Stay to Play provided hotels? penalty fines? not allowed back? kicked out of tournament prior to?

Are there different penalties for different sanctions....ASA, PGF, USA Elite Select/USSSA ???

Go...

 

[Stedman00]

How about not supporting tourneys that do this?

 

[wow]

The threat of all those items, you listed above, are always there. Many times the buy out option is lower than the jack up hotel room costs. Many events are getting rid of that option as well. Legally I am not sure there is enough to impose fees, unless there are contractual obligations, the sanctioning body wants to pursue a legal team to come after a team or organization. The real concern is not getting back to a event for future teams from the same organization.

Logistically there are third parties who are managing this for the TD. They monitor the rooms per, what if any additional fees are added, and negotiate the kick backs from hotel. Everyone is getting a piece of the pie.

What is really sad is how much the financials are taking precedent.

How about not supporting tourneys that do this?

Not sure this a option for everyone. If you want to be seen these events have the most coaches. Its a numbers game. I am not saying you have to go to a SAP event to get seen just that the numbers work in your favor. I think you just have to be choosey and find the event that has the right value. Caveat emptor for you Latin majors...

 

[Hilliarddad3]

I booked majority of our team travel options even at these type tournies and wouldn't use them! Nothing ever happened, I work for a hotel chain, so why would I be forced to use another vendor to do what we could at a lower rate for our families..... If they would forc us, we wouldn't play those....

 

[FastBat]

Stay-to-play tournaments are yuck! But, what makes them really bad is the fact that the hotel rooms are usually $40-50 more per night than if you would be booking it yourself. If you do the math, paying a $450.00 penalty fee (divided by 12 player) would be cheaper than paying $80/player, but sometimes they don’t offer the choice. I would opt to divide the penalty among the parents, as a parent. I prefer to stay in my RV than some of these yuck hotels that I’m forced to stay in. But, if it’s a stay-to-play then I stay with the team and don’t complain. It’s part of the expense of the tournament, until something changes.

 

[DougL]

I just got a call from TeamIn - they are now booking hotels for the Fastpitch Showdown showcases. I told her I would pass this on to my teams but we are going to start looking elsewhere to play. Not sure where this ends. I know for the Dayton metro we eliminated the gate fee 5 years ago and never had a pay to stay requirement - even though every year the major players (traveling teams, TeamIn, etc) call us about it.

 

[Captain_Thunder]

I just got a call from TeamIn - they are now booking hotels for the Fastpitch Showdown showcases. I told her I would pass this on to my teams but we are going to start looking elsewhere to play. Not sure where this ends. I know for the Dayton metro we eliminated the gate fee 5 years ago and never had a pay to stay requirement - even though every year the major players (traveling teams, TeamIn, etc) call us about it.

All 10U & 12U teams need to be aware of the Fastpitch Showdowns also!!!!!
They play less games & pay less money - yet it equals out to be more per game than the older teams pay!!!!!!!!
They also have listed that ONLY ONE (1) UMPIRE WILL BE USED FOR THESE AGE GROUPS for majority of their events!
I sent email & was actually told that the younger coaches asked for this - LMAO...... Coaches don't like solo umpires in fall pool play games - who want them in a Summer event charging prime costs?

Everyone needs to look at all aspects of the events they are choosing for next Summer!
Not sure why anyone would want to play in a Drop Dead tournament during the Summer, why anyone would want to play in an event with solo Umpires during the Summer, why coaches, parents, & teams continue to fall for BS from some TD's! It is one thing when organizations/teams are hosting an event or two to cover operating expenses. But when some individuals make a living off running events & manage to continue to find new ways to stick it to the teams to make even more profit is getting ridiculous!

TEAMS BEWARE!!! Don't fall for those events - there are plenty of tournaments! Just cause an event sticks Showdown or World Series at the end of it's title - It means nothing! When an event runs single elimination events that break down into multiple divisions that is a money grab! Not a World Series, Championship, & def not a Showcase!

 

[Louisvillesoftball]

I have gone to many of these tournaments and rarely have I used the required hotels, with no penalties.

 

[Rex Tiller]

If you live within driving distance (70 mile radius) is what Showdowns says is the "magic number" you don't need to stay but many parents will still drive further to save money