Would you pay extra at a meet for this?

[AlexsGymmyMom]

We are hosting a meet this weekend and I found a great idea for a fundraiser for the booster club. It is called "The Best Seat in the HOuse".

Basically, my husband is a manager of a retail store that sells theater seating and they are letting us borrow a set of nice comfortable theather seating to use for this fundraiser.

I hope it goes over well but I was curious is you guys would pay like $1.00 per ticket for chance to sit in those totally comfy seats and have the best view along with free snacks?

Would you pay more? If so how much? Thanks guys!!

 

[cher062]

nope I wouldn't pay more.

 

[mumoftwogymnasts]

I would

 

[UnoMas]

Totally. One meet that we go to raffles off "the best seat in the house". It is a COUCH right on the floor and they come and serve you food all day. We've never won, though!

 

[MdGymMom01]

I would--it sounds like a fun idea!!! I know my son would love it and the FREE SNACKS??--He'd be in heaven!!!

 

[bogwoppit]

I cannot imagone paying to see my DD compete. THis whole meet thing in the USA is nuts and they are just massive money makers.

Okay back off my soap box, nah I wouldn't pay. Just make sure there enough toilets and seats for regualkr folk to sit in, or a plan to sell the best seat could get some real snarky parents.

 

[IrenicMom]

Bog -
Keep in mind, though, that the proceeds from the meet are (usually) directed back to the club that hosted it to help supplement fees for the team. So, a lot of hard work to host is rewarded with lower costs for those same parents that put in the hard work.

But, we (my family) also has to pay to attend other sporting events the kids participate in (hockey being a prime culprit here, though also basketball sometimes - for my nephew - and lacrosse sometimes. Soccer and football, at their current levels, are usually "free" to attend, but with higher fees).

Anyway - back to the question at hand.

Sure, why not? It's a buck. I'd probably pay up to $5 for a ticket - heck, the cost of one round of snacks would be more than that. When you say "all day" - you mean each session, right?

 

[bogwoppit]

Irenic mom, the culture of money making is what drives the meets. In most countries around the world girls in gym only do a few meets a year. Even more than that, in many countries coaches are volunteers too. The USA is on overdrive. I totally get that the money goes back to the parents, but the whole gym culture is on steroids. If your gym only did three meets and girls trained as other countries do the need to make this kind of money would go away.

But I do not want to hijack the thread, so I shall kick my soap box out of the way. *Shuffles sideways out the door*.

 

[Gymdad2]

No - meet costs are too high already (especially food). Besides, I like to move around at a meet and watch different events from different angles (helps with photos too)

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

I would pay $1 for a chance at sitting in the "best seat in the house" cute idea-- but I think $1 a chance is good don't charge more IMO- you'll have a lot people buy $5 worth of chances.

I have no problem with the way gymnastics is run in the US at all my child enjoys competing in multiple meets, I don't mind going and paying and I see no problem in the meet raising funds for the host gym-- it keeps costs low for the gymnasts families and enables the gyms to buy new equipment, sponsor specialists to come in and work with the gymnasts, and keep the place running in general .

 

[Gymnasticgrandkids]

The culture of money making is what drives EVERYTHING!

 

[Mariainlv]

I think it is a great idea! I would def pay to be in that raffle!

As an aside Bog, just because things are different than the culture in your country, or anywhere else, does not make them bad or inferior. Works for us in the US. Kinda like the setup actually. Capitalism at its finest. Parents want Johny/Jenny to compete, meets help offset costs, everybody wins.

 

[IrenicMom]

I agree that the culture of sports (**not** just gymnastics) is quite different in the US than in other places.

However, given than athletes in many other countries are isolated and in many cases, removed from their families, in order to train, I'll take our skewed capitalistic society. It's not ideal, but neither are some of the other "popular" options.

Not intending to hijack, but also not intending to move out of the US

 

[gymcoach34]

We have done this as a raffle for our meets and it has gone over great and been successful. We also sell good luck "shout outs" for 1.00. People can write a little message to their favorite gymnasts and it get announced over the loudspeaker-that is very successful!

 

[JBS]

We are hosting a meet this weekend and I found a great idea for a fundraiser for the booster club. It is called "The Best Seat in the HOuse".

Basically, my husband is a manager of a retail store that sells theater seating and they are letting us borrow a set of nice comfortable theather seating to use for this fundraiser.

I hope it goes over well but I was curious is you guys would pay like $1.00 per ticket for chance to sit in those totally comfy seats and have the best view along with free snacks?

Would you pay more? If so how much? Thanks guys!!

Yes...great idea! With the cost of hosting a meet rising, clubs need to be more creative. This is a very creative idea. For our big meet this year, we paid over $35,000 for just the facility and equipment rental. Every dollar helps to offset that bill.

 

[lhmom]

I probably would, mainly for my husband and son. Especially for the snacks (my son is constantly wanting to eat at meets).

 

[shelovestoflip]

I think it's a great idea though personally I wouldn't buy a ticket. My feeling at meets is that I pay the entry fee and for the Dippin Dots at the end (always a cart at the meets we go to!) but I don't feel the need to support the host gym further than that. I figure the entry fees etc are enough!

But I'd bet lots of people would buy a ticket and if snacks are included, I think a great deal for someone!

Whether it's capitalistic or not, it is the culture we live in and the price of 'running a meet'. The kids are happy and that's what matters. Comfortable seats can't hurt!

 

[ZJsMom]

I would definitely buy the seats. I think it's a great idea.

I cannot imagone paying to see my DD compete. THis whole meet thing in the USA is nuts and they are just massive money makers.

Bog-- I used to feel this way too, but I've gotten used to it. My dd is trying cheer this year and it's WAY worse. She's going to a comp this weekend where the teams compete both days and admission for spectators is $15 per day. If my dh and I go both days, we're out $60 plus parking.

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

Just to clarify. This fundraiser does not go to the gym itself it is sponsered by the booster club and all the proceeds will go directly to the booster club account which is used to help the gymnasts themselves not the gym.

 

[MaryA]

I think it's a great idea, and I would totally buy some tickets. I don't usually do the 50/50 raffles or other contests (I did for the first few meets DD was in, but when the # of meets and the total cost started going up, I started skipping the contests) but this is such a cool and unique idea that I would be really into it. Even better would be comfy chairs that could easily be moved from one event to the next (because sitting on the floor in one area would make it hard to see what was going on at the other end of the gym). Heck, if you didn't mind it being a little bit complicated, you could do a drawing for each rotation group and have comfy seats set up at each event. Then the winners for each group could rotate as their DD's team did!

Some meets that we go to, the entrace fee is $5 with $3 for kids. It was even this low at Sectionals, which I totally appreciated (Thanks Jewarts!). But then for others it's $10 for adults and $5 for kids and this starts to get rediculous (and we don't go to any really big meets... I would guess some of them may be even more). I would rather a gym have a lower admission fee and then have lots of other opportunities for you to spend your money... cool gym-related gifts (my mother made up for the low entrance fee at sectionals by buying my daughter a $33 hoodie... yikes!), yummy snacks, contests, etc... than have such a hefty entrance fee.