The playing TD is in my sights for the August Just the Rules column.
[Just the Rules: Your Opponent is the TD?! | US Chess.org]
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It has been observed that many TDs that push wood at their own tournaments seem to traditionally lose rating points over the long haul.
That’s my story, too. 
Last Saturday, we had an odd number of players, so I performed the duty of the house player for those with byes, in an extra rated games section (rules 28M1 and 28M4*), so that everyone could sit in every round. I’m only rated 1550, but I lost to a 900 while distracted.
- Rules 28M1 to be the house player, but 28M4 as extra rated section so they can retain their full point bye, as my rating was often much higher than the player with the bye (300, 900, unrated, unrated). I also offered them to rest or eat instead of play me, but all four who had the bye opted to play me, including two unrated players, which helped them get 4 total games and a provisional rating. It is helpful to note that none of them lost rating points for playing me, though I lost 40 points of rating for losing to the 900.
Al, depending on a playing TD’s experience in the dual role and the complexity of the event the combination has the TD playing at somewhere between 50 and 300 points lower than the normal rating and risks round delays for less experienced TDs. That said, your option to put your playing TD games in an extra games section (ineligible for prizes and still having your opponents get the full point from the byes) is a method that is difficult for players to consider questionable.
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Thanks, I was trying to be as fair and hospitable as possible. I hate to see unrated player play only 3 rounds and not get at least a provisional rating from their first tournament. And my poor friend getting the first round bye two tournaments in a row was getting discouraging for him, so at least he got to play all four rounds. Some of the Alaskan players travelled more than 300 miles just to play (including one who got a bye).
Fortunately I made TD work my priority and all four rounds started on time. But that is not much of a feat with only 28 players. Pretty small compared to the big tournaments you all throw! 
I did a study of our club nights and came up with 50 a couple of years ago but admittedly the complexity was well on the low end.
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An interesting question.
Since January of 2023 there have been 4361 instances of the chief TD playing at least one game in an event.
In 2653 events, the TD’s rating went up, the average increase was 14.44 points.
In 1708 events, the TD’s rating went down, the average loss was 20.41 points.
Overall, the playing TD’s rating went up 0.79 points.
If I extend the data back to 2005, the pattern is similar, more gains than losses, larger losses than gains, and overall small increases (<1 point).
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You have other options, especially if you declare yourself ineligible for prizes. (Apologies if this was mentioned elsewhere and I’m missing it.)
You could include yourself normally in pairings in rounds where you would have an odd number otherwise, and give yourself a half-point bye in rounds with an even number without you. That (hopefully) means the player with the bye doesn’t always have to play a significantly higher rated player every time.
Your own rating remains at risk, of course. Greater risk, perhaps, if you play stronger players, though one loss has less impact than a loss to someone 600+ points lower.
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I think you need to look at player’s performance rating in events where they were a chief TD and compare to their performance rating in events where they were not a chief TD to really see the gap.
Possibly, but that’s a much more complicated query.
Good points all in all. I actually never even sat at the board I was playing on, as I would make my rounds reminding the younger players not to talk, help people with clock problems, and etc., I would stop by my board and make a move. So I wasn’t really “in” the tournament, so to speak.
Also, no one took a bye or round off, so we had the same odd number of players for every round. I could see how players taking half point byes for leisure in large events might make each round different, but here, the players are so hungry for rated games, they play every round.
I am a playing TD in club-night events and a playing non-TD only in very different time controls. They are not very comparable.
You should remember that a house player doesn’t have to play the natural bye (i.e. lowest rated player in lowest score group). If you have a fairly wide range of players, it might make more sense to put him/her in a higher score group that would naturally cover the person’s rating. (Probably best into the bottom half of that).
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Sure, your experience isn’t very comparable between playing and not playing, but others’ might be and a direct comparison would be more predictive. In my experience I was trading off with another TD for club nights, for example.
Here’s a more detailed analysis, but it might not prove the underlying thesis.
This shows all games for chief TDs who were player-TDs for any events in 2023-24 by ratings system type and whether or nor the chief TD was a player-TD in that event.
What it seems to show is that while overall, player-TDs gain fewer points in events than when they are just players (the netchg column), this is not a result of their losing more points as player-TDs but rather that they are gaining fewer points when they are player-TDs.
There’s some inconsistency between ratings systems, though.
I’m not sure where to take this analysis from here, it may be that player-TDs filling in as a house player are playing less competitive opponents than when they’re just a player in an event.
rs td count lost avgloss gained avggain netchg games
-- -- ----- ---- ------- ------ ------- ------ -----
4 N 780 422 -24.4 358 31.8 1.4 2308
4 Y 305 178 -18.1 126 25.5 0.0 842
5 N 1210 657 -22.0 553 31.0 2.2 4581
5 Y 250 145 -14.8 105 17.3 -1.3 782
B N 2142 1191 -27.6 951 35.1 0.2 15898
B Y 1315 701 -23.6 612 32.0 2.3 8322
D N 5632 2928 -21.3 2704 27.8 2.3 17995
D Y 2815 1549 -15.1 1266 20.0 0.7 7630
Q N 2094 1102 -22.4 992 30.4 2.6 7496
Q Y 1412 769 -17.8 643 23.8 1.1 4582
R N 5174 2794 -17.9 2380 25.8 2.2 20301
R Y 1627 907 -12.9 720 18.2 0.9 4856
S N 263 138 -41.2 125 22.1 -11.1 614
S Y 47 30 -15.1 17 50.9 8.7 126