what entry fee to charge?

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Permalink Reply by elgee on October 26, 2008 at 10:19pm

It is a free market Andrew. I chose to keep it affordable for my first promotion efforts ($25 and $20 per if you signed up for two races) for CultCross. You can charge more for A's or "open" classes because a portion of their entry fees goes back to the racers as prize money in many cases. I let juniors race free to encourage them to race and make it affordable for the parents who want to get their kids started in racing. Hope this helps...

ELGEE

Permalink Reply by brianhancock on October 27, 2008 at 3:39am

For the Ithaca GP, I tried to split the costs between what Tailwind charges (on the East side of MI) and what Kiss Cross charges (on the West side of MI). We're kind of the odd ball out when it comes to not being in a series, as we're the only game in town that has tried one on our own.

One thing I changed from last year to this year was the "late entry fee." In order to try and reduce the amount of day-of entries I charged $10 extra for not pre-registering (late year it was only $5). The GP was on a Sunday; pre-reg ended at Midnight on Friday night. I figured that would be plenty of time for people to figure out if they're going while not making them commit a week or so in advance. Sure enough I had 44 pre-entries and only 16 day-of entries. (Juniors didn't pay any late fee.) From my perspective as a racer the late fee stinks, but from my perspective as a promoter, it helps big time with what my wife and other volunteers have to do on race day (I put together everyone's race packet on Saturday; all pre-reg'd racers need to do is sign the completed USAC waiver and show their license).

Categories with higher pay-outs pay more, and I am a huge proponent of keeping the costs way down for juniors. As most of us know, it isn't the junior that actually pays, but it is important to help out their parents who probably pay for most all of their equipment.

Permalink Reply by ilovetoracecross on October 27, 2008 at 5:16am

Everyone out here wacks you HARD for day of entry. Partially because it's a pain in the ass, partially because,well, we can. With the importance placed on seeding order etc and the difficulty of finding volunteer types, anything that can be done to make the job easier is par for the course.

Our entry fees are a little lower than elsewhere.. UCI fields are pretty much the same. It's a little expensive, but the prize money makes it worth it. I did a rinky dink local mtb race the other month and I got charge 40$.. wtf. I wasn't even out there for 2 hrs.. Factors that make the race more expensive/attraactive to racers
-prize list
-competition
-venue
-date

If you have excellent stuff above, people will sort of buck it up and do it. Note venue includes three things... location, course, and proximity to major cycling nerve center.. On second thoughts this is likely the most important... If you are in a good location (like boston...) with good access to lots of bodies, you will get more $, especially if you've done your work, have a good course, and some decent amenities.. (parking, showers, etc)

Permalink Reply by Terry on October 27, 2008 at 11:55am

I have calculated our budget for promoting the races added in what we feel is a reasonable "fee" for our trouble and divided that number by what I think the smallest turn-out is going to be. If we do a great job with marketing and production be get a larger field and bring in a bit more money. This is usually $20 per rider including the USCF surcharge.