Are Cash Prizes a Big Draw Factor?

[SlartyBartFast]

Lot's of attendees at Skyball seem to think that the registrations fees are too high. The fact that fewer teams registered (at least according to some on AO, does anyone have official stats?) shows the general Paintball community would seem to agree.

There also seems to be a number of AO teams that attended this year but are doubtful about attending next year.

Looking at the Skyball7 website, the attendance was as follows (may not be complete as it hasn't been updated to post tournament status, please point me to better information if you have it):

Rookie: 48 teams
Novice: 42 teams
Amateur: 19 teams
Total: 109 teams

(Note: All funds quoted in Canadian dollars.)

Now the cash prizes totaled $8500 for each of the above categories ($5000/first, $2500/second, $1000/third).

If Skyball were to be reheld with exactly the same conditions (and assuming they made a profit), the subsidy from team registration fees that went straight to paying the cash prizes would be as follows:

Rookie: $178/team
Novice: $203/team
Amateur: $448/team

If averaged over all classes: $234/team.

So, registration COULD have been as follows:
Original price/Cash Spread Through Category Only/Cash Evenly Distributed

Rookie: $1165/$988/$931
Novice: $1235/$1033/1002$
Amateur: $1370/$923/1137$

Or, the price could be $1023/team for all clasifications.

So, would limiting the prizes to event jackets, rings, and trophies (plus all the sposor trinkets) and eliminating the cash prizes increase or decrease the atendance figures?

For information, Skyball took in the following amounts in registration:
Rookie: $55920
Novice: $51870
Amateur: $26030
Total: $133820

Anybody have estimates on how much paint they sold?
If they sold 4 cases/team, at $90 that would be $39240 dolars.
6-8 cases/team = $58860-$78480

What's the average markup on paint? Or, consider that the paint manufacturer was a major sponsor ...

How many booths did they have? How much were they charging vendors/exhibitors?

[Spaceman613]

Dont forget rent...

I was talking to a a woman in "Diamonds" and she kept asking me numbers so she could figure out how they could afford the dome rent.

I was estimating 6-8 cases a team for paint numbers, and figure that the case price was about $15-20 (USD) for cost.

I didn't play this year, and dont think i will next year, but I will go back to watch. it was a great event to watch and just have fun with. Besides, the glass floor of the CN is amazing.

[Torbo]

6-8 cases is pretty low. most teams shot that just in prelims. AS for the voting part.....we went because we got cheaper entry. Only reason. If we dont next year, we wont go.