Flag Football Update

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Since we'll have 20 roster spots, if a roster spot is $100 that would amount to $2000 for the charity. I have no idea what amount a charity would deem worthwhile though. Maybe they'd work with us for $500, maybe they need more, Joe Crisp do you know?

Really, I'm thinking these roster spots will be driven by supply and demand. There would be a minimum starting bid, and from there it would just depend on who is willing to bid the most. I have only been on this site for a couple months, but I'm not sure I can see 20 different people on here shelling out $100 each for a roster spot. But Joe Crisp is the man on these questions.

TAFKAS is our contact man for The Good Samaritan Foundation, and he'd be able to get the bottom line info from them, but I'm thinking we'd need to generate around $10,000 total charitable income (the money raised from the roster auctions from all the sites involved) for this to be a viable event. Any amount for a charity is fine, of course, but we want this to be an annual event, and in order for that to happen, we need to show the sponsors and the charity that we mean business-- literally!

Remember, we're the smallest Redskins fan website-- in terms of total membership (just over 1,000)-- of the "Big 4" non-profit Redskins sites. That means the supply and demand dynamic for our roster spots is going to be a little less competitive than it will be for the other sites-- especially Extremeskins, which boasts over 34,000 members. Combined, all of the websites should be able to produce a total contribution in the range of $8,000 to $10,000.

I was thinking that a minimum bid of $35 would be reasonable, and that competitive bidding would likely drive the average winning bids into the range of $100 or so. That may be optimistic, but it may also be a very conservative estimate.

I think a lot depends on what we're able to do with sponsors, and what potential prizes we might have on the line for the winning team and MVPs of the tournament. If we can line up some great prizes, folks might be willing to bid a little higher for an opportunity to compete for the goodies. Obviously, trophies and awards would be in order, but some cool toys might also up the ante a bit.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by joecrisp

TAFKAS is our contact man for The Good Samaritan Foundation, and he'd be able to get the bottom line info from them, but I'm thinking we'd need to generate around $10,000 total charitable income (the money raised from the roster auctions from all the sites involved) for this to be a viable event. Any amount for a charity is fine, of course, but we want this to be an annual event, and in order for that to happen, we need to show the sponsors and the charity that we mean business-- literally!

Remember, we're the smallest Redskins fan website-- in terms of total membership (just over 1,000)-- of the "Big 4" non-profit Redskins sites. That means the supply and demand dynamic for our roster spots is going to be a little less competitive than it will be for the other sites-- especially Extremeskins, which boasts over 34,000 members. Combined, all of the websites should be able to produce a total contribution in the range of $8,000 to $10,000.

I was thinking that a minimum bid of $35 would be reasonable, and that competitive bidding would likely drive the average winning bids into the range of $100 or so. That may be optimistic, but it may also be a very conservative estimate.

I think a lot depends on what we're able to do with sponsors, and what potential prizes we might have on the line for the winning team and MVPs of the tournament. If we can line up some great prizes, folks might be willing to bid a little higher for an opportunity to compete for the goodies. Obviously, trophies and awards would be in order, but some cool toys might also up the ante a bit.

Wow, so this thing is going big! Sweet, it sounds like a real blast. I'm not sure how I can help living here in Philly, but if I can do something for you please let me know!

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Wow, so this thing is going big! Sweet, it sounds like a real blast. I'm not sure how I can help living here in Philly, but if I can do something for you please let me know!

Sponsors, sponsors, sponsors!!! WE NEED SPONSORS!

If there's one thing the members here at The Warpath and the other sites can do to help, it's in the sponsor-recruitment campaign. Big or small, we need some corporate support to get this thing off the ground. If you know anyone (or if you ARE someone) who is in a position to lend financial or logistical support to this event, please let us know. Talk to your bosses and find out who you should talk to about signing your company up as a sponsor for this event. They can provide cash, prizes, beverages, meals, product samples-- whatever you can think of that might help.

[joecrisp]

Here's the proposal we've sent to The Good Samaritan Foundation, The Washington Redskins and the other fan sites. Much thanks to TAFKAS for all his work on the proposal, as well as his behind-the-scenes work with The Good Samaritan Foundation.

“1st Annual Good Samaritan Greatest Fans Bowl”
September 24, 2005


Sponsorship Proposal


TheWarpath.net and other Redskins fan sites on the Internet are comprised over 40,000 dedicated lifelong fans of the Washington Redskins. For the members of these sites, the Redskins symbolize not only a winning tradition, but also a commitment to the community. It comes as no surprise to us that former members of the Washington Redskins have created the Good Samaritan Foundation in order to provide greater opportunities for inner-city youth in the Washington DC area. Now we, as fans, want to thank the Redskins for the wonderful memories they have provided us and help give back to the community.

We propose to raise money for the Good Samaritan Foundation with the “1st Annual Good Samaritan Greatest Fans Bowl”-a flag football tournament involving various Redskins fan sites. This tournament would be held during the Redskins Bye week-either Sept. 24 or 25 and would be an all day event followed by an evening banquet.

Because there are more members of the fansites than could be allowed on the field we will set up an auction system where fans will bid for positions on the team. Each starting bid will be $40 and each team will have 20 players. With 4 teams involved that would be a minimum of $3200 that would go directly to the Good Samaritan Foundation. We are also working on sponsors to match the minimum bids and contribute as well to the Good Samaritan Foundation. All players would be required to sign a liability waiver in order to participate, relieving the Washington Redskins, The Good Samaritan Foundation, the fan websites and any other sponsors/partners of any liability associated with the injury of any participant. Fans would be able to download and print the liability waivers/registration forms from a page on the website they wish to play for.

We propose to use Mission Fish (the charity arm of eBay) as a charity auctioneering tool to control the registration process. To facilitate this the Good Samaritan Foundation would register with Mission Fish as an eligible non-profit organization, so that the auction money can go directly to them.

Publicity for the event would be driven by advertising/announcements on the various Redskins fan websites, as well as that of the sponsor/partner's websites. With assistance from the Washington Redskins and The Good Samaritan Foundation, the individual fan websites would seek out sponsors to cover the cost of team jerseys, flags, etc.



TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Our tentative schedule for the day would be as follows:

10am-12pm: Teams report and practice
12:15pm-1pm: Two games are played simultaneously, each game comprised of two 20-minute halves
1pm-2:30pm: Lunch
2:45pm-3:30pm: Consolation game
3:45pm-4:30pm: Title game
Depending on which location we ultimately find to host our postgame dinner, dinner would be scheduled for sometime between 6 and 7pm.
FORMER REDSKINS PARTICIPATION

We would like for former Redskin greats Charles Mann and Art Monk to serve as our honorary coaches for the day. They would each be assigned a team for the consolation and title games, and would call plays and substitutions for the teams. They would also serve as MCs for the evening where prizes will be given to the winning team as well as the offensive and defensive MVPs. Additionally, we would like for Charles Mann, Art Monk and Tim Johnson to participate in biweekly Q and A sessions on TheWarpath.net (which would then be linked to other fansites) starting at the beginning of the regular season. The players could rotate this. They would be given a set of questions via email that they could then answer and respond to TheWarpath.net.

We hope to develop a strong relationship with the Good Samaritan Foundation and the Washington Redskins, and continue to find ways to give back to the community with your help.