Erin, I agree with you, the promoters are doing what is best for their events.
I would think what is best is to support & include the local BBQ Club, but I could be wrong.
Yes, we should have had $4500 in the account this year, but like I said, no one paid. We basically gave all the events a Free pass this year with the intent that they would all pay from here on out. We showed them the benefit of paying the money & donating the entry up front.
What their $500 gets them is a seperate section in our Upcoming Events section as well as a Banner ad in the rotation with a min of 500 impressions per month up until 30 days out, then it goes up to 2000 - 3000 impressions for that last month. Remember, these are only minimum impressions. The actuals are a lot higher.
The donated entry is basically used to help keep money coming in for our Charities all year long. We always raffle it off on the site here and direct the money to one of our Charities.
It is our goal to use the $500 for each Team of the Year event to create an actual prize fund for the Team of the Year race where the Top ?? Overall & in each category would win some cash back at the end of the year and also for it to help cover the cost of the trophies. Up until now, this has all come out of my pocket. We want the Team of the Year race to actually help pay for itself. We are not trying to get rich on it or even make any money on it, it's all earmarked for the teams.
Remember, our site here is FREE thanks to our Sponsors/advertisers & the events that advertise on here. The benefit is in helping to support the local club which hopefully they are a part of and to promote their event as best they can.