Dues

For the last few years we have kept the annual dues at $35. However, all players are allowed to get in games unless we have 27 or more players. If we have over 26 players those who have not paid their dues can't play. In practice, in the small number of games that have a 26+ attendance, the non-dues payers strike a bargain with our treasurer, Gil Schmerler, to play at a reduced rate.

The parks department permits have gone up by over 50% and we have run through our windfall of cash from selling our baseball cards, so we will need to collect more in dues (or do more merchandising). We could put the dues up and/or collect from more people. One way to do this is to enforce the dues rule anytime we have 21 or more players (down from 27). Another suggestion, in addition to reducing the number of players needed to invoke the rule, is to have a steep $10 per day one-time fee and $20 for anyone who plays 10 or under games and a $35 fare for 11-plus games. The bookkeeping required to enforce this may be more than Gil is willing to take on.

More merchandising is another way to raise money. I am considering making a 30th Anniversary SFLOI Strat-O-Matic game. The hours that I would have to put into this project make it impractical for me to do for no money. But I may do it and keep half the profits from the game (to pay me about minimum wage for my work) and give half the profits to the league. Anyone else who would like to make this same merchandising deal with the league (baseball cards, yearbooks, t-shirts, etc) is welcome to do so.

I am interested in any thoughts or ideas...