USA Boxing Fee Increase?

[bwadd21]

I read on USA Boxings website that there was a meeting and one of the items discussed was increase in membership, club and sanction fees. Anyone know about this and if so how much? This can greatly affect the number of atheltes in our sport, some kids in my gym can't afford the fees now!!!

[Dennis]

It looks like the money sent to USAB from the LBC is going up $13 for athletes and probably about the same for non-athletes. That is almost a 50% increase for athletes. USAB is saying that it is for one year only, but I predict that it will never go back down. Once the additional money comes in they will count on it in the future. Club memberships have also increased a lot. The sanction fees have gone up slightly. USAB made the right decision to not increase show sanctions very much as a big increase there would have really reduced the number of shows. Finally, the medical insurance for athletes is being changed so that there is not nearly the coverage there was before. The medical bills for most minor injuries will have to be paid by the athlete if they don't have their own health insurance - this is the issue that may hurt our sport the most.

[squarering]

I though I was done with the bottomless pit when I sold my boat

[Dennis]

Hal - did you ever see the movie "The Money Pit"?

[Slythex]

I've heard a number of people mention that not increasing the sanction fee a lot is good, because it would cut down on the number of the shows. I'm not sure I get that, or agree.

My take was that I'd rather bump up the cost of a sanction, because that's a revenue generating event. Basically a show, with tickets. Since there's the cost of the paid doc, the ring, the hall rental, etc, a few hundred bucks here would be less painful, than say, asking a bunch of boxers to pony up $13 more bucks. Especially since as a sanction holder you could bump up ticket prices slightly without necessarily seeing a huge decline in attendance.

Just my perspective based on what I've seen from my LBC. I'm sure you will all let me know where I'm wrong :-)

[Dennis]

There are many shows that barely break even and some that lose money. Some shows are put on so that boxers have a forum to display their skills in front of their hometown crowd. The crowd is usually friends and family who are already complaining about paying for tickets and would balk at in increase in ticket prices. Many show hosts are already complaining because it is so much work and they aren't making much. If they added $200.00 to each sanction, I would bet that the # of sanctions would go down. The number might even go down enough that the net amount received by USA Boxing wouldn't really increase. Remember the LBC's also tack on fees on top of what USA Boxing charges so that the LBC has money to function.

[Dennis]

USA Boxing states on their website that there are approximately 38,000 members, 1,400 registered clubs, and 1,600 sanctioned events each year.

2008 fees paid to USA Boxing:
Athlete memberships: $27.00 which is increasing to $40.00
Non-athlete memberships: $45.00 which is increasing to $68.00
Club memberships: $100.00 which is increasing to $175.00
Sanctions for one day club shows-$250.00

If the number of athletes is 65% of the 38,000 total membership (I'm using an eductated guess based upon the ratio in Michigan) with 35% being non-athletes and the membership numbers don't change for 2010, then USAB will receive $988,000 for athlete memberships, $904,400 for non-athlete memberships, $245,000 for club memberships and $400,000 for one-day sanctions (the number will be hire as some will be for multiple day tournaments). Total-$2,537,400. With the 2008 fee structure they would receive: $666,900-athletes, $595,500-non-athletes, $140,000-clubs, and $400,000-sanctions. Total-$1,802,400.
The increase to USAB: $735,000.
If they increased sanctions by $200.00 but the total # of sanctions went down to 1,000 from 1,400, then the net increase would be $50,000 with 400 fewer shows a year. That would not be good for amateur boxing.

[Slythex]

I understand that piece, and I guess in my localized experience, I wasn't aware of too many events only breaking even or worse. There's the flaw in my argument, I guess.

Considering that as my LBC registration guy (for athletes/non athletes, we split up the work and someone else does sanctions and club registrations), I hear a fair amount of grumbling with regards to athlete registration fees. I'm concerned that the bump to the athlete and non athlete fees will cause a big reduction of registrations.

So using your numbers:
65% of 38,000 members = 24,700.
so 2008 revenue @ $27 = $666k (that bodes evil :-)

So to break even @ $40 means we'd need 16,500 or so boxers.
As long as we don't see athlete membership drop more than 33% or so (and I think that significant of a drop is unlikely) it's a net gain. Still, I wonder how the $40 was arrived at and if anyone bothered to try and optimize the price increase/membership drop point. It'd be nice to see the details of how they got to the numbers they did.

That said, I think there will definitely be some drop off across the board, so a net increase of $735k is unlikely.

[bwadd21]

What i am interested in knowing is how much most LBC's have been charging on top of USA Boxing's fees? The LBC i'm in has been chrging the amount that the fees have been increased too this time and i'm worried that if they add too much more to that, i'll lose some of my boxers. Our Lbc has been charging

athletes $40
non-athletes $60
club $200
Sanctions $250

[Slythex]

For my LBC, in 2009, we charged the following:

Athletes $35 ($27+$8)
Non Athletes $55 ($45 + $10): background check fee every two years is included in the $55.

I don't remember sanctions/clubs, since I don't personally deal with that.

[bwadd21]

ok i guess we weren't to far off then.

[Local Talent]

I just recived my paperwork for the 2010 year.

Boxer fees went from $50.00 to $65.00

[Dennis]

Each LBC can have different fee structures, but usually it is fairly close for the athlete and non-athlete members. The area with the biggest differences is usually the sanction fees.

2009 fees were $35.00 for athletes and $58.00 for non-athletes.

For 2010, the Michigan LBC is charging $50.00 for athletes and $80.00 for non-athletes.

[squarering]

The increased fee will just mean banckrupcy a little quicker for me. Yes Dennis I saw the money pit.
So here is my 2 cents, In a sport that in in general made of kids from inner city and low income, I think it makes complete sence to increase registrations durring the worst economic times since the great depression. That's how to increase membership, produce better fighters and win more medals in London. Can't figure it out? Well I'm sure if you think hard enough something will make sence......no? me niether.

[Dennis]

Hal - big fee increases and worse insurance coverage. Isn't that a great combination? I wonder what they will think of next.

[415BOXING]

Here in Northern California the 2010 fees are as follows:
1.Non-Athlete-$80
2.Athlete-$50
3.Club-$225
4.Shows-$350,$100 for each additional day and $500 for private shows or shows charging admission of $25 or more,now add that to the cost of trophies,ring rental(which here in Norcal averages $800-$900),doctor,venue rental and ect.,pretty soon were going to need corporate sponsors to put on shows!

[Slythex]

Hal - big fee increases and worse insurance coverage. Isn't that a great combination? I wonder what they will think of next.

Maybe they'll hire some big marketing guy at the national level to bring in big corporate sponsors... oh wait, been there, done that. :-)

I'm only involved as an official, so I have no club affiliation, which means I don't really have any visibility into it at the club level. For my part, I try and help out by not asking for reimbursement for registration expenses (which probably will cost a few hundred bucks over a calendar year). I agree that the increased fees and insurance changes really suck, although I understand why. Whether or not anyone considered other alternatives, I don't know.

I offer the following suggestions to generate money:

• Kids from other sports do the candy sales thing (might be able to cover reg fees at least)
• At some shows, they do have local sponsors. So they print up the program and list 'Bob's Plumbing' as a sponsor. I don't know how much Bob ponies up, but we see this all the time at our local shows.
• Also, clubs that can qualify as a 503(c) not-for-profit may be eligible for state (and federal, I guess) level grants. I know a few local clubs have done that, and at least one got about $1000. I include a list of grant resources with the instruction sheet whenever I send out registration materials to a club.

[Dennis]

Slythex - there are a myriad of ways to raise money, but it is getting harder in this economic climate. Yes, 501(c)(3) organizations can get money that for-profit companies can't, including charitable gaming money. Many clubs raise money by hosting shows and getting corporate and private sponsors. In regard to grants (both governmental and private foundation grants), some clubs get a lot more than $1,000 from a grant, but even then it usually is not enough to cover the expenses of operating the gym and travel costs. More clubs need to start utilizing more of these resources to raise money.

Boxers need to realize that $50 - $100 for a whole year that many gyms charge, inclusive of USA Boxing's registration fees, is a good deal. Where else can they participate in a sport or activity for the whole year for less? NOWHERE. It is usually a lot more. Most school sports/activities charge at least that much or require their athletes, band members, theater members, dance/drill team members, etc to raise money to cover some expenses.

You are correct more boxers should be required to raise money to help with expenses including registration fees.

[Dennis]

USA Boxing needs to get national sponsorship and not spend a bunch of money to do so. If many grassroots organizations can do it in these tough financial times, then so can USAB. Gyms get sponsors for trips and shows and raise money countless other ways. It is time for USAB to do it at the national level which should be a lot easier - they are getting it for the top athletes and National Championships and International Competitions.

The Namibia boxing federation just got a N$250,000 sponsorship from Telecomm Namibia for a 10 month period. See the article at: http://allafrica.com/stories/200912160698.html. It is to cover the costs of its National Championships which is pegged at N$285,000. Granted this a very poor country in Africa and the donation equates to about 34,000 U.S. Dollars. There again they are only spending 38,000 US Dollars on their National Championships. What did USAB spend on ours in 2009? They had a $100,000 grant from the Daniels Foundation, but were required to move the Nationals to Denver which increased the costs by a lot more than the $100,000 grant they received. The National Golden Gloves is able to conduct its National tournament for far less money than USAB spent and yet have greater fan support. Lots of things need to change.

[Dennis]

USA Speedskating got Stephen Colbert to become a "frontman" for them to raise money. USA Boxing needs to find its marketing niche. Get Mayweather to mention how the Olympic Bronze medal helped him and how he wants his fans to donate to USA Boxing so the next Mayweather can win a medal rather than not even qualifying due to lack of funding for USAB.

Here is the article about Colbert:
Sports Illustrated puts Stephen Colbert on cover
December 15, 2009
NEW YORK (AP) Stephen Colbert has joined the legions of athletes and swimsuit models to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated.

The host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" appears on the front of the magazine's latest issue wearing an Olympic speedskating uniform. The issue is devoted to sports media. It's on newsstands Wednesday.

In November, devoted Colbert fans known as the Colbert Nation became the official primary sponsor of U.S. Speedskating. The team's largest annual cash sponsor, DSB Bank NV, left the team in the lurch after it declared bankruptcy in October.

With contributions from fans, more than $250,000 has been raised.

Colbert has made Olympics-related material a nearly nightly fixture on his show.

Other celebrities have appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, including late actor Bob Hope in 1963 and comedian Chris Rock in 2000.

[Dennis]

The one benefit of the increased non-athlete registration fee is that we might get fewer people who register as a coach, but then don't really coach. Now it may be cheaper for them to just buy tickets to get into the shows.

[Dennis]

Everyone start saving their change so that they can pay the fee increases. If these increases are enough to get USAB sufficient revenue for 2010, I doubt they will ever decrease. I think that the most we can hope for is that they will stay the same for a few years. Remember there are people working for USAB who are not getting paid or are getting paid a nominal amount for the time being. I'm sure the BOD wants to increase the salaries for these people. Julie Goldsticker also needs to get hired for at least another 10-20 hours a week so we can have some better media relations.

Lots of questions will be left unanswered until after the elections in early 2010. Then the new BOD will make some changes. I hope that things don't get worse. Sometimes change for the sake of change isn't a good thing. I'm making a New Year's wish for things to stabilize and then improve.

[squarering]

Dennis I am in CO right now at my daughters in Crested Butte. The temp is 4 and I had another great idea to raise money for USAB. I am going to set up a lemonade stand on the way up the mountain. It might not be as big as the Colbert thing but at least I am trying.

[Dennis]

Hal - you always have the answers.

[bwadd21]

The one benefit of the increased non-athlete registration fee is that we might get fewer people who register as a coach, but then don't really coach. Now it may be cheaper for them to just buy tickets to get into the shows.

greeat point here. too many teams try to show up to local shows with as many coaches as boxers, only hurting each other. I myself always pay the fee to get in even though i am the head coach of my gym, just to support the host gym.