Keep Juicing the Youth Rowers - and the Race Venues.

[crewu]

I think USRowing might be creating some choppy water with its new youth series financial approach.

Regionals this year has moved from a 'per boat' entry fee to a '$65-$70 per athlete'.

Entering an eight last year at regionals might have cost around $260. That just went up to $630. Plus the individual rowers are already paying their championship membership of $65 so the cost to race an eight at regionals is now $1215.

It starts off...but athletes can race multiple races - until they can't. I'd expect that.

Ironically, USRowing says it has to raise prices to address the rising cost to youth rowers. Sounds like "Clean coal".

USRowing also wants to "Increase venue diversity". The more venue opportunities we have, the more competition for business we create.
In other words, the less money they have to give to the venue for running the regatta. Is there a race venue actually getting rich from running youth regattas?

USRowing has a monopoly on the path to Nationals so what's the risk? Well, over taxing your constituents could actually lead to lower revenue. Just look at SIRAs. Raised entry fees and entries have dropped from 300+ to 207 this year.

This doesn't make for a more inclusive rowing experience.

[rowing]

Here endeth the free lunch.

They are going to keep pushing to make each segment cover (and exceed) its expenditures.

We should demand and expect nothing less.

The SIRA comparison is so bad. I expect better from you. It's almost as if you know the truth but prefer the innuendo.

[yeahbuddy]

If your are competitive pass on Youth Nationals and plan for Henley Royal.

[crewu]

Rowing - which race venue has been enjoying a free lunch? Sacramento has cut back on regattas due to an inability to regularly make enough surplus to justify closing the lake for rowing. I suspect others are doing the same. And if LOCs were previously working with their local visitor bureaus to collect some of the hotel revenue, USRowing is now making it clear they are coming in over the top to take that. Hey maybe it will all work out. The point of my post was it isn't a risk free endeavor. It could ultimately end up hurting USRowing events.

Free lunch for the rowers? $135 to enter one race at regionals seems quite expensive to me. Add to that what those rowers pay to their club for boat transportation, coaches hotel & meals and it seems to me like a lot.

If there is another story RE: SIRA please share. All I know is what I see looking at the numbers.

[rowing]

Wowie. It sounds like that thar' rowin' is a 'spensive sport!!!!

And shucks, I guess SIRA is all about just the numbers, right???? Certainly no other factors in place since....early 2020?

Here's the real scoop, straight from Econ 101. Sometimes, you can serve less people and make more revenue. It's not like anyone is going to throw down and make an alternative to Youths, is it?

Is it????

[rich.kesor]

At the risk of getting another "talking to" for voicing my opinion about this topic in a public forum, I agree with you completely, crewu.

I ran through the numbers for last year's Youth Nat's. As far as I could tell looking at the lineups for about 50 clubs, there was no one doubling-up. So, these numbers are pretty darn accurate for unique individuals at the regatta:
1x - 106 entries = 106 athletes
2x - 163 ent x2 = 326 ath
4+/x+ - 160 ent x 5 = 800 ath
4x/- - 160 ent x 4 = 640 ath
8+ - 189 ent x 9 = 1701 ath
3,573 total athletes.

Last year, based on standard entry fees, the regatta brought in $161,882 in entry fees. At $70/athlete, with the same # of athletes, it will be $250,110 this summer. Did the regatta come up $88,000 short last year? It would be nice to see the income/expenditures for the regatta. Is that available anywhere? I have not been able to track it down.

I just can't figure out how the expenses come up to $250,000. Hell, even if they paid $20/medal for all 495 medals awarded, that would still be less than 10k. Hotel rooms for 40 officials at $200/night for 5 nights is 40k. There is still 200k more.

Yes, USRowing is needs money. However, instead of finding ways to get new donors and not piss off current donors, they once again go to the Juniors/Masters piggybank.

[rowing]

It's not like anyone is going to throw down and make an alternative to Youths, is it?

I believe we are the ones in the elephant's room.

[crewu]

The higher the fee the whiter it will be. This will not lead to more diversity at USRowing regattas. USRowing is simply making things harder. Quite the shame.

[oldman]

Canada: $300 for an eight .. $200 for a quad .. one of the best regattas in the world that we can get to.

[rowing]

The higher the fee the whiter it will be. This will not lead to more diversity at USRowing regattas. USRowing is simply making things harder. Quite the shame.

Baloney. They will just create a grant/subsidy to offset this injustice.

HTF do you not understand America? The whole point is for authority to take from everyone surreptitiously and give to a select cause audaciously.

Minus a "small handling fee" of course.

[crewu]

When you make it harder for middle class kids to get to nationals - then those underserved kids hardly stand a chance to make it to the starting blocks, subsidy or free entry or not.

Personally, I am now more entrenched in thinking this is a disgusting money grab by USRowing under the guise of providing help to underserved kids. Lets see some transparancy. Let's see how that extra $100K to USRowing is being given to underserved kids to race. Let's see minority rowers grow to 30% of entries in the next three years.

I believe we are destined for the opposite. We will see less diversity at Youth Nationals. The most diverse events at youth nationals were the lightweights. And USRowing already got rid of those.

[a_coach]

Last year, based on standard entry fees, the regatta brought in $161,882 in entry fees. At $70/athlete, with the same # of athletes, it will be $250,110 this summer. Did the regatta come up $88,000 short last year? It would be nice to see the income/expenditures for the regatta. Is that available anywhere? I have not been able to track it down.

They did provide this chart, which breaks down costs but doesn't include revenue vs. income.https://dxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net/si ... tments.png

In the FAQ, they claim costs are going up 25% across the Youth Series, and not because they are improving anything. They claim this is "driven largely by venue fees, goods and services inflation, and increased travel costs." I wonder if regionals last year subsidized nats a bit, because anecdotally I am paying less for regionals this year than last year for a larger number of athletes (this works out if you double race and run small boats). It doesn't seem crazy that a four day regatta with semifinals and consolation finals should cost significantly more per boat than a two day with no semifinals and no consolation finals, or a few semifinals in some regions. I think most people would look at $70 for an experience like Nats as a bargain. Though as an aside, the $90 spectator fee is ridiculous in my opinion.

I just can't figure out how the expenses come up to $250,000. Hell, even if they paid $20/medal for all 495 medals awarded, that would still be less than 10k. Hotel rooms for 40 officials at $200/night for 5 nights is 40k. There is still 200k more.

If your officials cost is correct, the chart above says that officials are 20% of costs. So that brings it up to 200k. And don't they have to get the officials there as well as house them?

USRowing says the biggest cost (32.5%) for the Youth Series is the venues. Someone says no one is "getting rich" hosting regattas. I don't know whether that's true, but they don't have to be for it to be expensive to rent a place like NBP for four days. The venues are the ones with monopoly power here. Just look at the schedule for NBP. If USRowing tried to pay less to the venues, there are undoubtably other events they would host with less complexity. That's why USRowing wants to "increase venue diversity." And USRowing doesn't actually have that much monopoly power at the regional level. Midwest Junior (four bids to nats) and NYS (3 bids to nats) are not USRowing owned, and then there's all the scholastics which have bids to nats. If coaches think USRowing is soaking them, many regions already have the infrastructure and earlier season regattas which could be moved later and turned into locally owned regionals. My guess would be though that the legwork USRowing has done in creating these is actually worth the fees from most coaches' perspectives.

Look, you don't have to convince me that rowing is too expensive, and that USRowing is contributing to the bloat to some degree. But as someone also trying to run an organization in this environment with similar cost drivers to USRowing, it's not crazy that costs are going up this year. What is the solution?

[rowing]

I believe we are destined for the opposite. We will see less diversity at Youth Nationals. The most diverse events at youth nationals were the lightweights. And USRowing already got rid of those.

Pssst......your agenda is showing. Tuck it back in and zip up.

HTF do you not realize what era we are living in?

A coach can get fired for mentioning erg tests and standards.

Good luck weighing them!!!!

[crewu]

I'm not arguing for lightweights. My point is decisions have consequences. Eliminating lightweights reduced diversity in the sport.

Raising the costs to participate increases the barrier to entry. You even made that point with your econ 101 point: "Sometimes, you can serve less people and make more revenue."

[FullSend]

Shouldn't USRowing want to make junior rowing as accessible as possible? Even if it hurts some short term economics, more youth involvement helps long term right?