All-Star Got A Phone Call From Disney Regarding Worlds

[kristenthegreat]

I completely understand this sentiment. How do you solve the problem of how to account for athletes when determining the number of tickets to be sold for each venue/division?

THIS is where number of bids come into play- track the number of athletes who compete e vs number of athletes who come to watch for day 2/day 3. You can get a better idea of how many bids would need to be shaved off (if any), and how many seats might need to be allotted for those athletes. Then factor that in between the amount of parents, coaches, and fans are showing up.

 

[njallday]

#TAMW you say that in the rudest way possible..


Regardless of *My* team and *Your sons(?)* team, I stand by what I said.
Worlds isnt worlds with only the Big Names attending. That would be the majors.

actually. the very first worlds was invite only. big names were the only names there. the majors merely mimicked what the usasf set out to do 8 years ago with one all girl and one coed winner. so, not the majors idea. just sayin'.

 

[SarahS]

THIS is where number of bids come into play- track the number of athletes who compete e vs number of athletes who come to watch for day 2/day 3. You can get a better idea of how many bids would need to be shaved off (if any), and how many seats might need to be allotted for those athletes. Then factor that in between the amount of parents, coaches, and fans are showing up.

This sounds like a good idea, but it will take at least a year to implement, as I am assuming that during this year's worlds event, athlete attendance wasn't tracked. If the statistics on athlete attendance already exist, then this is a reasonable solution. If the statistics don't exist, how can this be factored in for Worlds 2013? Would it be reasonable to have a first-come, first-served athletes-only section? How many seats should be set aside? Would it be reasonable to have the athletes-only section ushered in and out between every session, like the parents were in 2012?

 

[new2level5]

Food for thought. After a little basic math, there were just over 8,500 CHEER competitors. The milk house has 5000 seats.

Obviously, not every single competitor will converge on the milk house at the same time, but, that 8,500 does not include; Coaches, Parents, Friends, Judges, Disney Staff, USASF Staff, concession workers, etc.

WOW! That is unbelieveable!

 

[Num1Stunta]

I feel like this is an instance where an ID card system would come in.... If you are competing at worlds, your ID card could be tagged in the computer system and you would be permitted in a special priority area for your gym,s other teams, then gain you general admission to watch everyone else. IDs would be tracked and give the USASF an idea of how many athletes actually watch the competition.

Coaches could also be issued ID cards when they credential, which would allow any member coaches to swipe their card at a usasf event and get in for free.

 

[SheCheers]

actually. the very first worlds was invite only. big names were the only names there. the majors merely mimicked what the usasf set out to do 8 years ago with one all girl and one coed winner. so, not the majors idea. just sayin'.

And since it's clearly not profitable, it's probably not ever going to happen again. they're never going to limit the number of PAYING people. it'll just never happen. Not saying it SHOULDN'T happen, just that it won't.

 

[The Sixth]

And since it's clearly not profitable, it's probably not ever going to happen again. they're never going to limit the number of PAYING people. it'll just never happen. Not saying it SHOULDN'T happen, just that it won't.

Which is why increasing the capacity for all those paying folks is the ONLY answer. Enough with all the silly ideas of reserved sections, tiered pricing, advanced ticket sales, lol...the jumbotron as any kind of option, etc. All those ideas come with way too many logistics issues in planning AND execution. I think some of you have this idea that the USASF has the manpower of Google.

 

[Ashley]

Which is why increasing the capacity for all those paying folks is the ONLY answer. Enough with all the silly ideas of reserved sections, tiered pricing, advanced ticket sales, lol...the jumbotron as any kind of option, etc. All those ideas come with way too many logistics issues in planning AND execution. I think some of you have this idea that the USASF has the manpower of Google.

I think even USASF knows they're going to have to switch venues at some point. They're not oblivious. They probably are under contract though and would have to make venue change decision more than a year before the event will take place. What all of these ideas CAN do, however, is provide a stop gap, until a larger venue can be found. They already have dates listed on their website for the next few years, so they're probably not moving out of ESPN before then. But something HAS to be done, we can't keep repeating the madness of Worlds 2012.

 

[5-6-7-8]

Which category do the athletes fall under? As it stands now, athletes don't need tickets to watch, correct? How should the USASF count athletes in the mix when determining if a venue/division is "sold out"? If the USASF sells the exact number of tickets for seats for each day/division, wouldn't there still be an overcrowding problem, because athletes are kind of an unknown quantity at this time?

In my thinking, athletes would be able to either watch their division only. If they want to watch other divisions, they pay like any other spectator. But I do love the idea of maybe having an "Athlete Village" where they could go watch whatever teams they want to in another location. When they want to come cheer on other teams from their gym, they would go with option 3, the staging area to sit in the "team" area that clears out after every team.

The logistics of this would have to be researched and figured out (how many of each type of seat, etc.) But the key would be to limit ticket sales. Honestly, even limiting ticket sales in general without changing anything else would still help. But having varying ticket levels would help address some of the other issues like making sure parents / gym members get to watch their teams.

 

[5-6-7-8]

Which is why increasing the capacity for all those paying folks is the ONLY answer. Enough with all the silly ideas of reserved sections, tiered pricing, advanced ticket sales, lol...the jumbotron as any kind of option, etc. All those ideas come with way too many logistics issues in planning AND execution. I think some of you have this idea that the USASF has the manpower of Google.

I totally agree, but trying to be realistic that location won't change at least for next year. In the meantime, changes need to happen if it has to be in the same location.

 

[socratesofcheer]

actually. the very first worlds was invite only. big names were the only names there. the majors merely mimicked what the usasf set out to do 8 years ago with one all girl and one coed winner. so, not the majors idea. just sayin'.

Actually, it was PAID bids only. I believe the only comps that awarded paid bids at that time were CHEERSPORT, NCA, UCA, ACA, and USA

 

[ztaprincess]

I think even USASF knows they're going to have to switch venues at some point. They're not oblivious. They probably are under contract though and would have to make venue change decision more than a year before the event will take place. What all of these ideas CAN do, however, is provide a stop gap, until a larger venue can be found. They already have dates listed on their website for the next few years, so they're probably not moving out of ESPN before then. But something HAS to be done, we can't keep repeating the madness of Worlds 2012.

I think many are failing to understand that if they want to break that contract they are going to have to pay money which means that money is going to have to come from somewhere. The cost of breaking a contract varies on how much the contract was worth to begin with. On top of that they already have the dates set until I believe 2015 therefore if they move to another venue there is a chance they will have to change all future dates in case that venue is being used at that time. If those dates indicate that is how long the contract has left I can only imagine the amount of money that would have to be paid to Disney/ESPN to break.
I don't have a ton of faith in the USASF but I refuse to believe they are that oblivious to the problem. I truly think they are stuck and are going to do what they can to fix it until they can move to something bigger.

 

[mstealtoyou]

I think many are failing to understand that if they want to break that contract they are going to have to pay money which means that money is going to have to come from somewhere. The cost of breaking a contract varies on how much the contract was worth to begin with. On top of that they already have the dates set until I believe 2015 therefore if they move to another venue there is a chance they will have to change all future dates in case that venue is being used at that time. If those dates indicate that is how long the contract has left I can only imagine the amount of money that would have to be paid to Disney/ESPN to break.
I don't have a ton of faith in the USASF but I refuse to believe they are that oblivious to the problem. I truly think they are stuck and are going to do what they can to fix it until they can move to something bigger.

And in the meantime the problem just get's bigger and bigger.

 

[ztaprincess]

And in the meantime the problem just get's bigger and bigger.

Yup which is why drastic changes will have to be made in order for things to work until they can get a new venue. They are in a sticky situation and have to handle things carefully or it just won't work.

Of course I love my idea that I posted about, but I don't see that happening. I really think they need to total up how many tickets should be sold by having the total number of seats in the Milkhouse and about half of the number of season in Jostens. Then take the number of bids that are going to be given out that year and figure out an estimate of how many athletes that would be. Now I am not a numbers person so I can't even pretend to know those numbers, but lets say they figured out a good number by using the numbers from this past year.
So they have the number of athletes now they could say every athlete will have the opportunity to receive 2 tickets for parents which would be purchased through the gym. Now those would be purchased when the gym sends in their paperwork after accepting a bid. I know that some gyms don't get their bids until last minute but those tickets will be reserved until the last bid competition. Now the number of tickets per athlete will then be subtracted from the total number of tickets that can be sold and those will go to the general public. Those tickets can be put online and sold at a first come first serve basis, once they are gone then they are gone. After the last bid competition if there are family tickets still avalible then the USASF can send out a notification to all gyms to let families know if they need an extra ticket and didn't get on when the general public ones went on sale. Those familes can then enter a lottery for the left over family tickets.

Now of course I know that there are problems with this, but I think the general idea could be tweeked in order to work. I just find it very important that parents have a seat to watch their child perform so selling families tickets to insure that is important. THEN when the schedule is released it would be:

Large Senior/Large Coed
IO6/IOC6
Small Senior/Small Coed
IO5/IOC5
Medium Senior/ Medium Coed

One from each will be in Jostens and the other in the Milkhouse at the same time. The International divisions will help give people time to move from one venue to the other if they wish to.

 

[The Sixth]

I think even USASF knows they're going to have to switch venues at some point. They're not oblivious. They probably are under contract though and would have to make venue change decision more than a year before the event will take place. What all of these ideas CAN do, however, is provide a stop gap, until a larger venue can be found. They already have dates listed on their website for the next few years, so they're probably not moving out of ESPN before then. But something HAS to be done, we can't keep repeating the madness of Worlds 2012.

Agreed, I don't believe they are oblivious either. But this isn't the first time the Milk House has had issues with overcrowding. Just because they know there is a problem, doesn't necessarily make them feel obligated to fix it.

And I'm trying to be as realistic as someone with first hand experience. Just citing some examples of proposed solutions:

Jumbotron - Let's be honest who here that was at Worlds would be ok watching the jumbtron? Sorry USASF, no matter how many times you try to sell it to me, I'm not going outside to watch it. If it was that viable an option, those parents/fans would not have had to be shuttled in and shuttled out. They'd all go to the jumbotron and problem solved.

Advanced ticket sales - I am too lazy to go count the number of unique gyms that attended, but I'd guess easily over a 200 US teams alone. Now add to that the number of international countries that attended as well. And we think the USASF could manage to set up a system to contact and keep track of reservin/selling/distributing advance tickets to each of these gyms? Which most likely couldn't even be finalized until the registration deadline passed.

Tiered pricing/reserved seating/session seating - The Disney staff does a pretty could job validating tickets at the main entrances. But the back entrance to Jostens is a joke. There are also several unmonitored doors to the Milkhouse. Once inside, they are lucky if ushers can keep up with kicking ppl off staircases. They are going to have to quadruple the manpower if now they are not only checking tickets of who gets in, but making sure each person is in the seat they are supposed to. We worry about Worlds taking too long already. I could not imagine them taking an extra 30 mins to shuffle folks in and another 30 mins to shuffle folks out every time they change divisions. With all that said, some form of this is prob the most realistic, because it has more to do with manpower than brainpower. But who honestly would be happy coming all the way to Worlds having to choose one single division to come watch?

A venue change NEEDS to happen to keep the paying customers happy. However, if USASF and Disney are making money regardless, than there is no reason for them to break the status quo. Until the interest dwindles to the point of them losing money, or they find a way to make more money, I see no reason that they'll ever do more than band-aid solutions that don't make the fans and athletes happy. The whole situation is just bizarre because to me, NCA Nationals seems to run just fine. And when was the last time you heard anybody complaining they couldn't get in to watch? Why is that? Perhaps because a larger venue solves a boatload of issues?