NSA Pay As You Play Tournaments are a little bit different than our regular tournaments in that each team pays for umpires on the field before the game begins in cash. The entry fees are significantly reduced to account for the fact that the teams will pay the umpires. In fact, when everything is said and done half of the teams will save money under this new system for an 8 team tournament.
How Does It Work?
Teams pay an entry fee of $275 for a normal, 4 game guarantee tournament. This entry fee includes a refundable $40 "Forfeit Fee" which will be returned at the conclusion of the tournament to every team that has not forfeited a game. That makes the net cost for the entry fee $235.
Teams that play the minimum 4 games (that is, teams that do not advance beyond the first round of the elimination bracket on Sunday) will incur $160 in umpire fees. This cost added to the net entry fee of $235 equals $395 -- a savings of $30 per tournament if you get knocked out in the first round compared to our current fee system.
For teams that advance to the second round or the finals, your costs will be slightly higher -- $435 net cost for entry fee and umpires -- an additional $10 over our current fee system for an 8 team tournament if you make it past the first round. NSA Mass. pays the umpire fees for all championship games -- including "if" games for tournaments that may require it.
Obviously, costs will be higher for teams that advance deeper into larger tournaments. Most of our tournaments are capped at 16 teams per age division and the maximum any team will spend on umpires for a 16 team tournament is $240 which will increase your tournament expense and bring the total net fees to $475 -- but you would have to play 6 or 7 games to incur those umpire fees. At this time we are not planning to use this system at every tournament. We will most likely continue to use the flat rate entry fee system that includes umpire fees for our very large tournaments to keep the umpire expenses from getting excessive for teams that go very deep into very large tournaments. Every tournament using a Pay As You Play entry fee system will be clearly market on our website.
Why The Change?
We have seen this system work well in other areas of the country as a more equitable way to split the costs of umpires at tournaments -- the teams that play more games incur slightly more of the cost of the tournament. We wanted to try it here and see if it was something that the teams might be interested in. In addition, it allows teams more time to get their funds in order as they do not have to have the money to pay larger entry fees months in advance and simply need to bring the cash for the umpires with them to the tournament -- giving them an extra month or more to collect funds or raise money for tournaments.
What Do We Do Differently?
Basically, everything is done the same up until game time. You register for tournaments through our website, www.northeastnsa.com. You send in your deposit within two weeks and the balance by the deadline. Now here is where it changes. You must bring two $20 bills to each game and give one to each umpire. Each team pays $20 to each umpire. That's it. Then the game is played as it always is.
As with any new system, we expect questions to arise and we will work hard to answer all your questions as best we can. We are very interested in your feedback about this type of tournament -- suggestions, positive comments, and constructive criticism are always welcome.
NorthEast NSA - Region 1 88 Eleventh Street Lowell, MA 01850 Att: Steve Collins info@northeastnsa.com 1-978-937-5515