P Alesse
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 p.1 #7 · sizing up tournament photo vendo opportunity? | |
gschlact wrote:
So Paul, you say no-bid even with all the time etc to plan for next year? If so, how do those that do shoot tournament profit? What model? What make this so different than the Little League or cheerleading Tournaments you do, or others? I believe you but some Photographers are doing it successfully financialky aren't they?
Not anymore. Soccer tournaments on the grand scale level as you describe are not being covered anymore. Did you ask yourself WHY this tournament doesn't have a photographer? Rather than thinking that you may have "found gold," realize that many other experienced photography companies have already labeled that tourny as "iron pyrite".
To answer your questions...
At one point in this business, we were shooting tournaments EVERY weekend, sometimes even three different tournaments at one time in the area. It wasn't uncommon for us to have as many as a dozen or more photogs working at one time. The soccer tournys were anywhere from 100-500 teams during a weekend. Baseball tournys going on simultaneously could be as many as 200 teams at a location called Baseball Heaven here on Long Island, for which we the official photographer for. There was a time where all we needed to do was drop our lenses on a field and make a grand or more per game. That has all ended for several reasons...
1) Technology: parents have their own DSLRs and get plenty of photos of their kid. And get this... the photos they take are GOOD. Damn good. When all they have to really do is shoot their own kid and not the 30 others on the field, they are going to get good shots. This is why I always stress... you better show up and shoot with at least 400mm or more focal length in mind, otherwise your shots will be no different than theirs, which brings me to my second point.
2) Access: Parents are being given the same access to games as you. With baseball, you stand a little better of a chance since they could be outside a fence, but for soccer... they are right there with you.
3) Time: This is a big one, in my book, and often overlooked. Parents just don't have the time anymore to find their kid in an online gallery.
4) "Owning" a print: I have and will continue to argue this point because it plays a HUGE roll in your sales. Parents no longer have to have a physical print anymore in order for them to claim ownership. They will right click and save, do a screen capture, or even take a picture of the screen with a cell phone and save it and it's now THEIRS. Think about this... back in the day, why would a parent want a print? They could put in an album? They can show grandma at Christmas time. They can track their kids and memories over the years. Well, guess what... they can do all of that with a digital image. Put it in an album? It's now called a file folder. Show grandma at Christmas? They can email it to them. Tracking memories over the years. It's now called... posting photos to your FB timeline. Why do they need a physical print? Especially when they can get your photo for free.
In order to have any chance in making some money in this, the following considerations would have to be made:
1) Importance of event. We cover THREE major action events per year. That's it. We cover them because of their importance. LI Soccer Cup Championships is a weekend where all the best soccer teams compete in a final round of play for grand champions in each division. That's two days of shooting with about a dozen or more staff. It's an important event. That being said... we don't break even until Christmas time. We cover the LLB regionals. How important is that? It's on ESPN prime time. Ask any event coordinator if their event is important or presitigious and they will tell you YES. They are no dummies. Remember they are salesman. They want your vendor fee. They're the ones profiting and will search out photographers and sign the first one gullible enough to take on their tournament. To find out how important the event REALLY is, you have to ask TWO key questions... Is your event televised? Does your event issue media credentials? If they look at you like you're crazy... YOU WALK.
2) Viewstations. For LLB, we have viewstations. When they ask if the images will be online, if you tell them YES, they'll walk away, and you'll never hear from them again. If you tell them no, they'll sit and buy. Viewstations WILL NOT WORK in soccer tournament of this size. First of all, you'd need about 100 of them at least. Second, you would need down time built into the soccer schedule where parents can sit and browse. Third... you need one entrance and one exit point right by your area which would need to be heavily, heavily marketed. These tournys have no down time, and there are lots of points to escape without parents even knowing you are there.
3) Niche sports/markets: Guys like Hammy and BlueReptile are in niche markets where they have established a reputation within their respective sport. However, people are NOT just dropping thousands of dollars in their laps either. They have to grind it out just like the rest of us. They require exclusive access, viewstations, heavy marketing, and finally... big time events. Even with all that, there are no guarantees they will make money. Some are lucky enough to get registration fees built in where the money is guaranteed. But in this dwindling economy, there is less and less of that model.
4) Age of competitor: You want to shoot kids 6-12. That's your prime sales area. After age 12, sales drop dramatically, but Numbers 1,2 and 3 above will trump #4
This post sounds like sour grapes filled with negativity. And it is. But, that's the reality. There is no more money to be made in youth sports. Not on the level you speak of with little to no experience doing it. You would need to have invested thousands of dollars already.
Now, with all this negativity bringing it back to reality, if you still want to do this, here's what I would suggest. Forget ten thousand dollars, or even five thousand. I would grind it out and see if you make a day rate out of it. Employ just yourself and maybe a person to hand out cards, preferably one of your own kids. Hit up as many half games in a weekend as you can. If you craft out the schedule and it's logistically manageable, you could hit up as many as 80 teams. That's 10 hours of shooting, two games per hour, which equates to 4 teams, over two days. There may be some overlap, so 80 is a stretch, but it's possible. This will be about volume more than anything else. Grind it out. You'll need at least 500 quality shots per half. That's 1000 shots per hour. 20,000 shots for the weekend. You'll need to have them organized and ready for online purchase in less than 24 hours. If you are not equipped to do that, you have NO CHANCE to break even.
To make it "worth your while"... you would need to gross $3,000. That's possible if you are well marketed, the sidelines are well carded, and you offer great shots, with great posters, at affordable prices.
$3000 grand gross less...
$500 vendors fee less...
$200 payout to card person, less...
$600... printing fees (around 20%, usually)
$1700 net to you. Considering the 20 hours of shooting, maybe another 10 hours at least in organizing and uploading. Maybe another 10 hours in printing orders and customer service. That's $42.50/hour. Right on the border of making it "worthwhile". Personally, I'd rather work for someone else. I make more per hour with less headaches. But thats me.
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Many changes have occurred during this time and what used to be, is no longer. Personally would walk away, but good luck to you at any rate.