What would make you pay to watch a basketball game which didn't have tv star athletes?

Question

I'm working on a business project with my friend Taylor. I don't want my friend to fail, and I'm hoping I might be able to help her get a passing grade. However her ideas seem to always have one fatal flaw. She's not trying to cooperate, but I'm not going to give up helping her until I feel that I have to do things my own way.

Right now our plan is to host basketball tournaments. We hope to sell candy, and provide comfortable seeting for the guests. The price to watch is $2, the cost for team (consists of 4-7 players) entry is $10. Th ecandy and refreshments will be from .50- $1.25 from what I can estimate mentally. The worst part of this ordeal is that Taylor is a dominatrix (but not the good kind), and she has made is explicitly prominent that only girl teams can play, which is totally bougas! I figure that I need to find a way to interest both males and females to come.

Then we need a way to make sure people actually pay to watch, because if we host the tournaments in a public place then anyone who is tall or can jump a fence will be abel to see; so we'd have to host in some place like our school gym or somewhere with walls. I'm just really concerned because who in the world would actually pay to watch a basketball game, let alone one only played by girls. Which brings me to think who's going to come to watch an all girl game besides their parents if they even come, then girls can be catty, so who's going to referee?

Please I'm a straight A teir 3 (honors)student who really is jsut trying to help a friend and pass a project with at least an 87.

I'm not asking you to do the work for me, but I'm really confused. On the other hand, I can easily do this project by myslef, and the teacher made a special arrangement with me because he thinks I can help Taylor.

All I'm asking is that if you see any way to improove this unbuffed plan to tell me =D

Answer 1

This is in a way cheating but it will work... I did the exact same project when i was in high-school...but it was an all-guys 3 on 3 tournament instead.... it was for a community research paper... We posted fliers all around the school and even put an advertisement in the local newspaper that this tournament would take place.... same situation...cost for team to enter...cost for entrance to watch... cost for refreshments...

here is the trick...the whole event never happened... we took several pictures of random people playing basketball at the local park saying it was the tournament...and we just brought a fold-out table and chairs and put up a sign explaining the "fundraiser."
No money was made... but we hade video coverage and it was perfect...
However...we know for a fact that this stood alot of people up who were looking foreward to the tournament...(we held it on a Thursday when it was supposed to be Saturday).

We even had sponsors help us pay for newspaper advertisement....

final grade was a 92

any questions?..feel free to ask

Answer 2

I think you're far too concerned with getting people to pay to watch.

If you think about regular amateur basketball tournaments, they never feel the need to charge people to come watch. (Because like you said, it's a hassle to attract people to come watch and then keep out non-paying crowds) Instead, they make their money through charging teams to play, concessions at the event and advertising from sponsors.

In fact, I think you're severely short-changing the amount of income you can make. By increasing the entry fee for teams, you can offer an attractive cash prize that would attract players from a wider area (maybe city-wide? state-wide?). Really, a limited number of people is going to show up to watch a bunch of girls from your school go at it... but if you can attract the best girls from the whole state to play for say $1,000 cash prize, then you might be able to get a real crowd.

You take the entry fees, take a cut and leave the rest for a prize. I'm thinking $10 per *team member* would still be on the cheap side. Charge like $50 per team, $10 per extra member after 4 or something. You'd only need 20 teams before you break even on a $1,000 prize. Any more is profit.

Concessions should also be far more expensive. Been to a sporting event lately ? No one sells snacks at cost. Don't go overboard but you could safely charge even prices for soda and water and still get away with it ($1.50 maybe?).

As for the all-girl aspect, I don't think it's necessarily a bogus approach. Sure, men's basketball is more popular but there's many events these days that cater to females that are perfectly successful. Going one step further, advertising your basketball tournament as one of the only ones that cater to an all-female crowd would probably open you up to an underserved niche market.

Having a niche market usually makes it easier to market the event and also to plan. Additionally, having all girls can actually make it easier for you to sell advertising at the event to female-oriented advertisers. I mean, having a sponsor support a regular basketball tournament is a tough sell ... but doing something like "supporting female atheletics" just sounds like good PR for a potential advertiser.

And just because there's no guys playing doesn't mean guys won't show up if it's a good time out. Girls playing will get their guy friends to show up to cheer em on. If you provide some kind of "event atmosphere" and give other people reason to show up (advertiser booths ? games ? etc) then some people will stop by just to check it out.