How hard it is to run a medium sized tournament?

[@reelChris]

I'm trying to get an idea on whether hosting a 50ish boat tournament is doable as a fund raiser for a 20 person club that typically has internal tournaments.  I imagine you would need:

 

A venue and whatever permits it requires;

Insurance;

Advertising;

Written Waivers;

A means of taking entry fees;

Judges/Marshalls;

A starting boat;

A weigh in setup;

A p.a. system to make announcements;

A means of paying winners or distributing prizes;

Social media to distribute pictures;

Workers to handle the above.

 

Other than the above is there anything I'm missing?  Are there any articles or guides on housing larger fishing events?  

 

 

 

 

[Smalls]

6 minutes ago, @reelChris said:

50ish boat tournament is doable as a fund raiser for a 20 person club that typically has internal tournaments. 

So you want to do a tournament for...a tournament club? I assume they already have a tournament director?

[@reelChris]

Not for, with.  And before I present the idea to a club used to doing small friendly tournaments, I want to know the scope of what I'm talking about.

[MN Fisher]

Don't forget to check with your state DNR/DFW/whatever - Minnesota requires a permit with associated fees paid to the state for tournaments.

 

Plus, depending on the size of the lake, there's a limit to how many tournaments can be held in a year as well as the total number of days.

[Logan S]

Running the tournament isn't really that hard, just upscale what you do for your club tournaments.  Put an emphasis on organization and orderly processes for morning check in and weigh in.  I would recommend practicing the 'big' event process in one of your club tournaments beforehand to get the hang of it.  4 or 5 people should be able to handle it and you've got the basics in place it seems.

 

What do you mean by judges/marshals?  If you're thinking of going the MLF-style route, well...I wouldn't .  It will be hard enough just filling a 50 boat field as an unknown, 1st-time tournament org that's skimming a percentage off the top (albeit for a fundraiser)...Let alone finding 50 people to not fish but still show up.  Several people have tried it locally (also for fundraisers) and fell completely flat, it's just not workable for a small scale open fundraiser event.

 

Team tournament format is the standard for fundraisers, easier on you and the anglers.  

 

For background - I'm the Pres and former TD of an 80+ member club and we run (smaller) fundraisers 4x per year.  We also run several MLF-style tournaments per year (some fundraisers, some not)

[TnRiver46]

15 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Don't forget to check with your state DNR/DFW/whatever - Minnesota requires a permit with associated fees paid to the state for tournaments.

 

Plus, depending on the size of the lake, there's a limit to how many tournaments can be held in a year as well as the total number of days.

I wish that was a nation wide policy!!!

[Captain Phil]

Our bass club The Harris Chain Bassmasters" ran a big bass tournament every year for a long time.  I was the Master of Ceremonies in a few of these tournaments.  I also received many inquiries from Clubs and organization who wished to run their own tournaments.  Our tournaments were team format with one big bass per boat.  We did this to differentiate ourselves from most of the numerous other money tournaments in our area.  These were very popular as everyone had an equal chance. We kept the entry fee low ($100 per boat) and had about 100 boats.  First prize was about $1,500-$2,000 and we tried to pay down ten places.  Being a B.A.S.S. Club at the time, we were insured by the B.A.S.S. Federation.  Luckily, we never had any injuries to speak of.  Do not run any money tournament without proper insurance or you may regret it.  Cheating was a problem.  We had two guys who put weights in a fish.  We caught it at the weigh-in and pressed charges.  It bounced around court for a while and they were eventually fined and banned from future tournaments.  We also coordinated our tournaments with the local Game Officials.  They came with big tubs of water and medicine to help the bass overcome the boat rides.  We held a very popular drawing after the tournament and sold raffle tickets.  The prizes came from local shops and merchants.  We also sold business sponsorships and placed them on our fliers. All in all we raised about $3,500 each tournament.   Integrity and honesty is the most important part of running a tournament.  

[jbsoonerfan]

Fundraiser? Have a golf tournament.