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Stay to Play

What's on your mind?

by Strohbro » Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:01 pm

I hardly every post on here but I read a lot of the posts. I just have to rant and get this off of my chest.

I know this has been brought up before but I need to RANT!!
This practice of stay to play has to go. The rates are getting out of hand and the choices are not that great. I wonder if the tournament organizers actually do a review of the hotels they are FORCING us to use!!! I don't care if it's PGF, Triple Crown, a big showcase or who it is. It SUCK*!!!!!
I have heard that if we stop going to these tournaments that it could help change it. I just don't see that happening when they are tournaments teams want to go to. If they want to offer up options that would be great. But to force teams to stay at a certain place or you can't play in our tournament is just flat wrong.
End of rant.......
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by AlwaysImprove » Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:14 pm

I hope that PGF and others are not falling into the trap that sunk past tournament organizers.

Do you have specific examples where stay to play is out of hand? It was specific examples that have killed this practice in the past.
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by Strohbro » Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:25 pm

Triple Crown Sports and even though it's east coast the Pennsbury Showcase in PA. I am from the Midwest.
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by xyzdude » Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:36 pm

I understand the frustration and I'm not speaking for any particular group, but there are some good reasons for a tournament director to require teams to use a specific set of hotels. In order for these big events to be meaningful to the community in which they are held, they must have good statistics on "heads in beds". This seems to be the primary currency used to measure economic impact. The ability to use municipal fields is more and more becoming related to the ability to show positive economic impact to the municipality or community in some way. Having good events is all about getting access to fields, so I think stay to play is here to stay. Full disclosure, I am a State Director for PGF and run some tournaments. We just started to require use of our hotels to be able to measure impact and to off set increasing expenses. It has allowed us to not increase tournament fees as much.
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by AlwaysImprove » Fri Jan 22, 2016 2:40 pm

Agree stay to play has some advantages for the tournament directors. It also has been an approach that get's completely out of hand. This has become a problem in a lot of sports beyond softball.

Tournament direction can become so sideways that they are demanding that tournaments be held in super small out of the way locations, where the inventory of hotel rooms can be tightly controlled. They use that control to jack prices, a room that would cost $80 week before tournament, now goes for $120, 'because they are busy'.

Then the tournament schedule shenanigans start, where they start to do anything possible to the schedule to keep people in hotel rooms and paying money. Like having mandatory registration on Sunday morning, and first games not until Monday evening. Like backloading the tournament, putting off the first round of elimination play until the last possible time.

Not saying anyone is doing that in these cases. But if you have specific examples, people will be able to judge for themselves.
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by tbjd33 » Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:40 pm

AlwaysImprove wrote:Agree stay to play has some advantages for the tournament directors. It also has been an approach that get's completely out of hand. This has become a problem in a lot of sports beyond softball.

Tournament direction can become so sideways that they are demanding that tournaments be held in super small out of the way locations, where the inventory of hotel rooms can be tightly controlled. They use that control to jack prices, a room that would cost $80 week before tournament, now goes for $120, 'because they are busy'.

Then the tournament schedule shenanigans start, where they start to do anything possible to the schedule to keep people in hotel rooms and paying money. Like having mandatory registration on Sunday morning, and first games not until Monday evening. Like backloading the tournament, putting off the first round of elimination play until the last possible time.

Not saying anyone is doing that in these cases. But if you have specific examples, people will be able to judge for themselves.


You mean the way PGF doesn't play a meaningful game until the forth day if the tourney...

I don't pay for hotels but it is annoying.
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by Pale Rider » Sat Jan 23, 2016 9:40 pm

Its gotten ridiculous...

Thankful I dont have to do that anymore...
AKA "Thread Killer"

"Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarters, or take any from you."
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by Battle » Sat Jan 23, 2016 10:18 pm

xyzdude wrote:I understand the frustration and I'm not speaking for any particular group, but there are some good reasons for a tournament director to require teams to use a specific set of hotels. In order for these big events to be meaningful to the community in which they are held, they must have good statistics on "heads in beds". This seems to be the primary currency used to measure economic impact. The ability to use municipal fields is more and more becoming related to the ability to show positive economic impact to the municipality or community in some way. Having good events is all about getting access to fields, so I think stay to play is here to stay. Full disclosure, I am a State Director for PGF and run some tournaments. We just started to require use of our hotels to be able to measure impact and to off set increasing expenses. It has allowed us to not increase tournament fees as much.

LOL...I think there is more to it than just gauging "economic impact". I also think you and AI both know that.
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by AlwaysImprove » Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:00 pm

Battle wrote:
xyzdude wrote:I understand the frustration and I'm not speaking for any particular group, but there are some good reasons for a tournament director to require teams to use a specific set of hotels. In order for these big events to be meaningful to the community in which they are held, they must have good statistics on "heads in beds". This seems to be the primary currency used to measure economic impact. The ability to use municipal fields is more and more becoming related to the ability to show positive economic impact to the municipality or community in some way. Having good events is all about getting access to fields, so I think stay to play is here to stay. Full disclosure, I am a State Director for PGF and run some tournaments. We just started to require use of our hotels to be able to measure impact and to off set increasing expenses. It has allowed us to not increase tournament fees as much.

LOL...I think there is more to it than just gauging "economic impact". I also think you and AI both know that.

LOL away. I would think, even you have to admit that economic impact was an important factor.
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by Dixie14 » Wed Feb 10, 2016 8:26 am

I'm sure the community economic impact plays a role in the stay to play but you may want to research the residuals that are paid to the tournament sanctioning bodies. I understand some large tourneys get 6 figures from hotel residuals for their tourneys. :o
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