Team Fees

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Okay, so I admit to being in TB for only three years so I blame ignorance. But what is the big deal about organizations not wanting to disclose team fees (before the tryout)? I am sure there are many parents that use this to consider where they try out.

I have two daughters that play TB and team fees x2 is a big financial commitment. It would be nice to know if there is any fundraising, or sibling discounts.

I had my DD's pass on a tryout because of rumors that their fees are too high. It turns out that they were within my budget. We shouldn't have to rely on rumors.

Let's admit that fees do matter. Maybe not to all, but to some. Because good players come from all financial backgrounds. Just sayin'

 

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Oh so true!! But don't let the team fee scare you away because many teams also do fundraisers to help offset these fees.

 

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Team fees are one of the factors in my decision when deciding on a team. It's just as important as the coaches and location. If I don't know the team fees by the time I'm ready to leave tryouts, I will ask. I don't turn down a tryout because of the fee though because usually there is fundraising to help off set the costs and the actual out of pocket cost is much lower than what is advertised.

I think it is more about what I get for my money. My dd has been on teams with low fees...but we got nickled and dimed because they didn't have a practice facility and had to pay for every little extra thing. My dd has also been on a team where the fees were higher but everything is taken care of and I didn't have to pay any little extra costs. I believe the years that I paid the higher fees, I ended up paying less in the long run. This is travel ball, you are going to pay no matter what...it's what you get in return for your money that is important.

 

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I found out that one of my 12u's potential new teams is looking for $1200 for fees. I told them, that's almost twice any other program in the midwest for 12u.

I don't mind paying the money(if the value is there) as I payed lots more for a great 16u showcase team, but heck, it's 12u . I had to ask for an itemized budget as to where the money is going. More concerning, after I asked, the fees are magicly coming down to $800.00.

Wasted try-out, as now I can't trust this program that appears to be trying to take advantage of people.

 

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Having coached for quite a few years there are alot of uncertainty in setting a fee for a team. The cost of tourneys fluctuates slightly, cost of uniforms is substantially different from one set to another. Insurance, team apparel, paying coaches a stipend for hotels/travel expenses, clinics...etc. I could go on and on, but I think a good coach/organization has a pretty good idea where they should stand going in and give you a pretty close estimate of cost.

I think where teams slip up (underestimate) is when it comes to Nationals. You can't go into the season knowing if you will qualify, so it is hard to charge extra for an unknown. Most of these Nationals are close to $600 just for the registration fees, then add on entrance fees, etc and that alone could add on another $200 per player come the end of the year. Nationals are a huge expense and probably are a 1/3 of a teams budget for the entire year if not more.

So ask questions and be ready for some flexibility in team fees.

 

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I have always avoided giving concrete or definte cost as it is impossible to be exact when you have no control over what others will charge for tournament fees, insurance costs, uniform cost, etc...

I have always been comfortable giving a ballpark number (and we have never exceeded that ballpark) and have had no problem telling anyone what our fees were last year. I think others may have an issue if I go bragging about our low, low fees and our policy of refunding through fundraising though. :yahoo:

 

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Okay, so I admit to being in TB for only three years so I blame ignorance. But what is the big deal about organizations not wanting to disclose team fees (before the tryout)? I am sure there are many parents that use this to consider where they try out.

I have two daughters that play TB and team fees x2 is a big financial commitment. It would be nice to know if there is any fundraising, or sibling discounts.

I had my DD's pass on a tryout because of rumors that their fees are too high. It turns out that they were within my budget. We shouldn't have to rely on rumors.

Let's admit that fees do matter. Maybe not to all, but to some. Because good players come from all financial backgrounds. Just sayin'

It's best to avoid teams with fundraisers. Go out and mow yards, wash windows, rake leaves, ask for donations for a yard sale and do a car wash at the same time. You will raise more money and not get burned by some ridiculous fundraisers.

 

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When looking at team fees, some org's post minimal costs and then incur additional expenses through the year. Been on teams where the cost was advertised around $500 and then ended up paying close to $900. The other org was around $700 but only increased the price as all the parents wanted to add another tournament, so we all chipped in around $30. I've got one DD in travel moving up to 14U and two more on the way so I'm also looking at these team fees closely.

 

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COST SUMMARY:

EXISTING PLAYERS: $510
NEW PLAYERS: $615

All will get a refund of about $15-$25 per player (haven't fully calculated it after this past weekend). Take that off the fee above.

We played 13 tournaments. Record was 52-19-1 not including 10-12 freindly games that i didnt include in season record but did include the costs. This also includes about 80% of indoor training costs.

Same goes for us...cost is cost. No more. No shared monies with other teams in org.

This is our most expensive year.

 

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It's best to avoid teams with fundraisers. Go out and mow yards, wash windows, rake leaves, ask for donations for a yard sale and do a car wash at the same time. You will raise more money and not get burned by some ridiculous fundraisers.

That's what I keep telling my husband!:yahoo:

 

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Les,

Did you do any additional fundraising? 13 tournaments at say $400 ea is $5200 and your quoted fees don't leave much room for anything else. What all was included for your fees?

Not trying to be a butt, just trying to put things together. Our fees last year (2011) were $625 for a new player and it went down depending on the uniforms that you needed replaced etc.. if you were a returning player.

With us all fees include your uniforms, helmet, batbag, insurance, 8 tournaments, etc.. We do host two tournaments and the proceeds go back to the girls as fee refunds to help reduce costs. With refunds the fees range from $0 - $225 depending on how much you initially paid.

 

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Our fees are in the $700-750 range. Our families pay for Ted's room (he's stuck with me there) because the Buckeye Heat organization has long had a policy that the hotel expenses of a non-parent head coach will be reimbursed. (We personally pay for all other travel expenses, including food, gas, and/or airfare and car rental expenses).

The $700-750 fee may cover one fall tournament, but any additional fall college exposure activity requires additional payments by the players.

As coaches, Ted and I do not coordinate any fund-raising activities. The families are free to coordinate a fund-raising drive but in the past five years there has not been such a drive (we do try to use the Kroger program but it doesn't produce significant revenues). I do know that some individual players have done some fund-raising either in the form of selling restaurant coupons or obtaining sponsorships.

I am in awe of teams that have fees as low as $500. I just don't see, given the rising tournament fees, how it can be done. Maybe the answer is that there are significant team fund-raising requirements?

 

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SGS MAGIC fees which are subsidized by SGS for 2012 are:
10u 395.00
12/14/16u- 595.00
18u-495.00

that includes everything, uniforms, tournaments, fall/winter/summer and full use of the BGSU field house for winter practices in the turf room.

 

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I think the best fundraiser is the restaurant one. Here teams can make a deal with the restuarant for 10% percent of the revenue of people they bring in from say 12 Noon to 5 pm.

Nice fundraiser in the winter and people can get together, families, relatives, friends and the girls.

Just my opinion.

 

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SGS MAGIC fees which are subsidized by SGS for 2012 are:
10u 395.00
12/14/16u- 595.00
18u-495.00

that includes everything, uniforms, tournaments, fall/winter/summer and full use of the BGSU field house for winter practices in the turf room.

I used to work at the BGSU field house! I am jealous you have that for an indoor. Very nice!

 

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We do 1 fundraiser as an organization, which is nice, can handle 1 of these. Every year the fundraiser changes, this year we are considering doing a restaurant as mentioned above. We'll see how that goes.

 

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I don't mind the fundraisers, the more I can offset the costs the better.

 

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I think the best fundraiser is the restaurant one. Here teams can make a deal with the restuarant for 10% percent of the revenue of people they bring in from say 12 Noon to 5 pm.

Nice fundraiser in the winter and people can get together, families, relatives, friends and the girls.

Just my opinion.

I like these too, but we get 20% and schedule them on their slower evenings (e.g. Mon, Tues).

I generally hate fundraisers that involve selling things. The only ones I've liked have been poinsettias and wreaths that were high quality and priced competitively with retailers. We give them away as presents and have people anxious to order them after that.

 

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I saw someone say the Kroger (neighborhood rewards program) didn't generate much. My experience has been just the opposite. I've used it with two different travel organizations and it's a no brainer. You get a rebate of 4% back from Kroger on whatever you spend, including gas. You can load with your credit card (which if you get points from your credit card company you're still earning those points too) and then just use the gift card when you check out to pay for your groceries and gas. We typically earned $30 per month just our family alone. So over the course of a year we reduced our team fees by over $350. Not bad for just doing your normal grocery shopping and buying gas. Didn't cost us a cent since we shop at Kroger anyway. The downside is someone in the organization has to track each players account. But that's pretty easy too since Kroger provides a report of spending by card #. You just have to keep a spreadsheet by card number so you can assign the right dollars to each card.

Michael P.

 

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As a coach that has a low-budget travel team, our fees are well below what others charge. We have only charged $250 per player the last two years. I am probably going to have to raise those fees for 2012, but it all depends on what you are trying to do as an organization and team.

If your goal as a team is to play 10-12 tournaments (80+ games) and travel every weekend of the summer to play ball, hopefully qualify for a National event or two, and then attend a National event, then the fees are going to be $600+ per player and maybe more.

If you goal as a team is to play better competition than what you will see in a rec league and to get more experience playing than what you can get in the spring with school schedules, then you can do a nice schedule 7-8 tournaments (about 45 games) on a lower per player fee schedule.

If you know anything about travel ball, the more you play, the more it is going to cost. The more you travel, the more of the burden is going to be on the parents to pay. It is simple economics. However, a team can lower their budget by cutting out many of the extras (bat bags, helmets, matching cleats, expensive uniforms) because what I have found is the helmet, bags, shoes, and expensive uniforms have never won a game alone. However, the feeling these girls get by having those things helps to build confidence in themselves and their teammates. Plus, sometimes it can be a psychological advantage against a team that does not have that stuff.

If you are interested, the 14U Twisters out of Lancaster still needs a few good players to fill our roster for next season. This will be the first year we are going to try and play in a National event (we have qualified every year for the last 4 seasons) but never had the budget to go play.

Other coaches, if you have any advice for going to a National event, let me know.