If there is a Club tournament whose Tournament Life Announcement states $50 for 1st Place, $40 for 2nd Place, and $30 for 3rd Place based on 8 Players, the Money Payers are not required to prorate the payouts if there are 10 players in the section are they? If so, that would be a payout some dollars more for each place such as:
1st Place - $50 x (10 Players ÷ 8 Players) or $62.50
2nd Place - $40 × (10 Players ÷ 8 Players) or $50
3rd Place - $30 x (10 Players ÷ 8 Players) or $37.50
Aren’t the prorated payouts optional rather than required by the USCF from Club Tournaments [if the turn out is greater than the declared?]
There are at least three different types of prorated payouts.
- Payouts where the number of players is lower than the advertised “based-on” number. In this case, prorating downwards to a minimum of 50% of advertised is allowed (but you must pay at least 50%).
32C4. Based-on prizes.
In tournaments in which prizes are based on entries, if the actual turnout is smaller than the based on turnout, the following rules apply:
32C4a. Proportional payout.
Each prize must be paid at least in proportion to the turnout.
32C4b. 50% minimum.
If the total advertised prize fund is greater than $500 (all sections combined), at least 50% of each advertised prize must be paid.
32C4c. Multiple-section tournaments.
If separate based-on goals are announced for different sections, then the proportion paid in each section (32C4a) is treated separately. If a common based-on goal is announced for multiple sections, then the proportion paid in these sections is considered together. In either case, 32C4b also applies.
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Payouts where the number of players is higher than the advertised “based-on” number. There is no requirement to increase the payout in this case, unless you also advertised that the prize fund would increase as the number of players increased (my club has done this from time to time).
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Payouts where the prize fund is just a percentage of entry fees (such as “60% of entry fees returned as prize money”). In this case, you have to pay out 60% of whatever you receive, so it’s straight proration down or up.
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Organizers that plan on running the same event in the future might want to increase the prize fund when the numbers are more than the based on. It is not required but might be good advertising.
Just remember that an organized might have had a number of events that lost money and one that made money still leaves an average loss when looking at all events. If 70% is the break even point and one tournament has 105% while another has 35% then the two events considered together are a loss even without increasing a prize fund. The pay-out would be 100% (for the 105% turnout) plus 50% (for the 35% turnout if the based on prize fund is $500 or more).
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and there are some annual tournaments which don’t decrease the based on even though it has been 5 years since it met that threshold.
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