j biesinger
TVWBB Platinum Member
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Are you suggesting that it be mandatory for a contest to have a huge purse and pay out through 4-5 spots to ensure the competitors at least "break even"??? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
nope, not at all.
to say that this is a simple matter of handing out more awards misses my point.
I understand that there isn't a ton of money in any given contest and there's no shortage of teams to take my place if I were to stop competing, so I don't really have much of an argument. However, if you look at all expenses for both the teams and the organizers and all sources of income for the teams and the organizers, my guess is that the teams are way in the red and the organizers are in the black.
I think it can be compared to pro sports labor negotiations, neither the players or the owners can exist without each other so they have to decide on how to fairly share league income. Unlike pro sports, bbq contest organizers are even more dependent on the competitors because we each bring 2-3 times the cost of the entry fee just to be able to operate. A 50 team event with a $200 entry fee means the teams are chipping in $25,000 to cover their operating expenses on top of the $10,000 entry fee for prize money and site costs. Most bbq events could not exist without teams putting up more than half of the total operating costs of the event.
With any professional sport, some or all of the competitors earn money in exchange for their skill and efforts. Whether you want to believe it or not, you are involved in a professional sport where contest organizers make money and very few, if any, competitors make money. If the system were more balanced some of us would make money for our efforts, rather than none, or few, of us.
Please don't think I'm whining or ranting, because I like competing as much as the next team. However, I think this thread has brought up a really interesting point: why can't some or more of us make money doing this? Maybe it's as simple as there isn't enough money for that to happen.
nope, not at all.
to say that this is a simple matter of handing out more awards misses my point.
I understand that there isn't a ton of money in any given contest and there's no shortage of teams to take my place if I were to stop competing, so I don't really have much of an argument. However, if you look at all expenses for both the teams and the organizers and all sources of income for the teams and the organizers, my guess is that the teams are way in the red and the organizers are in the black.
I think it can be compared to pro sports labor negotiations, neither the players or the owners can exist without each other so they have to decide on how to fairly share league income. Unlike pro sports, bbq contest organizers are even more dependent on the competitors because we each bring 2-3 times the cost of the entry fee just to be able to operate. A 50 team event with a $200 entry fee means the teams are chipping in $25,000 to cover their operating expenses on top of the $10,000 entry fee for prize money and site costs. Most bbq events could not exist without teams putting up more than half of the total operating costs of the event.
With any professional sport, some or all of the competitors earn money in exchange for their skill and efforts. Whether you want to believe it or not, you are involved in a professional sport where contest organizers make money and very few, if any, competitors make money. If the system were more balanced some of us would make money for our efforts, rather than none, or few, of us.
Please don't think I'm whining or ranting, because I like competing as much as the next team. However, I think this thread has brought up a really interesting point: why can't some or more of us make money doing this? Maybe it's as simple as there isn't enough money for that to happen.