Financial Transparency

To better deliver on its mission of improving the game of basketball at the youth level, FAYS would like to shed light on one of the most discussed and delicate topics in the youth sports landscape, admission fees.

One of the long-term goals for the FAYS organization is secure sources of revenue to better ensure that youth sport participation is more readily available to kids. In the meantime, this organization is inclined to help families understand some of the nuance that exists in the youth sports world as it comes to payment.

FAYS understands that playing a sport is not only a time commitment for players and their families, but also a financial one. A lack of transparency of around the exact cost associated with playing in a tournament, league, or camp has often resulted in confusion and frustration on the part of the families involved. Our hope is that the breakdown below brings more clarity around youth sport event fees.


BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE EVENT FEES
FAYS strives to be a source of transparency when it comes to the economic model of youth sports. To better understand the breakdown and money flow, please see our informative sheet below. The goal of sharing this model is for participants to have a better understanding of what they are paying for.

CLARIFICATION POINTS
Why are there admission and team registration fees in certain sports, like basketball?
-The split payment model (team fee + admission fee) gives families flexibility around the timing of payments. While the registration fee is often due pre-event, the admission fee allows for the remainder of the cost to be settled at the time of the event itself.

  • Roughly 30% of the total event fee is covered by the team registration fee.
  • A player can play in a club game for as low as roughly $10/game.
  • Tournaments often require months of preparation to execute and often require front end payments to secure facilities, staffing, and equipment. That is why the timeliness of the team registration payment is impactful.

Why don’t tournaments increase the team registration fee and eliminate
the admission fees?

  • There are a variety of youth sports that do operate in this manner.
  • Timing of payments is a key reason why event fees are split into two payments (team and admission).
  • Tournament Operator support the clubs playing in their events by splitting the fee burden with them. The team registration fee acts as a security deposit to ensure that the team is committed to the tournament. The fee collection shifts to the tournament operator to collect the remaining balance in the form of admission fees.

STANDARD REVENUE ASSUMPTIONS

  • Average games played per team a four game guarantee tournament is 4.45 games (some teams play 5 games)
  • Average team registration payment is $350
  • Average admission revenue per team is $400
  • Average tournament revenue per team is $700


STANDARD COST ASSUMPTIONS PER GAME

  • Court – $100
  • Referees – $75
  • Scorekeeper – $2
  • Stat Keeper – $20
  • Direct Court Subtotal – $215


INDIRECT GAME FEES

  • Medical Trainer- $5
  • Admissions Staff – $5
  • Supervisor – $5
  • Schedule/Scores staff- $5
  • Check in/ certification – $5
  • Social Media – $5
  • Indirect Court Subtotal – $30

$245 of hard costs per game X 4.45 games (average games played by a team) = $1090/2 teams = $545

Average tournament cost per team is $545

OTHER FEES ASSOCIATED WITH EVENT OPERATION (per event)

  • Credit Card Fees – $2,000
  • Marketing – $3,000
  • Sales – $3,000
  • Insurance – $500
  • Awards – $1,000
  • Branding – $1,000