Determining Entry Fees

What are the guidelines to determine entry fees?

I feel that entry fees should be around $50 for big tournaments. However, I have noticed that it is about $200 for most national tournaments.

Would it be possible that if you can afford to play only as an amateur and can only afford $50 that the prize be divided proportionately based on the amount you can pay? Thus, if you only put $50 for a $200 entry fee, you only win one fourth of the prize.

This could be listed as an option. So that many can be encouraged to play to see how good they are on a national level. At the club level where the entry fee is about $15-$20, one’s rating can easily rise. But on the national level, your ego can easily be deflated at a very great expense.

How do you make it easier to play in national tournaments for the not-so-steady amateur player, with a not-so-big bank account?

Thanks.
Amando

The only sensible way to determine entry fees is to sit down and do the math. (A sopreadsheet works best, but pencil and paper will do the job.) Add up all of your expenses (prize fund, site rental, printing and mailing, rating fees, TDs, etc.), then figure out how much you have to charge to break even with a realistic number of players. How many players you consider “realistic” depends on a) your experience and b) how much you can afford to lose if you’re wrong.

Your suggestion is an interesting one, but it has the drawback that advertised prize funds must be guaranteed. So if 80% of the players paid the 1/4 entry fee, you would still have to give someone the full prize fund. Changing this would probably require a Delegate motion, and it would have to be carefully worded to avoid abuse.

I agree that entry fees at major tournaments are too high, but this is really a question of supply and demand. If the players want large class prizes, they must expect pay large entry fees. Tell your local organizers to run some tournaments with modest prize funds snd modest entry fees. It may work better than you think.