Kind of interesting…in all the replies, not one person mentioned insurance for the site?
My insurance costs $1300 per year. Of course, rates are higher in MA than in most other states, but his has been an ongoing issue for chess clubs for a while. Many run without the insurance. Myself, I can’t take the chance.
Also, if you set up your club as a non-profit, then you will have legal fees to create the corporation.
Again, it’s a protection of personal assets. And before anyone says this is unnecessary, the first year I was open, one of my players fell down two stairs and the first thing the person who helped him up thought was thank goodness that Donna has insurance.
Also, most facilities still want clubs to carry their own insurance.
Which then brings us to the cost of rent in a location.
Unless you are certain that you have enough club members to support the club, you might just eat up the $2500 in rent. First year of the club, it cost me $3,000 for insurance (no history of existence so I the insurance needed to be placed with an assigned risk type of pool) and $2400 for rent. I’m assuming that since you are in a metro area that rents won’t be cheap.
Also, several folks might think that schools will open their doors for clubs however, that’s another issue these days…quite often, they do not want to do so for liability issues.
And to keep the club mostly as an adult club, I would suggest a 7:30 p.m. start time and long time controls - we have Game 120. This tends to mean that very few kids will participate especially if there is school the next day. We’ve always accepted kids into the club, just many of them cannot handle the late end time. Also, the ones who have come and played know that it’s a four hour game so they are the ones who are serious about chess - it’s more of a passion than as a thing to do every once in a while.
And the other consideration on the club is consistency. If you start one, you have to have the capability of making sure that it can open every week even if you are dying in the night. Sometimes this is easier said than done. Many may be willing to play, but not everyone may be willing to commit to opening or closing…people just plain lead busy lives these days.
Spending money on a mailing targeted to USCF members in your zip code is a prime way to get started. Also what you will need to determine is if your club play will have entry fees, club dues, and prizes.
Our club charges $25 each month to enter an event and has $260 in prizes. We consistently average 12-18 players each month so obviously with the rent and insurance cost, the club is still running at a deficit. This is after 4 years of being in existence. And even though we have 12-18 players, it is not the same players every month. There is a core group of probably 8 players, but then others come and go depending on their lives. We consistently bring in a new player or two every month or so, but then also lose players due to work, kids, other commitments, travel, vacations, etc.
Each area will be different, but when our club started, there were only 4 players the first night even though the demographics would have suggested that there should be a larger pool of players.
What I find now is that many people play on the internet, but not necessarily have they played rated chess so trying to attract the non-USCF player almost makes a web site a necessity instead of a luxury in order to be picked up on a search for your town and chess. If you don’t have the capability to set up a web site on your own, then you would have the cost to do this as well.
Best wishes for a successful club and sincere hopes that the above is not discouraging to you in any way.
