Question to ALL Tournament Directors

Passion4theGame

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So here is my question.

How will Tournament Directors handle Funds on tournaments they need to cancel due to this virus? Will they keep a percentage of the funds like as-if the tournament is a rain out? Or will they keep 100% of the funds and reschedule teams to play in another tournament they are hosting? Or will they move the tournament to a later date and you are automatically in the tournament even if you don't want to be?

I would have to imagine the parks are refunding all field rental fees. Can't imagine any Tournament directors spending money on T-shirts months before the tournament is to take place. So how will they handle teams entry refunds? Interesting.... Thoughts??
 

T2plants0332

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I'm hosting a tournament again this summer (2nd. annual project apple pie charity tournament). Since it's a charity tournament, I plan on giving each team a few options if we do have to cancel. Receive a full refund, donate a portion of their entry fee and get the rest refunded or donate all of their entry fee. I'm in a little different boat than most tournament directors though. I will have almost no outstanding cost if we cancel. It will be interesting to see how the other tournaments we play in handle this situation.
 
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Jeff I can only speak to tournaments ran thru my office under the Double Eagle Sports brand. We had to cancel the April 24-26 Angels-4-Autism event today. I let the teams know that we had an date later in the summer in July but that is touchy since teams have been entering events on their schedule. We are giving teams the option to move on and stay in the event at the new date if they choose, take a credit to another event (which I forgot to post in the email I just sent) or a TOTAL refund.

The interesting thing to me is a couple of teams who can not play in July have told me that the April events they were registered in are keeping a fee one up to $100. I just can't see it and hopefully teams remember those events in the future.
 

Passion4theGame

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Why would a Director want to keep fees? Especially $100 of the fee? I get moving an event to a later date and then giving the teams options of playing or not. But to flat out keep pet of the fee makes no sense to me when there’s really no cost till about a week before the tournament.
 

Passion4theGame

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If I had a team playing in a tournament that is forced to cancel due to this virus I would expect nothing less than a full refund or a solid explanation as to why the Director feels it’s ok to keep part of the fee. Field rental refunded from parks, no insurance fee, no T-Shirt bills, no umpire fees. I mean it makes sense to get full refunds or like stated other options on other dates.
I had a travel company give me a full refund on airfare and hotel payment. School ball team gave full refund for a cancelled Myrtle Beach trip.
Just can’t see Directors thinking it’s ok to keep pet of a teams fee and if it is I’m sure they have a good reasonable explanation to the teams and we will hear it all.
 
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One of my TD's called me a little while ago with this: They were going to a tournament in June in Virginia. Virginia instituted a mandate like Ohio but thru June 14. So that means this event is canceled as it was June 5-7. He contacted the TD to find out about the entry fee and was told they will be keeping 15-25% of the entry fee for "expenses".

I do put a lot time into promoting and organizing events and maybe I am plain dumb for not keeping $25 per team but the VA event is $500+ entry fee. This TD is keeping upwards of $100 or more on the event. Where is the governing body of softball in all of this?

Maybe I am going about this all wrong.
 

T2plants0332

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I consider Mike to be one of the best tournament directors in the state, so I'm not surprised that he already has a plan in place. I've actually learned a lot from him, which has helped me with my tournament. Most of the tournaments we play in are actually ran by him/his organization and for good reason. Keep up the great work Mike!
 

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Email that I sent out to coaches this week that have signed up for our Mother's Day Weekend tournament was they will get a full refund if cancelled due to the virus. I have secured a weekend in September at the same location to host the tournament that they can sign back up for if they want (if it is cancelled in May).
 

Captain_Thunder

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Jeff asked me my opinion on this matter in another thread. Below was my response. Tri-State USSSA is issuing Full Refunds and offering moving cancelled registrations if wanted...

All Directors have a refund policy in place. But I would say that most, if not all will be giving full refunds for any event cancelled by this pandemic! I know we, at Tri-State USSSA, will be giving full refunds to any and all events cancelled due to this situation. We have cancelled our April events & are hoping we get good news for May! We are def hoping all our June & July events are a go! With that said, we will move any registration to any other event we are hosting this Summer or Fall too.
 

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Let me start off and say Aunt Rosie's is almost giving back full refund. We do have many expenses before the Tournament starts. I get a little tired hearing there aren't any.
I have already paid for the year for my Website expense, Insurance, Marketing, Internet, Office supplies, Field Equipment service expense, Credit Card Fee, Registration costs, Tourney Machine and I already bought $3000.00 in Balls. One of thing we are going to do is guarantee that Coaches/Team has a spot in our 2021 Tournament!
That's HUGE since our Tournament fills in less than a hour in many age groups.
 
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Passion4theGame

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Dave it makes sense if you have those types of fees. But most Directors will use a site that’s free to them and they sure as heck don’t pay for marketing. Insurance, Internet, office supplies, credit card fees, all that I get if Directors truly have those fees.

But if a Director expect coaches to pay for balls when they are gonna use them anyways that’s not right in my eyes but who am I.? I won’t judge you on it I just simply don’t agree with it. Simply put.

if I am a Director and I charge teams for Balls but cancel the event. Then I hold another event the same Calendar year and charge the same money but guess what my Balls are free because the coaches from the Pandemic cancelled tournament paid for them. Not sure I would be ok with myself on that one.
We will hopefully soon get back to normalcy and all can have a smile on our faces being out there at the fields with these Athletes and families.
Stay safe.

And for the record I am not saying anyone is right or wrong because I am not in your position so I honestly don’t know how I would handle it but charging for balls that would be used at a later date I 100% don’t agree with.
 

Davemy

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Dave it makes sense if you have those types of fees. But most Directors will use a site that’s free to them and they sure as heck don’t pay for marketing. Insurance, Internet, office supplies, credit card fees, all that I get if Directors truly have those fees.

But if a Director expect coaches to pay for balls when they are gonna use them anyways that’s not right in my eyes but who am I.? I won’t judge you on it I just simply don’t agree with it. Simply put.

if I am a Director and I charge teams for Balls but cancel the event. Then I hold another event the same Calendar year and charge the same money but guess what my Balls are free because the coaches from the Pandemic cancelled tournament paid for them. Not sure I would be ok with myself on that one.
We will hopefully soon get back to normalcy and all can have a smile on our faces being out there at the fields with these Athletes and families.
Stay safe.

And for the record I am not saying anyone is right or wrong because I am not in your position so I honestly don’t know how I would handle it but charging for balls that would be used at a later date I 100% don’t agree with.

I am not charging for balls. :) I'm just saying I take a ton of pride in my Tournament and there are costs (Pre Tournament) to make it what it is today.
 

TheSoftballZone

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We took a hit for over $5,000 on two tournaments in the same year due to rain. I always look at running tournaments like running a business. There no guarantees that your going to make money when your running a business or even recovery your upfront expenses.
 

Passion4theGame

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I think what we will see unfortunately will be people true colors come out. Greed will set in and they won’t think about anything else but how they can keep as much as they possible can through this. I hope we don’t see that but I just have the feeling deep down in my chubby belly.
 

Passion4theGame

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So what if teams/ coaches start calling and emailing Directors that haven’t cancelled yet and decide for the safety of their teams Athletes and families they want to pull out of said tournament that hasn’t cancelled yet? What then? Will teams be penalized for carrying for their teams health and safety? Will they only get a portion back? It’s tough situation for all. It’s tricky and I hope it doesn’t get ugly.
 

TheSoftballZone

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I think what we will see unfortunately will be people true colors come out. Greed will set in and they won’t think about anything else but how they can keep as much as they possible can through this. I hope we don’t see that but I just have the feeling deep down in my chubby belly.

I don't think you will see much of that going on with the tournament directors I've had a close relationship with. Most all the TD'S I've done business with over the years are all standup peep. They always take the high road. There are a few TD'S I'm sure will pass the buck and not take a hit.

I'm wonder what will the Coaches and Organizations be doing that are missing events when it comes to Player fee's. Will they give back part of the Fee's since there cost is lower?
 

eddienite

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I don't think you will see much of that going on with the tournament directors I've had a close relationship with. Most all the TD'S I've done business with over the years are all stand peep. They always take the high road. There are a few TD'S I'm sure will pass the buck and not take a hit.

I'm wonder what will the Coaches and Organizations be doing that are missing events when it comes to Player fee's. Will they give back part of the Fee's since there cost is lower?

And that's the real question.... What will coaches do with the returned funds? Will they give it back to the players this year or tell them they will apply it to next year fees? What if you wanted to make a change in teams? What if the TD gives the team next year tournament for this years fee and the player leaves the team?

Lot's of what ifs but at the end of the day, I am sure no one ever thought we would lose an entire summer and possible fall season. I for one am hoping for a fast track treatment if you do get the virus and sometime later this year a vaccine similar to the flu shot. Then we can expect life to start back to normal.
 

Passion4theGame

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I don't think you will see much of that going on with the tournament directors I've had a close relationship with. Most all the TD'S I've done business with over the years are all stand peep. They always take the high road. There are a few TD'S I'm sure will pass the buck and not take a hit.

I'm wonder what will the Coaches and Organizations be doing that are missing events when it comes to Player fee's. Will they give back part of the Fee's since there cost is lower?


I am wondering the same thing! We have a fee of $1800 per player that is paid to the Bo Jackson Elite Sports facility and no control of our own team funds. They control it all and I am wondering what they will do IF some summer tournaments gets cancelled.
 

TheSoftballZone

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I am wondering the same thing! We have a fee of $1800 per player that is paid to the Bo Jackson Elite Sports facility and no control of our own team funds. They control it all and I am wondering what they will do IF some summer tournaments gets cancelled.

May be better to post this as a new topic for discussion. I was talking to a parent that paid over 2k+ in players fee's and there already going to miss 3 tournaments in April and possibly 1 or 2 in May in the best case scenario.
 

terry folino

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Covid 19 Refund Policy:
Beavercreek Sports Services, LLC - Usssa
Beavercreek, OH
1) Teams can re-apply 100% of funds to later event if openings and cleared to play. Coach should contact me to change to later date.
2) 100% Refunds will be issued if events are cancelled due to the invisible enemy AND once field rental reservation fees and city park fees are refunded by the city. This is over $12,500 currently , no issues expected just takes time. Entry road to Rotary Park is currently locked. You can walk in , but playgrounds and restrooms are roped off and locked where possible. Currently until May 4. Our first event is May 9.
3) If refund request is by check, may have to hold back 55 cents for a stamp, 5 cents for envelope, 10 cents for a check, 2 cents for ink, and 28 cents just to make it a dollar. LOL

A little humor there, but as a business, we do have overhead expenses that we won’t get refunded, but it is the risk of doing business.

We can’t put the player safety and even our own safety (being I am in that over 60 higher risk category) at risk. I pray that everyone understands that we are all in this together and we always talk about how sports teaches the players life lessons. But this time, I believe there is also an element of understanding life and even death ramifications associated with all actions. There are times when sports are not the end all. Look at all the major events that have already been cancelled and are even already out into June /July time frame. If the Olympics can be postponed for a year to be “safe”, hopefully we can all appreciate that life itself is worth more than the game. There was no March Madness and we are still alive. No baseball opening day, no NBA, no NHL, no Masters, no Wimbledon. All agreeing to looking forward to live and play another day when all is safe.

Ohio has been most aggressive with their health policy (And with good results) and would not be surprised if that ban gets extended again and even if once that date gets cleared, they won’t continue a mass gatherings ban of no more than 100 people, which would obviously potentially impact tournaments even further.

Stay healthy and be smart and responsible and respectful.

Look forward to seeing you at The Creek in 2020. Hopefully !!

Terry Folino
Beavercreek Sports Services
USSSA
 
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