Gate Fees?

[snoman76]

I'm not ranting about paying gate fees, I understand them and have no problem with them. My question for all of you is what should happen if a tournament collects gate fees all morning and then cancels the day (and eventually the whole tournament due to poor field conditions) with ZERO games played? Should those parents be refunded their money for that day/weekend pass?

 

[CARDS]

I'm not ranting about paying gate fees, I understand them and have no problem with them. My question for all of you is what should happen if a tournament collects gate fees all morning and then cancels the day (and eventually the whole tournament due to poor field conditions) with ZERO games played? Should those parents be refunded their money for that day/weekend pass?

Most parks have a zero dollar refund policy on gate fees. Teams generally get a percentage back on games played for tournament fees.
Most large parks have at the gate a big sign with the park rules. On most of these boards they include policies such as, food, drinks, rain outs etc. Or, it is on your ticket stub.

We did a big 6 GG college showcase back in 2008 that started on a Thursday. We had a monsoon rain Thursday and Friday got only two games in on Saturday before the rains came back. Tournament was canceled . We received $300 back on tournament fees. (Tournament cost $750 gate fee $12 a day 14 and over or $40 for the four days).
No one received gate fees back because it was a different company/organization (the city) collecting the fees to pay grounds crew concession workers, field prep supplies etc.

 

[Bullbuck]

I think the gate fees need to go back into the pot of money to be refunded to the teams. So that would be [your registration plus gate fees minus actual expenses] / teams paid. It should not just be gravy to the organizer.

I doubt you could return the fees to the individual parents. Maybe just to the teams that had showed up by that point? But that gets kind of math-y.

 

[snoman76]

I think the gate fees need to go back into the pot of money to be refunded to the teams. So that would be [your registration plus gate fees minus actual expenses] / teams paid. It should not just be gravy to the organizer.

I doubt you could return the fees to the individual parents. Maybe just to the teams that had showed up by that point? But that gets kind of math-y.

I agree. When zero games are played then gate fees should be refunded. A simple text to coaches telling parents to bring their ticket or show a stamp proving they paid to a specific location for a refund could be done rather easily in my opinion. The tournament is already keeping a percentage of the entry fees, which is normal, but not to offer parents a refund is greedy. I was at this complex twice this fall and was very disappointed with how both tournaments were handled.

 

[WSHEELY]

I agree..at a minimum any money collected at the gate goes towards the "unrecoverable" costs..i would just refuse to support any future tournaments that the TD's take advantage of people..i get thatits a "fundraiser", but if no games are played, they should not expect to make a profit!

 

[ech92]

There's no reason the gate fees shouldn't be returned in full! They should have reimburse all the parents as they were leaving the park! Its a shame that these softball tournaments are becoming more and more about how much money can be made instead of the actual playing of the games! So many tournaments are way over priced, have horrible rain out policies, and for the most part put little effort into trying to get fields ready after rain delays.

 

[wvanalmsick]

As mentioned in Cards post, it depends on who is collecting the gate fee. If it is the tournament, then IMHO, it should be returned (put in the pot of money that will be returned to teams once actual expenses have been accounted for).

If it is someone else, like a city or park, it depends on their policy.

 

[snoman76]

In this case, as far as I know, it was not the hosting organization who handled this. The people running this park leave the impression that it's about the money and not about safety and/or playing ball. I'm sure they don't want anyone getting hurt and i'm sure they want the games to be played but it doesn't seem like it.

Throw policy out the window. What ever happened to doing what's right? If games started to be played then got rained out, fine keep my money but the teams never warmed up...... didnt throw one ball... didnt start to stretch... nothing.

 

[Fairman]

From a team/parent perspective it would seem only right to refund the gate fees. From the park perspective that money has already been spent to prepare the fields, buy the field-dry, pay the mortgage, pay the concession and field workers, etc... The logistical nightmare of refunding those fees as you are walking out the park makes my head swim.

We seldom cancel a weekend tournament days ahead of time and the optimists among always think we can get the games in.

Most of these major parks with gate fees are not run by the tournament organizers and so they must conform to the park rules. In our tournament (we don't have gate fees) the expense of getting ready for the first pitch exceeds 30k. We even pay the umpires $100 each minimum even if they never saw a pitch just for being ready to go at our 8:00AM game and saving us that particular weekend.

No one makes out on a canceled tournament, not the park, not the sponsors, not the teams, not the parents and certainly not the players.

 

[wpaguy]

Not a big Fan of Gate fees after my experience with
USSSA world series this past summer in Ocean City MD. Had to pay 800.00 gate fee ...then got hit with additional charges for opening ceremony and had to pay for parking ....best part was that was rained out ....USSSA really dropped the ball , and made no effort to fix ....

 

[spartansd]

I have never had an issue.

I just don't go in unless the game looks like it will be played.......I don't need to watch them warm up.

On more than 1 occasion I have out smarted the gate Nazis

 

[TheSoftballZone]

I think peeps complaining about Gates Fee's is just silly. I mean come on peeps really gate fee's. Why in Softball does everyone cry about gate fee's? It one of the cheapest deals around.

Watch GD play volleyball $6.00 at school.
Watch GD running in CC events for 18 mins $7.00.
Watch GS play soccer 1 game $3.00
Watch GD & GS play basketball 1 game $5.00.
Watch GD play softball all weekend long $10.00.

Is it just Softabll that gate fee's has become the new 4 letter dirty word..PLEASE PEEPS!

 

[coachjwb]

While some of the posts have been about gate fees in general, the original post was about gate fees when an event gets cancelled. Gate fee of $5 and zero games played = $ infinity/game

If at all possible, should be some refund either to individuals or, if not possible, to the teams. If it was a city park that was collecting the fees and you're not able to play any games on the fields, then it seems like the TD should be going back to the city and getting a refund as an advocate for the teams.