How profitable is your soccer tournament? Is it viable?

Before you answer that question, do a quick calculation. Add up all the volunteer hours that were donated by your parents and tournament stake holders. Multiply this figure by the minimum wage (use 6.85/hr as that will probably become the new minimum very shortly.) Then multiply this by 8.5% to account for SUTA and FUTA. (We won’t do worker’s compensation cost or anything like that, but if you want to be entirely accurate for your state, you might want to think about that.) This is your real labor cost.

Now add this to your expenses. Is your tournament still in the black? If it is not, your tournament is not viable.

Our advice: If your tournament is not viable, take a look at your team fees. Can you raise them without losing teams? If the answer is no, why not? Are you just another tournament? Examine everything your volunteers are doing. Are ALL these tasks necessary? Can you automate some of these tasks without reducing quality? While it may sound counter-intuitive, what would happen if you paid key people like your sponsor sales or hotel coordination? Would they produce more if compensated? If you spent some money on advertising, would you attract better teams or entire clubs?

The answers are not easy and one does not fit every tournament, but the questions do. And they don’t help you if you don’t ask them and answer them honestly.

Jack Taylor, the tournament director for the Arsenal Challenge Cup in Cincinnati, Ohio shares some thoughts on what makes for a successful advertising and sponsorship program for a soccer tournament.

Listen to the podcast and then offer some feedback. Each feedback posting is eligible to win an iPod at the NSCAA and USYouth.

We are now on iTunes with a weekly (well, that’s the plan) podcast, usually posted Wed-Thurs. On the weekly show, we will have an interesting conversation with someone who is either in the soccer tournament business, supplies to the industry or is just a fun guest to talk to about the game.

So, subscribe today by clicking on the icon at the top of this page. If you don’t have iTunes, get it also at the top of the page.

To kick off our iTunes podcasts, we are giving away two iPods at the NSCAA and USYouth Conventions. Every time you offer feedback on a posting in this blog, you will be entered into the drawing. (Your feedback does need to be meaningful. You can’t just say Good job or Nice site even thought that does make us feel good.)

We are booth number 1138 at the NSCAA in Indy and we’re still waiting on our booth number for the USYouth. Stop on by; we’ll be podcasting from the booth as well.