We have noticed in Upstate NY that attendance at this year’s scholastic tournaments is off 30-40% from last year. While the economy is the obvious answer, some of the events have no entry fee, so money isn’t the main problem.
Do people notice the same trend elsewhere in the country? There is always a bit of drift from year-to-year, but this is a much steeper drop.
Are these events that people travel to? Maybe it’s not the entry fee but the cost of lodging.
In this case, I am talking about local one-day events, not events that would normally require an overnight or multiple-day play.
The rule of thumb in recent years around here has been to have many short-time control events that can be completed in four or five hours. Interestingly, the school-team leagues with a larger time commitment seem to be doing better, so maybe people are just bored with the current formats and looking for something new.
The tournaments I’ve directed in Westchester County, and NYC attendance hasn’t changed much. In fact a tournament we had in White Plains the week before Nationals had 259 players which was a record for us. I haven’t seen a signicant drop in our scholastic attendance.
Hi …
We’ve not seen a significant change in Virginia with regard to attendance at the scholastic events held around the state. The main factors driving attendance typically tend to be: distance between “home” and the event, and the impacts of other sporting events.
r/Mike Hoffpauir
ANTD
President, Virginia Chess Fed
I don’t see a lot of signs of a dropoff in scholastic tournament attendance this year compared to past years:
This table shows attendance at tournaments that were held in September-November of 2005 through 2009:
[code]year players ids jr_plrs jr_ids
2009 61475 26003 41585 18988
2008 60050 26104 41375 19263
2007 59094 26529 41309 19834
2006 59208 26874 40647 20081
2005 56272 25899 37545 18717
[/code]
The ‘jr plrs’ and ‘jr ids’ columns show total player count and unique USCF IDs for those who were in scholastic/youth/young adult/family membership categories or under 21.
The number of players (counting them more than once if they played in more than one event) is actually up slightly over 2008 and 2007 and up quite a bit over 2005. The number of unique USCF IDs is down a bit.
I wonder what the comparable attendance figures are at those scholastics which have “given up” on the USCF and have either become non-USCF-rated or have become rated by another organization? Have those events seen their numbers go through the roof, or are they about the same, or are they declining?
Here in central Alabama, it has become common to also have unrated sections for most Scholastic events. We feel this is a helpful way to introduce tournament chess to 2nd through 5th graders, and hopefully, they will move into rated chess if they have fun and play well enough. My guess is that that the turnout for unrated play is equal to the number who play rated, perhaps more in the lower grades.
But if they were rated events (using either the tournament membership program or the $2 per player option that Goichberg was talking about the other day), would attendance be affected?
We held some unrated events, the one question I heard from nearly EVERY participant was “What’s my rating now?”
If the Organizer was willing to set up the player easily for his/hers first tournament, I think this might be attractive. The first several events vs peers, i.e. = other unrated players is attractive to some parents and their children so they appear to be competitive.
I’d like to hear more about Bill’s $2 entry fee and when it might be available.
I don’t know much more about the $2 option other than what was posted here.
I did look into some implementation issues, they don’t appear to be that difficult, but organizers will have to decide whether the $2 option (presumably applied to all players in that section, including current USCF members) is more attractive than the traditional ™ approach. It may also lead to confusion among both players and TDs if some events use the $2 option and others require memberships.
I also have concerns over the impact this could have on USCF finances.
We have unrated sections for K-1 and 2-5. The 2-5 section in our White Plains tournament was bigger then usual. We push players out of that section after they’ve placed in top 5 two times. Then they have to move into a rated section appropriate for their grade.
The $2 option would probably work like this:
Quick rated only, as we fear allowing regular rated play without a membership requirement would hurt membership and USCF finances.
USCF membership not required for scholastic players under 1000 or unrated.
Players over 1000 could play in the same events, but would have to be USCF members. Another possibility would be to hold an Under 1000 or lower section using the $2 option, plus another section or sections open to higher rated players and requiring USCF membership.
Rating fee $2 per player, regardless of rating or USCF membership status.
Maximum 6 rounds.
Quick ratings would be used at the National Scholastics for players who lack regular ratings.
At the last board meeting, this idea was discussed, with the hope that it can be implemented by February. The concept was also discussed, and supported, at the scholastic workshop in Dallas 2008.
Bill Goichberg
Gee, Bill, this is the first I’ve heard about a February implementation.
Wouldn’t an EB decision filter down to thru the ED, and then the Director of IT, who would send it down to you for implementation? Or would you be told directly by the EB to implement something.
Either way, the EB meeting was in early November, wasn’t it?
Typical of the lack of communication the Federation has been suffering since the lawsuits.
All the best, Joe Lux
New Jersey Delegate
Joe, the USCF has suffered from communication issues for years.
Sadly, it may not be the worst case of dysfunctional communication I’ve had to deal with, and one of the companies that I experienced this with as a contractor was a Fortune 500 company with a reputation for being very well managed.
But it was posted on the website.
Steve,
The attendance for the Texas Chess Assoc Scholastic State
Championships was off by several hundred players with about
1400 participating. This may be due to the SuperNationals being
held a few weeks later in Tennessee. (The St tourny was in
the Valley.) In the DFW metroplex, we have several scholastics
that are reporting all time highs. Attendances continue to be
very strong in the North Texas area.
Rob Jones
Region 3 Director
Texas Chess Association