Sweet, thanks Lonnie and Melissa for the opinions thus far.
Lonnie - Kip's only throws in a small amount for the Tuesday night DYPs (last week $10 for 4 teams) and the turnout that we have is a bunch of guys who are more interested in playing than anything. What we talked about doing is no longer giving 3rd place their entry fee back unless we, for some odd reason, have more than an 8 team turnout.
As far as the start time, as I mentioned I also like the idea of starting earlier. It would conflict with my schedule to do so but I would think that people like yourself may be more enticed to play. I do agree with Melissa about the start times. At Kip's, it is a large pain to everyone when the DYP runs an hour longer than expected or we wait an additional 30 minutes for a local player to show up. I know this happens at all tournaments for some reason, but we can for sure work on that one. I don't think it is fair to punish everyone due to one person/team............
Melissa - The fees that I posted above are what the TD asked me to post for this month. Actually, he told me to post $20 a person but I just worded it differently (haha not in an attempt to attract better/more teams). Stoney wants "beginners" to pay $10-$15 (as in the past) but we are having trouble deciding what defines such a person. For instance, I feel that my roommate Reid (never played in any tournament other than at Kip's) is a great goalie, but he doesn't pay $20 even though he and I have won like 3 times together. However, I believe he should pay $20. So I guess it is likely that people will continue to be charged different fees with $20 being the most until a better system is devised. I also think that the lower price for women is because all of us guys want to see more females out there!!!!! C'mon!!!!!
As for the conduct, I have heard in the past that both local and out-of-state players like to make a scene at Kip's for some reason. I understand that everyone has different fuses and such but there needs to be a certain amount of respect for the game from everyone and I know that sometimes it isn't so evident. The most recent "problem" that took place was a little more than an argument. I gather that most problems like this, and you were there so I know you know about it, begin during a heated tournament match. Then I think that everyone thinks that because they are at a bar it is ok to let things get out of hand. What I have done, partially in an attempt to help this, is taken and passed the Officials test from Tom Yore when I was in St. Louis for the National Doubles Tournament. Jerry also just passed his test this past weekend in Atlanta. Now there are, officially, two local Officials. This gives everyone the opportunity to have an Official for their matches so that less conflicts take place. Hopefully this will also provide for more "respect of the game" as I like to call it. I also feel that when you have a larger crowd of players who play on tour (such as at Bocca last month) you will run into less conduct/rule issues on the table. A jar that happens can usually call itself.............usually. But then again that is why there are Officials.
Hopefully those address what you guys are thinking and hopefully we can get you guys to keep joining us at Kip's. If you guys don't tell us what out-of-town players want to see, we won't be able to keep you all around. If there are more thoughts/ideas, either new or built off of already mentioned, please let me or someone up in Indy know so that we can make things better for everyone. Thank you so much for telling me whats up and I will talk with Stone-dog about it on Saturday about your thoughts.
-Sean