Make $3200 Hosting Pickup Hockey

You organize weekly, recurring pickup hockey. You’ve lowered, or eliminated, your personal financial risk by having some of your skaters subscribe for the entire season. Let’s get specific and use real numbers from an organizer we’re working with in Toronto, call him Steve.

Steve has weekly ice for 32 weeks that cost him a total of $12,000 for his entire contract which he pays the city up front. To do that, he collects $500 from 24 players to commit them for the season. Yes these are real numbers, no fiction here.

I think of Steve’s subscribers as shareholders in his game. Steve’s effectively operating a non-profit, or a CSA for pickup hockey. He has 24 skaters who have bought a share of his contract.

Perfect! Steve’s covered his cash requirements, however, he’s created an attendance problem. His skaters are paying over $15 per skate IF they attend all 32. We all know that doesn’t happen. If you attend 3/4 of the games then your cost per skate is now over $20. Miss half the games and you’re paying over $30 per skate!

Steve invites subs and he charges them $20. Spot one of many challenges here? If I’m a subscriber and attend less than 3/4 of the games then I’m now paying more than the subs are, even though I ponied up my $500 at the start. I have to attend over 25 games to get my costs per game under the $20 sub charge.

The bottom line is that Steve, and his 24 skaters, are paying $375 per icetime. As shareholders, they all have a vested interest in making the best use of each and every icetime.

So the answer to the title of this post? Easy, if Steve’s average attendance for the season is 15 skaters, that’s $3200 lost in potential sub charges!! While the extra icetime, when only 12 skaters show up, can be nice, it’s literally costing everyone a ton.

Obviously making the best use of each icetime requires filling Steve’s game every week, within reason (hint, it’s in our name). If you’ve tried that yourself then you already know how much work that takes on Steve’s part. Emailing skaters every week about attendance, chasing subs, charging them, all in an attempt to get 20 skaters every week. Its sucks!

Our focus this upcoming season is working for Steve and his skaters(shareholders) to capture that loss! We work with them to suck all the value they can out of their hockey CSA.

In the coming weeks we’ll start laying out some of the ways we’re working hard to solve all the problems I’ve started to laid out here. If you know any Steve’s out there, send them our way or have them contact me directly!