All League Players - Poll as to Money Spent on League Night ***

SPENDING MONEY ON LEAGUE NIGHTS

  • Open Tables - I spend LESS than my league dues at the facility.

    Votes: 11 9.5%

  • Open Tables - I spend MORE than my league dues at the facility.

    Votes: 66 56.9%

  • Closed Tables - I spend LESS than my league dues at the facility.

    Votes: 8 6.9%

  • Closed Tables - I spend MORE than my league dues at the facility.

    Votes: 31 26.7%
  • Total voters
    116
JAMSGOLF

JAMSGOLF

Golf & Pool-I'm addicted!
Silver Member
(EVEN IF YOU DON'T POST IN THE THREAD, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO VOTE HONESTLY IN THE POLL...ALL HELP APPRECIATED!!!)

Before I make any decision as to what I'm going to do with regards to the APA playing in my facility again, I would like some input from the masses!

Over the last 3 APA sessions, I have watched the steady decline of money being spent in my facility by league players on league nights...in fact to an almost disappointing crawl. This is not only in my facility, but I hear the rumors of grumbling from the owners of the other facilities supporting the league in this area (note: in a truly unbiased statement...I have the best facility for playing pool in this area). I know people are going to say "the economy sucks". I agree. But I want to find out from the league players on AZ what their "common" practice is on League nights.

I'm not an advocate of drinking and driving, but I think the league players in this area are forgetting that NONE of their weekly league dues go to the facility owner...and NO MONEY comes from the APA to the owners to compensate for maintenance on the tables played by the Leagues.

So essentially, when League players play each week...and only pay their dues to the national organizations, no money stays local...

To avoid any confusion with regards to what I'm asking, definitions for the poll options are as follows:

Open Tables = League Players DO NOT pay for each game during Leagues
Closed Tables = League Players must pay for each game played during Leagues

ESSENTIALLY I'M ASKING IF YOU AS A LEAGUE PLAYER SPEND LESS THAN OR MORE THAN YOUR WEEKLY LEAGUE DUES AMOUNT AT THE FACILITY YOU'RE PLAYING AT (e.g. If your weekly dues are $7 for the league, do you spend less than or more than $7 - in drinks/food/practice games at the facility during league play?)

I think my mind is made up as to what I'm going to do, but I would still like to see what the results are, so any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Jason
 
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The only time I ever spend less than my league dues is when I leave the bar and forget to pay my tab. :D
 
Hey Jason
In the fall league I play in, the ''sponsor'' of the team pays a league sponsor fee of $60 for the entire season. The league players still put in there $4 per person per night. The tables are not open to players, they must put money in the table to play there league matches. In our league the sponsor of that team, recoops there money through out the year by all the players spending money in there establishment each night that they play there. Hope this helps you out. Take care
Jeff
P.S. I always spend more money at the establisment than what I pay in dues that night.
 
dues

In this area we play on open tables but dues are $9 with $2 going to the host establishment.
 
I spend the same regardless. The only convienience in having the open tables is to spot balls, which is a moot point in APA. In my situation, we are provided quarters by the house as the home team, so the table really isn't open or closed because it's not my money.

If your running it as an in house league, opening them up isn't a bad idea if your still making enough of the the league dues to cover the loss in quarters. Leaving them closed only makes for more frequent trips to the table to remove stuck cue balls and what not.

My 0.02
 
I pay 8 dollars to APA, ussually spend 6 to 8 dollars on soda/bottled water. Don't know if the APA LO pays any to the pool hall or not. There is also a tournament on my League night and if it is a big field, we lose the "practice" tables. Glass of tea is 1.50, soda 1.50, bottle water 1.50. I usually give the change to the tip jar. I know,big spender. The other guys drink and they are clocking a beer or so an hour, don't know the price. We had one guy that did not drive but would get sh&*&faced but he is no longer on the team due to that. Good luck, John
 
The place I worked at did greens fees for the weekly league 'packet' or info sheet(s) + rack of balls for their designated table (it was an in house league). It was $5 per team (5 man teams). This was before they paid their weekly league dues which, as you said, went to the league itself.

Free pool after league matches (league was on 'off nights' so no loss there) and drink specials for league players (happy hour wells, buckets of beer at hh prices, etc) kept many of the big spenders there till closing time which added a lot to the ringout. Not sure what sort of crowd you have or if that would work for you, but something to think about!
 
League Night

Most of the people on our team spend about $20-25 per person per night depending on where we play.

We are not heavy drinkers (one or two beers or soda's) but we usually have dinner when we play (unless we are at one location that only has pre-wrapped sandwiches - then we go early to our home location and eat there)

We also enjoy free league tables as well as a free practice table on some nights as well. Some of our locations have 12-14 teams in it and I would guess that the pool hall is making in the neighborhood of 12-15 per player as there are a lot of people that eat and drink and only a few who do not spend alot

Leagueguy
 
We pay dues of between 12-15.00 per night

One league has open tables, and the bar gets a kickback for the table time

the vnea league obviouosly plays on closed bar boxes, and the bar doesnt own tht tables, they rent them from the local vnea rep. The bar owner gets a percentage of the table drop.

On to the actual answer :)

I spend way more on food and drinks on league night, probably 75.00 a night.

The money I spend on food and drinks has very little to do with the tables being ope or closed, but on how good the food is!

I always look forward to having a nice meal at the Metro and spend more $ when we play at home, when we play at a small pub, not so much.
my .02
 
DrewWhitehead said:
...In my situation, we are provided quarters by the house as the home team...
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have thought of including this one...this by my "definition" is and "open table" as you're not paying for the pool during leagues...

Keep the info coming...the replys so far are exactly what I'm looking for.

Bear in mind that this area would be considered rural...definitely not in the "metropolitan" category! Basically, here's what's happening in this area. League players pay $7 each in dues to play in the APA (5 players on a team = $35 per team to the APA). I open the tables rather than supplying quarters (as I own the tables). I have beer/wine/sodas/jukebox/2-3 other pool tables/even an "arcade section"...and yes $1 for a bottle of water (see another post about that subject). The league teams in this area seem to be filled with "non-drinkers"...so, I'm trying to figure out what's the best strategy to maintain the League involvement, but stop allowing the VAST majority of players in the league from playing "free". With 8 teams in this league (I know small...but still in it's infancy...only been around about a 12-18 months), I would say a good 75% of the players aren't spending more than $2-4 a week where they're playing (mine or the other facilities).

I want to do what's right by the customers, but also what's right for the business...
 
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Our host location usually offers some pretty good drink specials on league nights.

Most of the owners picked up on that after their idea of charging a $1 per player greens fee blew up in their face. (Nobody paid it, and there is nothing they can do about it except lose business)

I usually try to spend $8-10 every time I am shooting from our home location. League dues are $6 a night, so I'm in the neighborhood.
 
Most of the establishments that I play league in, I pay a green fee in addition to my APA fee. Table money is usually collected up front when the team captains pick league paperwork. it is usually $10 per team at a cost of $2 extra per player that plays. Most of the places I play have drop pockets so the tables are always open. Hope this helps
 
To add some more details about my league night. Our dues are $10 a week that go to the commish. He takes care of all the table maintenance at all of the bars used in our league. Most bars will give something to the league players (a free round or a pizza) and league players must pay for their games. Our home bar does give us the change for the table but this is only our home bar and only for the home team. They do not provide change for the team we play. Everyone on my team spends at least $20 at the bar on a league night.
 
bigwillo said:
Jason. Most places we play get a green fee of $2 per player per night
Click to expand...

I should have stated the leagues play on bar boxes. The three other facilities (bars) have 1 semi-playable table each. I have 3 bar boxes (two 7' and one 8') and 1 Brunswick GCI 9-footer. I know not a HUGE pool facility comparitively speaking...but for this area...it is!

Keep the info coming...you guys are making my head spin with the options you guys are providing!!! (That's an awesome thing by the way!!! :thumbup:)
 
We pay as a team $48 for double jeopardy per week. Our home bar pays half of the $48 so the teams pay the remaining $24. 95% of the bars are closed table, drop quarters. A few do allow us to open the tables for $10-$15 per team up front. That will allow us to open the table for practice and remain open for about an hour after we finish league play.
 
If people aren't drinking or eating you have to charge some sort of fee; you have expenses..not just the tables, staff, utilities etc.. most times when we play (bca) we drink enough that the owners are ok.. we pay $5 a night and no green fees but I have noticed that when we play the "good" teams (the teams that are stacked with the best players that are receiving money from their bar just to play for them) them guys don't drink a flippin thing and want everything for free. I've even seen them buy the same type water that the bar has and bring it in a backpack so they don't have to pay the $1... but they would think nothing of betting on sets for $500.... burns me up; glad I don't own one of these bars. I noticed a bigger shift to dart players lately. They seem to be a more drinkin crew and not as high maintenance as the real good pool players.. Just MHO. I feel for ya..
 
Houstoer said:
...I noticed a bigger shift to dart players lately. They seem to be a more drinkin crew and not as high maintenance as the real good pool players.. Just MHO. I feel for ya..
Click to expand...

Yeah, I actually picked up 3 coin-op dart boards when I first opened up two years ago in the hopes of starting dart leagues as well...but no one in this area is used to "dart leagues" so it hasn't taken yet...but wouldn't you know it, I've had several people say I should put steel tip boards in here...you know the kind of boards...THE FREE ONES!!!


Jason
 
Contact your LO and tell him to raise dues, because you need a cut. If he aint willing to, send a bill to the corperate office.

APA is Ponzi anyways....Bunch of crooks.
 
Jamsgolf, have you thought of dart tournaments? I assume you are using a black widow or other coin op electric board, tournaments for those can be pretty popular. And yes, they tend to be drinkers. :)
 
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