Prize money for tournaments? good idea?

[Erik]

Lars V and me had an idea like this:
people pay about 5 bucks registration. Lets say we have 40 competitiors. That's
200 bucks. 8 people in the finals 1st place gets 100, 2nd place gets, 50, 3rd place gets 25, 4th place gets 15, 5th place gets 10?

This idea is being used for a looooong time at chess tournaments, snooker, darts and many others. Analysing what happens when there is prize money: look at tournaments like Swedish Open. First it was a non-interesting tournament. But when they added 5 more events and 200 euro's of prize money suddenly Mátyás, Edouard, Clement, Gabor and others registered.

Of course this example above is very rough and can be adjusted a lot, this is just to see if you like the general idea.

 

[Lotsofsloths]

I think it is a good idea, but I also have a question about regular tournements; where does the money go usually when we usually have competitions?

I think they should give money for the 1st 2nd and 3rd finalists, that way, the people who recieve the money usually(who does, see question ^above^), will still get a fair amount.

 

[Erik]

mostly it goes to the venue I think?

 

[Harris Chan]

At Toronto Open, the top 3 (well actually just top 2) in all events gets some kind of puzzle (2nd place a DIY kit, the 1st place: 2x2, DIY kit, and 4x4). So those top 2s in their events got A LOT of DIYs to assemble and play with ;-)

I don't really expect prize money attached to competitions all the time, but apparently that's what non cubers ask me: Do you get money for winning? How much did you win?

Sometimes, the travelling fee is more than the prize money itself for some people

 

[pjk]

What pays for the cost of the event? The fees supposed to.

 

[Jack]

Sometimes a sponser pays for the event. At the Canadian Open, there was a 10 dollar registration fee per person, but there were free bags and cubes and T-shirts, a pizza party, and a lot of prize money (I think it was something like $250, $150 and $100 for first, second and third of most events), a trip to Budapest for the winner of 3x3... Obviously the $10 fee couldn't pay for that.

 

[qqwref]

It's an alright idea. It'd definitely be nice to pay back some of the winners. Depending on the location, though, running a competition can be expensive, and unless the WCA had some kind of funds to finance competitions' being held it would be detrimental to competition organizers if all of the registration money (or the vast majority) were to be given back out to the participants.

Also, 3x3x3 speed is not the only important event

 

[blade740]

I like the idea of giving puzzles as prizes. Think about it: most puzzles cost lest than $20 each. If you were to give out puzzles (not just normal 3x3's, but other things) to competitors, it would seem like you have something to work for.

I understand that $300 in prizes is not feasible for most competitions, but if you were to buy a couple of cheap puzzles from cube4you or whatever, you could give out prizes to the top 3 in each event, and make it seem like they won something...worthwhile.

 

[Lotsofsloths]

I think the WCA should collect money and make a bank sort of thing, they distribute money based on the popularity of the competition(World Championship= alot of money, small competitions= no so much money[100$])

 

[abbracadiabra]

Actually, I think toy manufacturers and distributors should be solicited to sponsor competitions and to provide substantial cash prizes to the winners. This would attract the more cubers and better cubers to each event. I also think that "world-class" (for lack of a better word) cubers should be invited to the top competitions on an all-expense paid basis, courtesy of the sponsors for each event.

If major corporations were sponsoring these events you can be sure that the media would be invited and would provide better coverage than they do currently. It's an ideal opportunity for the sponsors to reach out to their target market, and provides them with cheap advertising to the general public. Any way you look at it, it's a win-win deal.

 

[Harris Chan]

Sometimes I prefer not to have the media in competitions though, they usually slow down the flow of events, interrupting the flow, by interviewing people in between solves (I had that during Canadian Open), and it can get you off track. I guess if the media aren't there, it would feel more like at home, no?

 

[Bryan]

I agree with qqwref on this. There's just so many issues....another issue is that if you force fees onto competitors, some people may not compete. Also, some places don't allow you to advertise if the event is not free.

 

[abbracadiabra]

Well you might feel more at home without media, Harris, but wouldn't it be more lucrative the other way around? You're among the elite few who would be likely to win the big-buck prizes.

Furthermore, in a well-run (ok, I'll use the word) in a "professionally" run event, the media is kept at bay. There are very specific rules that they have to follow, and they do follow them.

 

[hdskull]

I won nothing for placing 2nd at caltech fall, lol.

Something would be appreciated e.g. puzzles.

 

[badmephisto]

its probably better with the media coverage because the word spreads, and we can get more people speedcubing. But... yeah it should be done in a little less intrusive way

 

[Rama]

I am allready happy with my certificates...

 

[hdskull]

... or certificates... lol

 

[Erik]

Of course I know competitions itself cost a lot of money, but in my opinion with more sponsorship and money prizes we get cubing a step closer to being a world-wide known sport which is one of the things I'd really like to achieve besides doing good competition times. What happens for chess tournaments here (I was in the organisation of some) is that the city gives you money for holding a tournament in sports, I remember we always attract german players to make it international and even get more money. Mostly that money went to the rent of the room, drinks etc.
Getting more sponsors is one of the things that'll help this, but not the only thing of course. It all depends on the organisation (no affence to Ron and Ton of course, i know they do their best to make every competition great!)

 

[icke]

i think the idea of price money is good but i dont think it is good if people have to pay 5 bucks (even so i would do it). the thing is that all the speedcubers would come but the newbies or people who are just interested in solving the cube wouldn´t participate (just for fun) because they have to pay money. making the sport more attractive would bring more interest, more interest = more sponsors = prize money (without loosing newbies)

 

[hdskull]

i think the idea of price money is good but i dont think it is good if people have to pay 5 bucks (even so i would do it). the thing is that all the speedcubers would come but the newbies or people who are just interested in solving the cube wouldn´t participate (just for fun) because they have to pay money. making the sport more attractive would bring more interest, more interest = more sponsors = prize money (without loosing newbies)

In most tournaments in California, you have to pay >$5 anyway.