I guess $30 is what the market will bear down here...considering MPSC is $65 for all tryouts, classic, challenge and premier. That includes the $15 tryout fee and $50 commitment to play fee (but we won't go there again!). SSC will be $15 for classic tryouts only. Charlestowne is charging $25 (not sure the number of classic, challenge or premier teams they have) So, Bridge may be more than CESA, but certainly not out of line with the other big clubs in the area. And if you go to all the Bridge sessions, it's almost like paying $30 for a 5-day soccer camp.
Really, SCdad, we'll just pay any amount of money for good teams down here!!

scdad,

You answered your own question by writing the information, but I'll expand.

This is Bridge FA's first year of operations, and as such sponsorship is very difficult to secure. Like you, others on the message board think it's good to see, but there is still much speculation in the low country, due to which clubs aren't fully in the alliance. So the cost of the tryouts, and other operating costs, have to be fully self sustaining, this year.

Many decisions go into determining the rate structure of the tryout costs. One of the biggest is the amount of hours for evaluation. This is obviously affected by the structure and number of days that we decided on. This decision wasn't reached lightly.

Bridge FA is intended to be an inclusive cooperative arrangement, not an exclusive competitive arrangement. As pointed out by another poster, in a different thread, it's very unfortunate for the players/parents of the low country to have been placed in the position they have been placed. After the tryouts for Bridge FA were announced other tryout schedules were posted, which directly conflict on some of the sessions. All area club's leadership was aware of this potential, forcing players/parents to make the very difficult choice, of "leaving us to go to them", and they chose not to join and ultimately the players/parents have a very difficult decision. For those that haven't reached a decision, come take a look and compare. This development was/is unfortunate, but not all together surprising, even though we worked very very hard to avoid it. We still are hopeful that the other area club's will continue the dialogue and join the alliance.

In staying with our inclusive approach, we intentionally spread the tryouts out to afford players the opportunity to tryout both with Bridge FA, and the applicable current local clubs that aren't part of the alliance. Additionally, we split the age groups in the manner we did to avoid HS playoff conflicts. Several of the low country high schools are in the various championship games this weekend, and many others went deep into the playoffs, which would have conflicted with tryouts this week.

These two factors alone lead us to more evaluator hours, and more trips to the fields by the evaluators. Although some evaluators have donated their time, others desire to be paid when they perform their professional service. I do like the CESA rate structure, and hope to be able to institute something very similar next year.

We have been pleased with the support of the younger age groups this week, and are hopeful that we will see the same response in the older age groups next week.

scdad - I think the operative words were 'donated by a sponsor'. I know that Bridge is hard at work securing sponsorship but that takes time. I agree with Sideliner, $30 is a small price to pay for some great training!

In my humble opinion, CESA's tryouts are underpriced at the premier/challenge level and appropriately priced at the classic level when you look at the rate structure of comparitive clubs in a 100-200 mile radius.

I have no clue what the Bridge financial structure is with respect to alliance clubs and field "rentals" and the like, but even taking that out of the picture it's expensive to run a tryout appropriately with sufficient coaches/trainers at each session to evaluate the many players that are there. I'd make the argument that I'd rather spend a little more to increase the quality of the tryout than to scrimp on coaches and trainers and do a poor job evaluating players.

scdad - I have to agree with BridgeFA that this is there first year and budget is definitely a concern. It's also a numbers game in that CESA will have on average 1500 kids tryout for select teams at $15 a kid (that's $22,500) and the Bridge at $30 (if they had 1 team for each age group boys and girls) works out to around $6480.
I think CESA can afford to kick in a t-shirt or two, but if you're trying out for a t-shirt stay out west.

The big temptation on any message board is to 'throw grenades'. Pleae only speak to your own knowledge and the facts. Do not speak for others and their motives.
Don't cast me as a naysayer either. If you do your research, you'll see I have been a proponent of a premier level merger for several years. The devil is in the details.

>>[Vapor7] ... and the Bridge at $30 (if they had 1 team for each age group boys and girls) works out to around $6480.<<

For Bridge, 14 teams [U12-18 boys and girls] at $30 for a total of $6480 means 15.4 kids per team trying out - doesn't sound right, what am I missing?

Me thinks Vapor7 ees not so good weeth heez math.

My figures were based on U13-U18 boys and girls 1 team in each age group with a roster of 18. The bridge website did say U13 to U18.

Vapor7: Bridge probably [hopefully] has more kids than 18 per tryout per age group per gender.

Please note that I am not criticizing Bridge for charging $30; as I said earlier it seems to me to be an appropriate amount for the level of evaluation needed at the challenge/premier level.

I'm sure it's probably confidential, but it would be fascinating to understand the financial model underlying Bridge, e.g., the fee split arrangement, if any, of member clubs and the field/facility "rental" structure. For non-municipal supported clubs, the key is typically primarily the capital debt structure; from what I've read of alliance-oriented clubs, the key is always the partnership structure.

Chico,

I was being conservative with the numbers on the Bridge side since this is thier first year and only 2 clubs are in the alliance. The key word being alliance not merger.

Kids in the area still have a choice and the clubs that are not in the alliance may still field some good teams.
Now if you are in the Greenville area clearly there is only one club to play for.

I think the Bridge will have some great teams this first year but not in every age group. That will not happen until all the clubs in the area agree to the concept. (Maybe in a few years when CESA has enough state cups to fill the
Bi-Lo Center).

Some clubs still only want to try to be the best in the Charleston area.

GO BFA!!!

Chico,

As a start, go to the SSC web page. On the left, there is a link to a document that defines the relationship in general terms. If after reading that, you want more detailed information, ask it through the question/comment feature on the Bridge FA web page. You are correct in that it is somewhat confidential, but given the right circumstances it is possible to share it.

CESA doesn't really have 1500 kids trying out, do they? Didn't they have roughly 2000 in the club this year? With the number of rec. kids, 1500 trying out seems way high.

kdlsc: I thought that last year the tryout number was a bit below 1000; but I'm not sure either.

Vapor7: I live in the midstate, the worst of all possible worlds for South Carolina soccer "choice." My kids have tons of "choice" locally in terms of local clubs [e.g., Lexington, CRSA, NECSA, CSC], they just don't have a whole lot of local choice in terms of teams that have a chance to be regionally and nationally competitive [i.e., services choice].

However, in terms of choice: with respect to the the GSA MSA [Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson Metropolitan Statistical Area], just like the CNC [Charleston-North Charleston] MSA, choices abound. In the CNC MSA, you have MPSC and CUSC [and probably others] in addition to Bridge. In the GSA MSA, there is CFC [formerly SYSC], USA, Clemson, Anderson, Foothills, etc. Distances seem comparable; Spartanburg to Greenville is 30 miles [+/- 1 mile] as is Summerville to James Island.

In South Carolina, particularly in the South Carolina MSA's, the problem doesn't seem to be choice of club -- there are lots of clubs -- the problem is choice of services. Bridge is trying to help with that in the CNC MSA. To quote you in this regard "GO BFA!!!" -- I'm with you.

My hope is that Bridge received at least 25 people per age group trying out for your U12-U18 teams; that ought to yield $750 per team, $1500 per age group, and $10,500 for the tryouts. Again, let me strongly make the point that no one on this message board [at least yet] has begrudged Bridge that money; some in fact have said they'd pay a lot more to have their kids tryout for competitive soccer.

You estimated 1500 players trying out at CESA's select teams. I'd be surprised; I thought last year it was a bit below 1000. I sent a note over to CESA asking how many players tried out this weekend and whether this was public information; if they respond positively I'll let you know.

Unfortunately, I think the official number was 112,346. More state championships!! Drats!!

C'mon, Striker, now you're just being silly...I heard the number was just over 108,000...let's not get carried away...

CESA responded to my inquiry and told me that this year so far there have been slightly over 1000 players that have registered online and at the field.