I regret to inform the membership that the hoped for match at the S&W range in early 2003 will not occur because of changes in the match fee required by Smith & Wesson for use of that facility. My original match proposal is available here .
In my proposal to S&W, I proposed a match fee of $9.00 per competitor, and adding use of 3 lanes on the indoor commercial range for a standards exercise to boost the stage count. I suggested this amount, since it reflected a reasonable increase in the rate over last season (a 28% increase, or a 7% increase in the per-range amount). The total paid to S&W would have been further increased if we succeeded in filling two days worth of squads. In addition to the $7.00 per shooter fee, last season's match director (Mark Agerholm) also agreed to a minimum of $150.00 per match.
Terms offered for 2003 by the same S&W manager responsible for last season's matches were substantially different:
To answer the obvious question, no, I did not respond to S&W with a counter offer. The terms offered were very far from what I could have made work with a $45 match fee, including the usual expenses and out of town range officers. I offered S&W what we could afford, and they responded with a number which was, for all practical purposes, "out of the ballpark", and set a minimum fee which presented an insurmountable obstacle to the contemplated match.
I am not posting the email from S&W explaining their proposal, since I consider it impolite to post non-public emails without explicit permission from the sender.
If anyone wishes to contact S&W to attempt to rent to their ranges and organize a match, please let me know and I will provide you with the necessary contact information.
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly.
Unfortunately, the match I was trying to arrange wouldn't be able to support the range rental rates your facility requires.
The $15 per person would be very tight with the budget I was trying to put together. The goal was to run the match with a reasonably low entry fee, and use the proceeds to help clubs pay for staff expenses such as hotel bills. (The detailed proposal to the USPSA members in the area is at www.boudrie.com/sw.html)
Also, as an event being run by Area 7 (and not by "USPSA National"), there would be no source of funds to underwrite the $2000 financial guarantee you require should turnout not be sufficient to generate that amount. Assuming 7 ranges, two Saturday squads of 6 shooters each and one Sunday squad of 8 shooters would be 140 shooters - barely above the 133 required to "make minimum" ... and that's if we fill up the match.
Last season S&W charged the matches $7/shooter, $150 minimum, for the same 1/2 day per shooter on the range as this match would have used. The service was $5/shooter the year before. While price changes are to be expected with any product or service, I was more than a little surprised to see the per-head fee more than double, and the minimum increase by a factor of more than thirteen.
Although an Area 7 USPSA/IPSC match won't work at the range for the winter of 2003, I do wish you the best of luck in your range rental business. I will not hesitate to contact you if a future indoor USPSA match would be able to support the fees at the level your range now requires.
Best Wishes,
Rob Boudrie
USPSA Area 7 Director
rob@boudrie.com
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I do not consider the response of the Smith and Wesson range regarding rental rates to be any indication of a lack of support for USPSA / IPSC, but rather a business decision made by one specific department within that firm.
The "next step" after obtaining a range committment would have been to contact all clubs within Area 7 to announce the match, and arrange for a club or group of individuals to "adopt" each of the match stages.
Rob Boudrie