Mike Murray
I have to point out that although race organizers may not have to put out
cash to purchase gift certificates they do need to put out effort and
resources that could be spent on something else In-kind sponsorship is not
a gift that falls in the race organizer's lap.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
Behalf Of Leibowitz, Flo
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 18:08 PM
To: obra@list.obra.org
Subject: [OBRA Chat] FW: race promotion
-----
BTW, your concerns were the reason why people did not want to impose a rule.
Mike
----------
-----Original Message-----
From: Leibowitz, Flo [mailto:fleibowitz@oregonstate.edu]
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 18:01 PM
To: mike.murray@obra.org
Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] race promotion
I think Mike's thinking about prizes has a lot of merit, but perhaps there
could be leeway for small merchandise for cat 4/5. I have to say I really
enjoy the small merchandise prizes I've been lucky enough to get once in a
while. Those $10 gift certificates and the like are pretty special. I think
they are a nice bonus, when the sponsors generosity permits. And I assume
these things are in-kind gifts from sponsors anyhow, and not something the
promoter has to go out and buy.
_____
From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org on behalf of Mike Murray
Sent: Sat 9/2/2006 10:15 AM
To: obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] race promotion
I agree with the "STOP PAYING BIG PRIZE LISTS" statement. There is no
correlation between prize list and participation or quality of event. Each
race organizer has limited resources and energy and most of them misdirect
that toward developing a prize list rather than towards other things that
would make a good event. I have, in the past, proposed that OBRA adopt a
rule limiting cash prizes to Cat 1/2 fields, merchandise to Cat 1/2/3 and
only allow prizes of no monetary value (ribbons, trophies) to Cat 4/5
fields. This proposed rule has been verbally supported but voted down. One
of the worst things about bike racing is that we have guys who just started
racing last week who expect that they deserve to get paid and actually get
quite pissy when they don't or if the prize is less then what they deem
acceptable. What other sport pays cash to beginners?
I do not totally agree with the "CHARGE US MORE TO DO YOUR RACE". Although
the entry fees to do bike races are small compared to similar charges for
other sports there is an inverse correlation between entry fee and
participation, i.e. the higher the entry fee, the lower the participation.
This means that income for the event will not necessarily increase if the
entry fee goes up as less people will be paying that entry fee. Obviously
there is a sweet spot but predicting where that is will always be a guess.
Since events are generally better if participation is higher keeping entry
fees low is something that we should encourage. OBRA has tried to encourage
this by having a system that tries, as much as possible, to make costs to
the race organizers variable, i.e. tied to participation. If all the costs
were variable the race organizer could figure minimum entry fee charge
easily as it would be his costs per participant. The catch is that there
are some costs that are necessarily fixed (not tied to participation).
Mike Murray
-----Original Message-----
From: Steven R Holland [mailto:srh148@webtv.net]
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 23:03 PM
To: mhcc@gorge.net
Cc: mike.murray@obra.org; obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] race promotion
I'm probably going to regret sending this e mail but......
ATTN RACE PROMOTERS:
If you are not making any $$ at your race, CHARGE US MORE TO DO YOUR RACE
and/or STOP PAYING BIG PRIZE LISTS. Supply and demand baby. If your race had
a waiting list for some categories in 06, charge more in 07.......
Honestly, how many of you racers reading this e mail would stop racing if
there were NO cash prize lists? 5?...10?...20?....I promise, we won't miss
you if you stop racing :-)
I would say 95% of us, or more, do not race for prize $$$ anyways.
Columbia Plateau SR pays "almost" nothing [no offence Mark] and they have a
HUGE turn out because it's an AWESOME race. In Washington the Mason Lake
series [Their version of a BB series] pays NOTHING and they have huge
fields, right David?
When you figure in gas, hotel etc., the entry fee is not a huge % of the
total cost in "most" cases.
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