thank you tom Brodbeck

For those of you that dont know. The arseholes at the winnipeg soccer federation of decided to force you to pay $2 to watch your kid play in the new tax payer funded soccer complex.

I have been sending a number of emails and discussing this at a number of meetings all to little avail.

hopefully Tom will have some luck with this.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Brodbeck_Tom/2008/10/29/7234876-sun.html

Deank wrote:For those of you that dont know. The arseholes at the winnipeg soccer federation of decided to force you to pay $2 to watch your kid play in the new tax payer funded soccer complex.

I have been sending a number of emails and discussing this at a number of meetings all to little avail.

hopefully Tom will have some luck with this.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Brodbeck_Tom/2008/10/29/7234876-sun.html

My understanding is the same thing happens at the Blumberg facility for Softball/Baseball, etc. Even if you're PLAYING in a game, you have to pay the $2.00 to get in the park.

2 bucks to see your kid play in a top notch facility. I'd pay it.

How else do we maintain facilities like this? Raise Taxes? No thanks, I'll pay the $2.00

that is correct. However, that is a different story for so many reasons it aint even funny

LivingDead wrote:2 bucks to see your kid play in a top notch facility. I'd pay it.

How else do we maintain facilities like this? Raise Taxes? No thanks, I'll pay the $2.00

The fees this facility charges are $30 more per hour then anything facility.

The way the fee was implemented was very underhanded.

I was going to put a softball team together a few years ago.

The league told me about the $2.00 fee and I was upset...but then they explained it's so they don't have to raise taxes.

I figured I'd just put the $2.00 fee in my team fee for the players, and then anyone who wanted to watch the games could just pay as they came.

How many people come watch? I played some games there in the league I was in and there was only ever maybe 4 people watching our games.. or most any other game around there.

If you go to the kids games, there's usually 30-60 people in the stands. For the adults, it's true, you might see a couple of wives or girlfriends...maybe a couple of kids.

I don't think it's meant to be a "money-maker"...I think it's just to cover the cost of maintenance, hydro, etc. for when it's in use.

I'd imagine that's why they implemented it for the new soccer facility...possibly they looked at the maintenance costs and realized it's not going to be covered by the league fees and field rentals alone.

They totally and completely mislead the public on this and implemented an entrance fee at the end of the day without consulting the people that should have been consulted.

It seems like a gouge to me.

You can't call this a "user pay" system as ther users are the kids.

Perhaps they should have just raised the team fees a bit if they wanted another $100 a game.

I mean...really...this is just nickle and diming. They're only charging this because they can....it's just holding the parents hostage to the fees.

Deank wrote:They totally and completely mislead the public on this and implemented an entrance fee at the end of the day without consulting the people that should have been consulted.

I see where**What** you are saying. I am not really surprised by anything these days. We as a society have let things get this way. Expect more of it.

JTF wrote:It seems like a gouge to me.

You can't call this a "user pay" system as ther users are the kids.

Perhaps they should have just raised the team fees a bit if they wanted another $100 a game.

I mean...really...this is just nickle and diming. They're only charging this because they can....it's just holding the parents hostage to the fees.

No...their users are whoever walks into the facility.

The parents don't use the toilets?
The parents don't wash their hands?
The parents don't sit on the benches?
The parents don't walk on the field?

All of these things have to be maintained just as much as the fields, benches, lights.

Of course the parents would not be there if their kids weren't...but they are still users by being there at all.

I'll agree with Dean on the implementation of the $2 fee was done questioningly...but it doesn't mean it didn't need to be done.

Tax-payer funded or not...there's still costs that I'd rather have the users paying for than raising taxes for everyone and especially those who may never use it.

All the other facilities charge $30 less per hour.
It is EXTREMELY poor planning to not realize you need to do this until just before the doors open and contracts for X hours had already been signed.

I question the legality of it actually as it is changing a contract without due compensation. Ie.. they are charging more, but not giving more in return.

Its RECREATIONAL CHILD SPORTS. And has nothing to do with raising taxes to make it operate. This is raising the entry fee to make more money with no say whatsoever as to where the money is going and forcing this on a completely captive audience.

AGE. I see your point, but isn't it just semantics?

As Dean says, the parents are held captive in this.

This is just being cheap.

If as rec league players we had an option that would be fine. But we dont. So whats the option? The kids dont play anything all winter?

No...I don't think it is.

I used to manage a volleyball facility in New Jersey.
We had 5 courts running inside, and another 8 sand courts outside.

When we would host a tournament, we'd have 5 teams per court. So for an indoor tournament, that's 8-12 players per team x 5 x 5...so about 250 players.

Add to that parents/family/friends for probably 1/4-1/2 of the players, so another 50-125, plus referees, coaches, etc.

For an outdoor tournament...multiply by 8 instead.

Keeping the bathrooms, locker rooms, floors, trash cans, water fountains, etc. clean costs time & money.

The concessions help make money...but most players would either bring stuff with them, or walk across the street to the mini-mart/deli and buy there (better food, and cheaper).

When WE managed the tournament, we could control more, but usually it was a "rental" by the local volleyball association. The owner of our facility decided he was going to charge $1.00 to anyone who walked through the door to recoup maintenance costs. The volleyball association told him if he did, they'd cancel the tournaments and blacklist the facility from future ones.

I agreed with the principle of charging a fee, not in how he tried to implement it. And the same goes for this soccer facility. No matter who funded it, it has to be maintained. Most of the citizens of Winnipeg will not be using the facility...and they've paid their dues...so why not have those who use the facility (whether playing or watching) pay a small fee to participate?

It's not much different than the Concert Hall, or Convention Centre, where, if you want to participate in something that's going on there...either the group hosting the event pays, or you pay as you walk through the door.

So you can either raise the league fees for the kids, or charge the individuals who show. And here again...if my kid was playing there, would I want the league fee to be raised to accommodate little Joey's (fictional teammate) 4 parents & 8 Grandparents to come watch a game? No...I'll pay when I watch my kid play, and they can pay when they watch their's.

League and tournies are different.

but ignoring that. I would rather the building owners did not do something in such an underhanded manner and say that they could not actually make a proper financial plan work.

There we agree

Deank wrote:All the other facilities charge $30 less per hour.
It is EXTREMELY poor planning to not realize you need to do this until just before the doors open and contracts for X hours had already been signed.

I question the legality of it actually as it is changing a contract without due compensation. Ie.. they are charging more, but not giving more in return.

Its RECREATIONAL CHILD SPORTS. And has nothing to do with raising taxes to make it operate. This is raising the entry fee to make more money with no say whatsoever as to where the money is going and forcing this on a completely captive audience.

If you feel this strongly.. Maybe you should consult a lawyer and challenge them in court.

unfortunately I did not enter into the contract with them. and the people who did, do not want to.

I will likely never use that facility. Nor my immediate family. Nor my dogs and cats. Yet my taxes went into paying for it. I don't begrudge that as I see it as improving the community. That said I also like the idea of a modest user fee. This is for visitors only right? So the kids and coaches etc. are not paying this fee. Works for me.

only if the kids and coaches are not forced to play there and have the choice. they dont have the choice.

Young kids must be accompanied by an adult....are they the "etc." that you referred to?

I don't follow. Who is forced to play there? Where did the kids play before that facility was built?

The etc. would be trainers (if any), team managers (if any)...