Drop in fee for a game of ice hockey

[Nabber]

I organize an ice hockey team in the Alberta Summer Hockey League and I'm trying to figure out what to charge spares. Seems like the going rate these days is $20 but that seems high to me as I've been doing this for years. Full-time guys do pay $600 for the season for 30 games so I guess they're paying $20 per game.

Anyone give me any feedback for what they've dealt with recently? Thanks in advance.

There are two referees and score keeping as well.

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by Nabber

I organize an ice hockey team in the Albert Summer Hockey League and I'm trying to figure out what to charge spares. Seems like the going rate these days is $20 but that seems high to me as I've been doing this for years. Full-time guys do pay $600 for the season for 30 games so I guess they're paying $20 per game.

Anyone give me any feedback for what they've dealt with recently? Thanks in advance.

There are two referees and score keeping as well.

What a fantastic league name!!!!

[ken0042]

I would charge $25 in that case. My shinney league charges $15; but full timers pay $200 for 18 games.

I recently played on a buddy's team, and didn't think twice about the $25 fee.

[Knut]

You want to charge a little extra as you will find spares that "do not have any cash on them" quite a bit. Charge extra to cover your costs.

[Nabber]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

What a fantastic league name!!!!

Hahah opps, you should sign up it's named after you!!!

Thanks for the feedback guys, I see how the $25 makes sense as it's not really fair for the spares to pay less than the full-time guys as people rarely make every game in the season. I'll probably stick with the $20 as it's probably more important to have guys wanting to play when we're short rather than be worried about the money.

[Buff]

Here in Lethbridge we charge $10 per game. The full timers pay so much for the season, and it works out to $8 or $9 per game. The part timers pay $10 per game.

With the group I play with, we pay until the season is paid up, so the full-timers may be asked to pay a little more at the end if turnouts are lower than anticipated, or we may be given some money back! Usually it works out that the guy running the show can accurately predict what the full-timers need to pay, and the last two or three skates are free for everybody.

[Superfraggle]

I've paid between $10 and $20 to spare the last few years. $25 is a bit high, especially speaking as someone with a full-time team as well. I get the idea of not wanting full-timers to have to pay more than spares for games, but that shouldn't really be relevant unless you have guys playing the majority of the games and paying only the spare rate. (This assumes that full-time fees cover the league rate and spare fees are used to reduce full-time fees or pay for extras like beer, etc.) Spares only get to play when it is beneficial to the team, so the fee needs to be something they are happy paying or you might not have them available when you need them.

[Nabber]

Originally Posted by Superfraggle

I've paid between $10 and $20 to spare the last few years. $25 is a bit high, especially speaking as someone with a full-time team as well. I get the idea of not wanting full-timers to have to pay more than spares for games, but that shouldn't really be relevant unless you have guys playing the majority of the games and paying only the spare rate. (This assumes that full-time fees cover the league rate and spare fees are used to reduce full-time fees or pay for extras like beer, etc.) Spares only get to play when it is beneficial to the team, so the fee needs to be something they are happy paying or you might not have them available when you need them.

Very good point, this may be more important than the fee as it sucks being very short and having no one wanting to play.

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by Hesla

You want to charge a little extra as you will find spares that "do not have any cash on them" quite a bit. Charge extra to cover your costs.

If this is the case, you need to find better spares. I have seen this happen rarely in my league games, and it's always been guys who are good for it and will actually pay later.

If you don't pay, you don't get asked back.

[Kavvy]

Email the full timer players on your team, and say: Here's the deal, there are only this many of you, we need more, are you OK with spares paying less per game then you do? You have the advantage as the spares only get to play when we need them and you always have a spot on the team for a game assuming you give me notice you will be there x day(s) before.

Being honest and open with your guys is never a bad policy.

Unless full timers decide it is cheaper to be a spare and they still get to play each game due to lack of players.

Then you screwed.

PS - I think I play in your league.

[rd_aaron]

What the heck? We've never charged any spares for playing with us on either team I play on. We each pay $750 ($600 in my second league) for 30 games + playoffs which covers the entire team fees to the league. If we're short on players (less than 2 full lines) we might ask a spare or two to show up but we've never charged them.

Unless your spares are getting in more than say, 10 games a season, I don't see why you would charge them. Chances are they are already playing full time in another league and probably wouldn't see the need to pay $20 to play a game for a team that isn't theirs.

[Canehdianman]

We charge $10 which is less than the full timers pay per game. The reasoning is that the spares are willing to come out on a moments notice and the spare's money just goes towards pucks and beer.

[Galakanokis]

Damn, some of these leagues fees are cheap! Just paid $800 for 32 regular season games + 2 guaranteed playoff games. That does not cover league costs which are $12,000.

We charge spares $20 or we just say bring a case of beer as we typically sell beer for $3 or 7 for $20 I think we do. So we can make money on the beer sales.

Spare fees are tricking as I even pulled the "I'll spare full time" card because it was cheaper. In all fairness I was coming off of hernia surgery and missed the first chunk of the season but still. Cap the amount of games they play for a certain amount and anything over make them pony up?

[Northendzone]

my winter team did not charge guys who came out as spares becasue they filled the spot of a F/T guy who paid his fees

[GrrlGoalie33]

One of the teams I've played for only charged spares if they weren't full time on another team. If you're only a spare, you were charged $10 (6+ years ago).

The reasoning was we all pay good money to play, so we don't want to reward people who don't already pay to play with more free ice time. It works really well if you know your spares because you already know that they're paying to play somewhere.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

my winter team did not charge guys who came out as spares becasue they filled the spot of a F/T guy who paid his fees

Doesn't that eventually cause an issue where people may drop from being FT because it's cheaper to be a spare?

[blankall]

Hold on, you're charging spares who are filling in for guys who don't show up? No way.

The regular guys pay their fees, which should cover your league fees. If they don't show up for games, that's their problem. They are making a commitment to be on a team. The spares are doing you a favor by filling out your roster.

[Galakanokis]

Originally Posted by blankall

Hold on, you're charging spares who are filling in for guys who don't show up? No way.

The regular guys pay their fees, which should cover your league fees. If they don't show up for games, that's their problem. They are making a commitment to be on a team. The spares are doing you a favor by filling out your roster.

The issue becomes you get "career spares" that play for free all over. I've got no issue paying for ice time regardless of how collects the money. Any additional fees the team collects from beer or spares goes to a season ending golf trip or BBQ or sweaters or gear etc.

[Brewmaster]

Originally Posted by blankall

Hold on, you're charging spares who are filling in for guys who don't show up? No way.

The regular guys pay their fees, which should cover your league fees. If they don't show up for games, that's their problem. They are making a commitment to be on a team. The spares are doing you a favor by filling out your roster.

I agree with this. If you've filled out your roster with regulars and covered the league fees amongst the regulars, then spares shouldn't be getting charged anything. They're only invited out if you don't have enough regulars to ice a lineup.

[Nabber]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the responses. This year is a little different as normally the league fees are covered by the full-time guys therefore the extra money just goes to the team for jerseys or what not and isn't really a big deal as it's all bonus money.

This year one of our top players is out with a groin issue but keeps hoping he's going to be able to play therefore I may just keep his spot open for the most part and try to make up the money to cover some of his costs from missed games as I won't charge him the full league fees. He's done a lot for the team which is why he gets special treatment.

Talked to my team last night and we're gonna stick with $15-20 for spares but when we're short under 10 guys we won't charge anything.