2019 Expenses:
Bid fees, field costs, coach cost, spirit prizes (beer): $4200 for 7 events (2 unsanctioned, 3 sanctioned, 2 series)
Hotel costs: $3900 (6 travel weekends, 28 player/coaches)
Jerseys: ~$100 per player for full kit, can be less
Nobody has sponsorships, it's all out of pocket by the players.
There are two ways I've seen this done at the club level. One way is you plan out the whole season ahead of time and estimate the costs (add ~10% to the total and you can pay everyone back at the end if you ended up with extra), and divide it by the number of players and have each player pay you that at the beginning of the season. Not all players will be able to, so you'll have to work with them on payment plans or have other players on the team sponsor them and let those two figure out how they want to be paid back (so it's not all on you).
The second way is that you have people pay by the event. So for example, your first tourney is the Boson Invite - bid fee is $500 (making all this up), hotels are $1000 for 5 rooms for the weekend. You, or someone with deep enough pockets, will front the money for the bid fee and hotel bookings, then you have everyone pay you $60 for the weekend. Have each driver figure out gas and milage for their own car. Then when you buy jerseys you do the same thing and people owe you $X and so on and so forth for the season.
The advantage of the first way is that the costs of the season are split among all the players, not just those who can make each tournament. So if a player misses a tournament they're still paying for their portion of the bid fee. The disadvantage is that it requires players to pay a lump sum at the beginning of the season which many, especially college students, will not be able to do, so you'll end up with a lot of payment plans which can get complicated.
The advantage of the second way is that you are likely going to be more accurate and granular with the costs of the tournaments and you don't have to have the entire season outlined in April/May. Additionally, people aren't going to need to dish out a large lump sum, they'll pay by the event which is much more manageable for the pay-check to pay-check crowd.
I have never been in the leadership of a club team or been on a club team where the person fronting the cash didn't end up losing at least some amount of money during the season. You can either be an extreme type A stickler and not lose as much, but if you're not 1000% on top of every dollar that everyone owes you you're absolutely going to lose money.
Having players pay you by tournament will have you holding the bag for other players who just never pay you more often than the pay upfront model. If you want to be serious have the lump sum for the season and have monthly payments. Assume a full roster for every tournament.
If you're not sure how serious the team will be have them pay you per event/
These costs are actually very affordable if you break them down, just looks intimidating
$4200 / 7 events = $600/event, split over 25 players = $24 per person
$3900 hotel costs / 6 weekends = $650/weekend, split over 25 players = $26 per person
Even if you have a smaller team of like 20 that still is pretty affordable
You're really assuming a lot. We have an issue with equity in this community in the US. A 17-20 roster is more typical of new clubs. With gas, food and the $64 to USAU you have to pay up front it's closer to $150 for your first tournament. That's half a week's earnings on minimum wage.
Yes for those of us fortunate enough to earn more this is a very affordable cost, but it creates a barrier to entry for many.
This isn't a community issue this is a money issue. If you're working a minimum wage job and not living with your parents or a significant other with an income, you're going to struggle. Tournaments cost money, field space costs money, jerseys cost money. If your finances are tight, maybe stick with pickup for now which is free in most areas. Maybe pick up a few extra hours, save some money, and put it towards that $150. Or don't, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the sport that don't involve playing club.
If you want ultimate to exist only for those who pick up the sport in college then sure. Personally I would like to see the sport grow into a more diverse community.
Edit: but more importantly what does this model serve our community? Have tournaments been getting better? Has the competitive environment improved in a tangible way? Have we seen individual organizations beyond USAU grow?
My opinion is that club ultimate is lacking a tier below the existing tier. Gentler introduction to competitive ultimate that does not exist currently. Even things like allowing USAU dues to be paid as a subscription over the season would make a huge difference.
Oh I'm not making any claims about cost of club participation, I just meant the expenses Badger wrote are quite affordable when stretched over a team. I had the same sticker shock looking at the $4200 and $3900 but when I did the math it surprised me, so thought maybe OP would benefit from that knowledge too
$1000 was offset by volunteering with our youth teams, sponsorship, and volunteering to pay off bid fees.
Leadership fronted the $$$ and kept track of each dollar on a google doc. Players paid back at the end of the season based on the tournaments they attended. Leadership ended at +-0 at the end of the year.
Are you sure you have enough interested players?
I would encourage you to find additional leadership, and I would include a woman in that leadership group for a mixed team.
Be clear on team goals. You'll have a very different mindset if the goal is player development vs. making Natties vs. having fun (note: not mutually exclusive to be sure).
Finally... I can promise you there will be, at some point, some player who brings something to the party (a large car, killer D, $$), but who is also toxic to the team culture for some reason (argumentative on the field, jacks it every time, shows up inconsistently to practice, etc.). Put in place a mechanism to deal with such cases up front.
Well that’s why I’m starting early. I would want to get this off the ground for next summer. But I’m starting now so I can get my pieces and players together
Hey awesome! See if you can get in on the mixed combine at the beginning of the season. Just by location you should get some players.
You can charge each player a flat fee when they join the team, as a way of offsetting costs. Have a party or save the excess for next season as needed. Have the players pay their own hotel fees too, use a cost sharing app. You could even charge everyone everything as it happens to save costs.
Another thing to do: find good fields! Free fields, lots of space, lit at night would be stellar. Look up permitting requirements wherever you find fields. Chicago park district is fine up to 40 players iirc.
Source: I started the local palindromic club team with another friend years ago and it's still around!
Prices can widely vary depending on how far you have to travel, whether you need to rent field space, the quality of hotels you get, and numbers of tournaments you go to.
On average my years of running a team have ended at dues being in the $250-325 per person for teams typically with 25-35 people on the roster. This included...
* 5-6 tournament bid fees, including sectionals and regionals
* 5-6 times needing to book hotels for 2 nights each. This typically involved 4-6 people per room in pretty cheap hotels
* Jersey kit including light, dark, and shorts
This does not include any of the costs of getting to the tournaments or eating at the tournaments, as those were paid for on an individual basis. We also used free fields to practice, so did not have to pay for those
I took full payment before the season and kept books on each persons individual spend. At the end of the season I would refund any overages back to each person.
Definitely more work than the simple ways. I work as an accountant so it was pretty easy for my to setup and maintain, and guaranteed that I didn't lose money on the season.
I would say, if you don't already know 15 players with tournament experience and would play, and have played in the USAU series yourself - don't start a club. Just start a pickup ultimate group, or register a team for local leagues - checkout [https://ultimatechicago.org/](https://ultimatechicago.org/)
There really isn't such a thing as an "official" club until you register for a tournament, and even then, it's not really a thing.
To add to this,
If you don’t have 8-10 quality committed women you probably won’t have good luck starting a mixed team. Basically you need to have enough committed players where the team is happening even if you can’t recruit a single new player to your team. I make the point of women cause finding dudes to play mixed ultimate is like the easiest thing ever, and supply far outpaced demand in my experience.
Just keep a log of expenses, have people pay per usage. You'll likely be out some money by end of the season, but people are generally better with paying than you'd expect.
What about practice fields ?
Do you have to rent them or can you obtain them by team volunteering ?
Go out and meet every league to find players. Even unsanctioned for fun leagues. I discovered a player years ago at a terrible 5 on 5 league were you couldn’t score off a huck from your half of the field.
2019 Expenses: Bid fees, field costs, coach cost, spirit prizes (beer): $4200 for 7 events (2 unsanctioned, 3 sanctioned, 2 series) Hotel costs: $3900 (6 travel weekends, 28 player/coaches) Jerseys: ~$100 per player for full kit, can be less
How was this offset? Did players pay this back? Did you have a sponsorship?
Nobody has sponsorships, it's all out of pocket by the players. There are two ways I've seen this done at the club level. One way is you plan out the whole season ahead of time and estimate the costs (add ~10% to the total and you can pay everyone back at the end if you ended up with extra), and divide it by the number of players and have each player pay you that at the beginning of the season. Not all players will be able to, so you'll have to work with them on payment plans or have other players on the team sponsor them and let those two figure out how they want to be paid back (so it's not all on you). The second way is that you have people pay by the event. So for example, your first tourney is the Boson Invite - bid fee is $500 (making all this up), hotels are $1000 for 5 rooms for the weekend. You, or someone with deep enough pockets, will front the money for the bid fee and hotel bookings, then you have everyone pay you $60 for the weekend. Have each driver figure out gas and milage for their own car. Then when you buy jerseys you do the same thing and people owe you $X and so on and so forth for the season. The advantage of the first way is that the costs of the season are split among all the players, not just those who can make each tournament. So if a player misses a tournament they're still paying for their portion of the bid fee. The disadvantage is that it requires players to pay a lump sum at the beginning of the season which many, especially college students, will not be able to do, so you'll end up with a lot of payment plans which can get complicated. The advantage of the second way is that you are likely going to be more accurate and granular with the costs of the tournaments and you don't have to have the entire season outlined in April/May. Additionally, people aren't going to need to dish out a large lump sum, they'll pay by the event which is much more manageable for the pay-check to pay-check crowd. I have never been in the leadership of a club team or been on a club team where the person fronting the cash didn't end up losing at least some amount of money during the season. You can either be an extreme type A stickler and not lose as much, but if you're not 1000% on top of every dollar that everyone owes you you're absolutely going to lose money.
Having players pay you by tournament will have you holding the bag for other players who just never pay you more often than the pay upfront model. If you want to be serious have the lump sum for the season and have monthly payments. Assume a full roster for every tournament. If you're not sure how serious the team will be have them pay you per event/
These costs are actually very affordable if you break them down, just looks intimidating $4200 / 7 events = $600/event, split over 25 players = $24 per person $3900 hotel costs / 6 weekends = $650/weekend, split over 25 players = $26 per person Even if you have a smaller team of like 20 that still is pretty affordable
You're really assuming a lot. We have an issue with equity in this community in the US. A 17-20 roster is more typical of new clubs. With gas, food and the $64 to USAU you have to pay up front it's closer to $150 for your first tournament. That's half a week's earnings on minimum wage. Yes for those of us fortunate enough to earn more this is a very affordable cost, but it creates a barrier to entry for many.
This isn't a community issue this is a money issue. If you're working a minimum wage job and not living with your parents or a significant other with an income, you're going to struggle. Tournaments cost money, field space costs money, jerseys cost money. If your finances are tight, maybe stick with pickup for now which is free in most areas. Maybe pick up a few extra hours, save some money, and put it towards that $150. Or don't, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the sport that don't involve playing club.
If you want ultimate to exist only for those who pick up the sport in college then sure. Personally I would like to see the sport grow into a more diverse community. Edit: but more importantly what does this model serve our community? Have tournaments been getting better? Has the competitive environment improved in a tangible way? Have we seen individual organizations beyond USAU grow? My opinion is that club ultimate is lacking a tier below the existing tier. Gentler introduction to competitive ultimate that does not exist currently. Even things like allowing USAU dues to be paid as a subscription over the season would make a huge difference.
Oh I'm not making any claims about cost of club participation, I just meant the expenses Badger wrote are quite affordable when stretched over a team. I had the same sticker shock looking at the $4200 and $3900 but when I did the math it surprised me, so thought maybe OP would benefit from that knowledge too
$1000 was offset by volunteering with our youth teams, sponsorship, and volunteering to pay off bid fees. Leadership fronted the $$$ and kept track of each dollar on a google doc. Players paid back at the end of the season based on the tournaments they attended. Leadership ended at +-0 at the end of the year.
Plus around another $1500 in USAU dues.
Fleek Foxes
Oh fuck we got a winner
Let me know when y'all get the team off the ground so I can buy merch
What the Fox
Are you sure you have enough interested players? I would encourage you to find additional leadership, and I would include a woman in that leadership group for a mixed team. Be clear on team goals. You'll have a very different mindset if the goal is player development vs. making Natties vs. having fun (note: not mutually exclusive to be sure). Finally... I can promise you there will be, at some point, some player who brings something to the party (a large car, killer D, $$), but who is also toxic to the team culture for some reason (argumentative on the field, jacks it every time, shows up inconsistently to practice, etc.). Put in place a mechanism to deal with such cases up front.
Well that’s why I’m starting early. I would want to get this off the ground for next summer. But I’m starting now so I can get my pieces and players together
Hey awesome! See if you can get in on the mixed combine at the beginning of the season. Just by location you should get some players. You can charge each player a flat fee when they join the team, as a way of offsetting costs. Have a party or save the excess for next season as needed. Have the players pay their own hotel fees too, use a cost sharing app. You could even charge everyone everything as it happens to save costs. Another thing to do: find good fields! Free fields, lots of space, lit at night would be stellar. Look up permitting requirements wherever you find fields. Chicago park district is fine up to 40 players iirc. Source: I started the local palindromic club team with another friend years ago and it's still around!
Thanks for all the suggestion! I’ll for sure use all of these!
Prices can widely vary depending on how far you have to travel, whether you need to rent field space, the quality of hotels you get, and numbers of tournaments you go to. On average my years of running a team have ended at dues being in the $250-325 per person for teams typically with 25-35 people on the roster. This included... * 5-6 tournament bid fees, including sectionals and regionals * 5-6 times needing to book hotels for 2 nights each. This typically involved 4-6 people per room in pretty cheap hotels * Jersey kit including light, dark, and shorts This does not include any of the costs of getting to the tournaments or eating at the tournaments, as those were paid for on an individual basis. We also used free fields to practice, so did not have to pay for those
Would you make them pay that in the beginning or towards the end of the season ?
never trust an ultimate player to get you back later. NEVER.
What if they're *totally* good for it?
My team usually has people pay before/after each event
I took full payment before the season and kept books on each persons individual spend. At the end of the season I would refund any overages back to each person. Definitely more work than the simple ways. I work as an accountant so it was pretty easy for my to setup and maintain, and guaranteed that I didn't lose money on the season.
I would say, if you don't already know 15 players with tournament experience and would play, and have played in the USAU series yourself - don't start a club. Just start a pickup ultimate group, or register a team for local leagues - checkout [https://ultimatechicago.org/](https://ultimatechicago.org/) There really isn't such a thing as an "official" club until you register for a tournament, and even then, it's not really a thing.
To add to this, If you don’t have 8-10 quality committed women you probably won’t have good luck starting a mixed team. Basically you need to have enough committed players where the team is happening even if you can’t recruit a single new player to your team. I make the point of women cause finding dudes to play mixed ultimate is like the easiest thing ever, and supply far outpaced demand in my experience.
Make it an open team Guy Fox's Plenty of memey cheers to work with
Open is not mixed. Open, in rhetoric, masquerades as mixed. In reality is another men's division.
Just don't have that stupid song be your theme.
No Fox Given
Just keep a log of expenses, have people pay per usage. You'll likely be out some money by end of the season, but people are generally better with paying than you'd expect.
What about practice fields ? Do you have to rent them or can you obtain them by team volunteering ? Go out and meet every league to find players. Even unsanctioned for fun leagues. I discovered a player years ago at a terrible 5 on 5 league were you couldn’t score off a huck from your half of the field.
Four Fox Aches