View Single Post
Old 05-18-2010, 01:25 PM   #4
Sherlock's Avatar
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Minnesota, USA
Posts: 192

Actually yeah, I ran two tournaments last year and am running at least 5 this summer. If you are good at multitasking and familiar with how running tennis tournaments works, it's actually a fun challenge to run one and not too difficult. If you get someone to help you out with the tournament desk you can play for free too while hopefully making a little bit of a profit.

I would strongly recommend you make a list of all your projected costs, and divide them up based on flat costs and per person costs. Insurance and court rental are your flat costs. Balls and prizes are your per person costs. Slightly overestimate your costs to be safe. Then figure out your break even point:

1. Take the per person entry fee.
2. Subtract from this the per person costs. This gives net profit per person.
3. Now using that number figure how many entries you need to match the flat costs.

Now anything after that point will be profit! I like to shoot for somewhere between 30-50 in my section for a break even point. If I get a lot of players to enter I can give more features like a player party, prize drawing, etc.

Big Tip: Look for sponsors, whether it be money or prizes this will be a huge help and well worth it.

Honestly the insurance is the biggest headache of all. I can refer you to the company I am using which is the best policy I have found so far. They charge you based on a head count of participants. You pay an estimate. If you have fewer players than estimated you get some money back (which saves you money), and if you have more than estimated you have to pay them some more money (but it means you made more yourself). It a win-win! Our policy is about $650 for a 4-month period based on 150 (or maybe 200) unique participants.
Currently USTA 4.0, and a certified USTA official.
Wilson nTour nCode, ALU Luxilon Big Banger 53lbs.
Sherlock is offline   Reply With Quote