Starting youth league (8th-12th) in 2024 any tips?

[riseatl]

We have been doing adult sports for the past 4 years and have decided to begin our youth league division.  We are targeting 8th grade to 12th grade girls and boys.  Was hoping for any tips and tricks that previous organizations have used that have been really helpful.  The sport is Flag Football with hopes of soccer and basketball in the future. We already do Adult flag football and basketball.  Appreciate any feedback.

[Felzani, Matthew]

We have about 170 kids in the Flag Football sport in our League, but our Divisions only go up to 7G/8G. I tried starting a High School one this year and invited all the families from our Registration system who had a kid in High School and only got two kids so we had to punt on it. I think the biggest thing you're up against is that the kids get really busy: 1) they have jobs, 2) they have boy-/girlfriends, 3) they have High School sports.

So I guess my advice is mostly to get the info to as many people as possible because that's your biggest barrier - that there are people out there who would do it, but just don't know it's an option. Even the Divisions we run they should be so much bigger but I constantly run into people who don't know it's an option.

This Season I tried those pull tab posters with QR codes at all the popular destinations (e.g. - Convenience Stores, Ice Cream Stands, etc.) but that didn't help at all. We asked the Schools to include notes in the mass emails they send out, but also not very helpful. We posted on a ton of local Facebook groups, but the return there was pretty low. The vast majority of our Registrations were from returning families and then them telling their friends. Everyone says Lawn Signs are the Bees' Knees, though I only put out one sign this past year (we only have a dozen) so that might be a good option if you have enough runway to get them designed and printed?

We also tried referral bonuses, but not much traction there.

One final thought I have, but haven't been able to put into action, is that I believe no matter what city you live in you assume the following three sports are there: Baseball, Soccer, and Basketball. Other sports like Lacrosse, Flag Football, Field Hockey, and Wrestling are typically available as well, but go under the radar. I'm hoping to get reps from those other sports in our area to partner up and create some kind of clearing house where we invest in a mass mailing with hopes we can reach more people.

In our League we also have: Soccer (Spring + Fall), Basketball (Winter), and Baseball (Spring). Flag Football is a Fall sport for us.

I'm not sure how clearly this will paste, but these are the responses from our post-Season Survey for our Season which just ended:

[riseatl]

37 minutes ago, Felzani, Matthew said:

We have about 170 kids in the Flag Football sport in our League, but our Divisions only go up to 7G/8G. I tried starting a High School one this year and invited all the families from our Registration system who had a kid in High School and only got two kids so we had to punt on it. I think the biggest thing you're up against is that the kids get really busy: 1) they have jobs, 2) they have boy-/girlfriends, 3) they have High School sports.

So I guess my advice is mostly to get the info to as many people as possible because that's your biggest barrier - that there are people out there who would do it, but just don't know it's an option. Even the Divisions we run they should be so much bigger but I constantly run into people who don't know it's an option.

This Season I tried those pull tab posters with QR codes at all the popular destinations (e.g. - Convenience Stores, Ice Cream Stands, etc.) but that didn't help at all. We asked the Schools to include notes in the mass emails they send out, but also not very helpful. We posted on a ton of local Facebook groups, but the return there was pretty low. The vast majority of our Registrations were from returning families and then them telling their friends. Everyone says Lawn Signs are the Bees' Knees, though I only put out one sign this past year (we only have a dozen) so that might be a good option if you have enough runway to get them designed and printed?

We also tried referral bonuses, but not much traction there.

One final thought I have, but haven't been able to put into action, is that I believe no matter what city you live in you assume the following three sports are there: Baseball, Soccer, and Basketball. Other sports like Lacrosse, Flag Football, Field Hockey, and Wrestling are typically available as well, but go under the radar. I'm hoping to get reps from those other sports in our area to partner up and create some kind of clearing house where we invest in a mass mailing with hopes we can reach more people.

In our League we also have: Soccer (Spring + Fall), Basketball (Winter), and Baseball (Spring). Flag Football is a Fall sport for us.

I'm not sure how clearly this will paste, but these are the responses from our post-Season Survey for our Season which just ended:

Man that is some great feedback thank you very much, we run IG ads and that has been the best form of advertising to date.  The ROI on that was about $1000 worth throughout 2023 and that is what jumpstarted our basketball league.  We ran three seasons this year and had no basketball league as of Jan 1, 2023.  We also have a list of about 40-50 HS and MS  from our current and surrounding counties, of which I'm grabbing the names of the Female Flag coaches(No HS Flag option for guys in the area past 8th grade).  I will email them all the poster we created plus running ads for the next 4 months and hope for the best.  We're hoping for 60-80 kids and going from there.

We try to run each league 3 times a year as HS Flag is a fall sport here so we're hoping to run a Spring and Summer Youth flag league.  The adults we try to run Spring, Summer and Fall for all three.

NFL FLAG, Under Armour Flag, and about 2 other private flag leagues are huge out here so there is a base I'm hoping to provide a equal or better experience with a 15% reduction in price.  So we shall see.  My hope is that youth leagues become a primary leauges as the ROI is better for us.  

I like the clearing house Idea, have you tried reaching out to local coaches, trainers etc..  Also if you're doing flag and this is just a suggestion.  Have you thought about getting sanctioned through USA Flag.  They are the national body and behind the push to get flag in the Olympics.  It's pretty easy to get sanctioned and they offer insurance to cover facilities for $200 flat rate. (I do not work for them or get any commission)  But that is what we use and its been great and saved us a ton on getting facility insurance.

If you don't mind me asking how many games do you guys have a season.  We are thinking 6 games (Just like our competition) but 5v5 games are so short I'm debating doing a 8 game season.  What are your thoughts?

[Felzani, Matthew]

7 hours ago, riseatl said:

Man that is some great feedback thank you very much, we run IG ads and that has been the best form of advertising to date.  The ROI on that was about $1000 worth throughout 2023 and that is what jumpstarted our basketball league.  We ran three seasons this year and had no basketball league as of Jan 1, 2023.  We also have a list of about 40-50 HS and MS  from our current and surrounding counties, of which I'm grabbing the names of the Female Flag coaches(No HS Flag option for guys in the area past 8th grade).  I will email them all the poster we created plus running ads for the next 4 months and hope for the best.  We're hoping for 60-80 kids and going from there.

We try to run each league 3 times a year as HS Flag is a fall sport here so we're hoping to run a Spring and Summer Youth flag league.  The adults we try to run Spring, Summer and Fall for all three.

NFL FLAG, Under Armour Flag, and about 2 other private flag leagues are huge out here so there is a base I'm hoping to provide a equal or better experience with a 15% reduction in price.  So we shall see.  My hope is that youth leagues become a primary leauges as the ROI is better for us.  

I like the clearing house Idea, have you tried reaching out to local coaches, trainers etc..  Also if you're doing flag and this is just a suggestion.  Have you thought about getting sanctioned through USA Flag.  They are the national body and behind the push to get flag in the Olympics.  It's pretty easy to get sanctioned and they offer insurance to cover facilities for $200 flat rate. (I do not work for them or get any commission)  But that is what we use and its been great and saved us a ton on getting facility insurance.

If you don't mind me asking how many games do you guys have a season.  We are thinking 6 games (Just like our competition) but 5v5 games are so short I'm debating doing a 8 game season.  What are your thoughts?

Great notes, also, and I'm happy to share as much as you need from our side. We're up in Massachusetts so our outdoor seasons are limited. We don't have Flag in this area as a High School sport yet, but it will happen eventually. There was an attempt last year to stand up a Female league, but it didn't take off. Another attempt this year and I think there is more traction so it's only a matter of time so that's pretty awesome. I'm not sure if anyone has tried for the Boys yet.

Thanks for the IG note and if I can get the group together I mentioned I'll let you know. Our situation is a bit unique in that we aren't really a 'public' league. We run a league just for the three towns that make up our local school district so we can't really blanket advertise. I'm sure we can do better, but for right now it's just me running the League so I don't really have the [hu]man power. I'm hoping that if I can partner with those other sports we can share the cost and all benefit from the lift. Up until this year we ran Divisions of 1G/2G, 3G/4G, 5G/6G, and 7G/8G and we had about 150 kids in those Divisions. Then this year I started a PreK/K Division - which was HYSTERICAL - and that got us up to 170. PreK/K registration was $50 and the other Divisions were $110 (PreK/K is much cheaper because we don't need refs and don't play on lined fields). We'll end up taking a small loss this year just because our numbers are way down. Comparing the 1G to 8G numbers this year was the 150, last year was 177, the year before that 210 and before that 207. The 210 and 207 numbers were a bit inflated because that was during COVID and Flag Football was the only sport running, but it breaks my heart the haircut I took from last year to this year. People tell me not to worry about it, but that's little comfort. Most of the people who didn't return told me that they really like the League but their kids are just too busy.

I can send you copy of our Spending Plan if you'd like?

Each Summer we reach out to the Schools and ask them to include a note to the families, and limited success there. The newsletters the schools put out are okay, but I think maybe only 20% of people read them? And I don't think all principals included the note - hard for me to say as my youngest is a Freshman so aged out of our League last year.

We have insurance through a local agent (I think the Policy is through Nationwide, though) and we pay about $1,100 annually for that. Kind of pricey since we only run the one Season, but we've never shopped around to my knowledge (WNYL started in 2016).

There's a League called Spiked nearby (not sure what ruleset they use), and then Seacoast (SYFFL) is enormous and nearby. There's not really a ton of competition, though, since our big selling point is that the kids in WNYL will only play with / against kids they're in school with, compared to the other Leagues I mentioned who are open enrollment. I've heard good things about Spiked (Spring + Fall I think ... outdoor), and my youngest did SYFFL the past few Winters (indoor).

We run via NFL Flag so we're registered through them. I like their rulebook, but it was just too much for the kids to understand (our refs are all High School kids) so I condensed it into this:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CmDJlkmiIUUdqjjJo-SKsiF0nxNDSMdWvmcUgQ0wJWo/edit?usp=drive_link

Speaking of refs, if you go with local kids I'd set expectations really low. I love all my refs, but they're probably 50/50 with catching calls. In fairness to the coaches the stuff that drives the adults crazy is when they miss a kid stepping out-of-bounds, or them getting lazy and not running along with the play. Each year we invite our 7th Graders to join the ref crew and they make $10/game in that first year and get mostly 1G/2G and 3G/4G games. In years 2+ they make $30 a game and get the older Divisions, too.

We play 5v5 on a 30Y x 70Y field. I know NFL FLag switched to 25Y x 70Y at some point, but we never made that switch. No real reason for us to be on a larger field ... mostly that the extra 5Y didn't seem to be a big factor. Personally I like the 5v5 game, but I don't have experience with any other team sizes so no real basis-for-comparison to have a qualified opinion.

Given the New England weather we run a Jamboree the weekend after Labor Day (each team plays three 'half' games), then we have six games over the next seven weeks for our Regular Season (we don't play on the long weekend in October), then semifinals the next week, and finals the week after that. So all-in everyone plays three Jamboree games, six regular season games, and at least one playoff game. Oh, and we do an eval night the week before Labor Day so that we can get the jerseys before the Jamboree. The evals are run by the coaches (volunteers) and I'd give us a C+ (maybe a B-) for the teams we assembled this Season. The non-Jamboree games are two 30 minute halves.

All of our stuff is outside on fields here in town, and we pay $5/hr for a field usage fee.

Oh, and we use scoreboards from Scoretronics ... there are a lot of options out there, but we've had really good success with those and the customer service is amazing. The setup (i.e. - scoreboard, cover, tripod) does run about $2,000 each, but we got a generous grant in our first year which covered the four we have.

And one other note for you, I think there is money out there - if you have someone who's well versed you could probably come up with a base letter that you could tweak and go to a bunch of local businesses for some angel (/ recurring) money for your League. Or, do a Cash Calendar ... in my opinion those are essentially a permission slip to print money. I wanted to do one this year, but ran out of time and energy. A Lacrosse league in our district raised about $15K with those and they're about 200 registrants. If I raised $15K I'd only have to charge $5 or so for Registration - how awesome would that be, lol? Not sure if there's a Dick's Sporting Goods in your area, but they have an amazing program for supporting Youth Sports ... more info here. They generously donate a gift card and gift certificates to us each year - we use the gift card to buy supplies and raffle off the gift certificates.

And really great job getting so many people interested in the League so quickly ... I'm sure the same success will follow for any other sports you add. Just let me know any other questions I can answer, and if you want to chat at sometime I'd be fine with that ... just message me and we can figure something out.

[riseatl]

8 hours ago, Felzani, Matthew said:

Great notes, also, and I'm happy to share as much as you need from our side. We're up in Massachusetts so our outdoor seasons are limited. We don't have Flag in this area as a High School sport yet, but it will happen eventually. There was an attempt last year to stand up a Female league, but it didn't take off. Another attempt this year and I think there is more traction so it's only a matter of time so that's pretty awesome. I'm not sure if anyone has tried for the Boys yet.

Thanks for the IG note and if I can get the group together I mentioned I'll let you know. Our situation is a bit unique in that we aren't really a 'public' league. We run a league just for the three towns that make up our local school district so we can't really blanket advertise. I'm sure we can do better, but for right now it's just me running the League so I don't really have the [hu]man power. I'm hoping that if I can partner with those other sports we can share the cost and all benefit from the lift. Up until this year we ran Divisions of 1G/2G, 3G/4G, 5G/6G, and 7G/8G and we had about 150 kids in those Divisions. Then this year I started a PreK/K Division - which was HYSTERICAL - and that got us up to 170. PreK/K registration was $50 and the other Divisions were $110 (PreK/K is much cheaper because we don't need refs and don't play on lined fields). We'll end up taking a small loss this year just because our numbers are way down. Comparing the 1G to 8G numbers this year was the 150, last year was 177, the year before that 210 and before that 207. The 210 and 207 numbers were a bit inflated because that was during COVID and Flag Football was the only sport running, but it breaks my heart the haircut I took from last year to this year. People tell me not to worry about it, but that's little comfort. Most of the people who didn't return told me that they really like the League but their kids are just too busy.

I can send you copy of our Spending Plan if you'd like?

Each Summer we reach out to the Schools and ask them to include a note to the families, and limited success there. The newsletters the schools put out are okay, but I think maybe only 20% of people read them? And I don't think all principals included the note - hard for me to say as my youngest is a Freshman so aged out of our League last year.

We have insurance through a local agent (I think the Policy is through Nationwide, though) and we pay about $1,100 annually for that. Kind of pricey since we only run the one Season, but we've never shopped around to my knowledge (WNYL started in 2016).

There's a League called Spiked nearby (not sure what ruleset they use), and then Seacoast (SYFFL) is enormous and nearby. There's not really a ton of competition, though, since our big selling point is that the kids in WNYL will only play with / against kids they're in school with, compared to the other Leagues I mentioned who are open enrollment. I've heard good things about Spiked (Spring + Fall I think ... outdoor), and my youngest did SYFFL the past few Winters (indoor).

We run via NFL Flag so we're registered through them. I like their rulebook, but it was just too much for the kids to understand (our refs are all High School kids) so I condensed it into this:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CmDJlkmiIUUdqjjJo-SKsiF0nxNDSMdWvmcUgQ0wJWo/edit?usp=drive_link

Speaking of refs, if you go with local kids I'd set expectations really low. I love all my refs, but they're probably 50/50 with catching calls. In fairness to the coaches the stuff that drives the adults crazy is when they miss a kid stepping out-of-bounds, or them getting lazy and not running along with the play. Each year we invite our 7th Graders to join the ref crew and they make $10/game in that first year and get mostly 1G/2G and 3G/4G games. In years 2+ they make $30 a game and get the older Divisions, too.

We play 5v5 on a 30Y x 70Y field. I know NFL FLag switched to 25Y x 70Y at some point, but we never made that switch. No real reason for us to be on a larger field ... mostly that the extra 5Y didn't seem to be a big factor. Personally I like the 5v5 game, but I don't have experience with any other team sizes so no real basis-for-comparison to have a qualified opinion.

Given the New England weather we run a Jamboree the weekend after Labor Day (each team plays three 'half' games), then we have six games over the next seven weeks for our Regular Season (we don't play on the long weekend in October), then semifinals the next week, and finals the week after that. So all-in everyone plays three Jamboree games, six regular season games, and at least one playoff game. Oh, and we do an eval night the week before Labor Day so that we can get the jerseys before the Jamboree. The evals are run by the coaches (volunteers) and I'd give us a C+ (maybe a B-) for the teams we assembled this Season. The non-Jamboree games are two 30 minute halves.

All of our stuff is outside on fields here in town, and we pay $5/hr for a field usage fee.

Oh, and we use scoreboards from Scoretronics ... there are a lot of options out there, but we've had really good success with those and the customer service is amazing. The setup (i.e. - scoreboard, cover, tripod) does run about $2,000 each, but we got a generous grant in our first year which covered the four we have.

And one other note for you, I think there is money out there - if you have someone who's well versed you could probably come up with a base letter that you could tweak and go to a bunch of local businesses for some angel (/ recurring) money for your League. Or, do a Cash Calendar ... in my opinion those are essentially a permission slip to print money. I wanted to do one this year, but ran out of time and energy. A Lacrosse league in our district raised about $15K with those and they're about 200 registrants. If I raised $15K I'd only have to charge $5 or so for Registration - how awesome would that be, lol? Not sure if there's a Dick's Sporting Goods in your area, but they have an amazing program for supporting Youth Sports ... more info here. They generously donate a gift card and gift certificates to us each year - we use the gift card to buy supplies and raffle off the gift certificates.

And really great job getting so many people interested in the League so quickly ... I'm sure the same success will follow for any other sports you add. Just let me know any other questions I can answer, and if you want to chat at sometime I'd be fine with that ... just message me and we can figure something out.

Totally understand we are a 2 man shop and I handle all marketing, IG, plus league management so I toally understand.  That is interesting the way you have your league set up I considered doing something similar and giving "perks" to kids within the school county district etc... but the man power wouldve been too great. 

Yea, I had to learn to not let it get to me when players/team didn't return.  I just focused on staying consistent and running a good league and they tend to swing back around.  I think once you can get the older flag league running you may see some of those players  swing on back.  We find when it comes to the adult leagues they will leave play in other leagues but come back since we are one of the few consistent leagues that offer 7v7 at a reasonable price that plays outdoors.  

We have a home base school that we have donated to that we have full support of the administration so they have stated they will help us get the word out, but like you said it isn't always consistent.  That is why I'm hoping a mix of emailing coaches and IG will work.

I've included the link for USA Flag for insurance purposes, they will also put you on their website.  Like I said $200 will cover faclities and its for each league season.  They may also give discounts for youth leagues but not sure. https://usaflag.org/sanction/  

$5/for a field usage fee per hour?  I'm clearly in the wrong state...lol  man I had to read that twice that is awesome.  We're at $18 set by the county so not crazy but man we could definietely do a lot more with the price your paying.  Do you play on a full size football field then partition it off for Flag?  That is our plan to take a field and split it into 2 or 3 length wise if it will fit.

We have a reffing company that we use, but getting some upper classmen in HS to be volunteer refs sounds pretty cool we would just have to find a good training program for them.  I think if we can get the to recognize the penalties we can have cheat sheets for yardage etc... we use modified USA FLAG rules just as a way to keep it simple.

Fundraising is one of my goals to get an actual sponsor for 2024, our BBALL Jerseys have places for businesses to get a patch put on each Jersey (see below) and we plan on incorporating that to the Youth flag jerseys as well.  I had never heard of a Cash Calendar, I plan on doing some research it sounds pretty amazing.  Yea 15k would fund all our sports and would have us do an enitrely free season, which is a goal of mine as a way to say thanks for the support.  I've done the Dicks thing but gotten rejected or no response.  I'm going to try again and hopefully get some response as I see other leagues have them as a sponsor.

Ill make note of the Scoretronics we currently just have the the refs keep score and update the app (I know) but that may be a plan in the future.  Along with live streaming the games especially the youth games. 

Really appreciate the help.  My name is Sam and let me know if I can help as well.  Great talking to you and will be in touch for sure.

**I found some decent suppliers for uniforms/ring etc.. on Alibaba just an FYI if you ever need it.
 

[Felzani, Matthew]

29 minutes ago, riseatl said:

Totally understand we are a 2 man shop and I handle all marketing, IG, plus league management so I toally understand.  That is interesting the way you have your league set up I considered doing something similar and giving "perks" to kids within the school county district etc... but the man power wouldve been too great. 

Yea, I had to learn to not let it get to me when players/team didn't return.  I just focused on staying consistent and running a good league and they tend to swing back around.  I think once you can get the older flag league running you may see some of those players  swing on back.  We find when it comes to the adult leagues they will leave play in other leagues but come back since we are one of the few consistent leagues that offer 7v7 at a reasonable price that plays outdoors.  

We have a home base school that we have donated to that we have full support of the administration so they have stated they will help us get the word out, but like you said it isn't always consistent.  That is why I'm hoping a mix of emailing coaches and IG will work.

I've included the link for USA Flag for insurance purposes, they will also put you on their website.  Like I said $200 will cover faclities and its for each league season.  They may also give discounts for youth leagues but not sure. https://usaflag.org/sanction/  

$5/for a field usage fee per hour?  I'm clearly in the wrong state...lol  man I had to read that twice that is awesome.  We're at $18 set by the county so not crazy but man we could definietely do a lot more with the price your paying.  Do you play on a full size football field then partition it off for Flag?  That is our plan to take a field and split it into 2 or 3 length wise if it will fit.

We have a reffing company that we use, but getting some upper classmen in HS to be volunteer refs sounds pretty cool we would just have to find a good training program for them.  I think if we can get the to recognize the penalties we can have cheat sheets for yardage etc... we use modified USA FLAG rules just as a way to keep it simple.

Fundraising is one of my goals to get an actual sponsor for 2024, our BBALL Jerseys have places for businesses to get a patch put on each Jersey (see below) and we plan on incorporating that to the Youth flag jerseys as well.  I had never heard of a Cash Calendar, I plan on doing some research it sounds pretty amazing.  Yea 15k would fund all our sports and would have us do an enitrely free season, which is a goal of mine as a way to say thanks for the support.  I've done the Dicks thing but gotten rejected or no response.  I'm going to try again and hopefully get some response as I see other leagues have them as a sponsor.

Ill make note of the Scoretronics we currently just have the the refs keep score and update the app (I know) but that may be a plan in the future.  Along with live streaming the games especially the youth games. 

Really appreciate the help.  My name is Sam and let me know if I can help as well.  Great talking to you and will be in touch for sure.

**I found some decent suppliers for uniforms/ring etc.. on Alibaba just an FYI if you ever need it.
 

All awesome stuff for sure and thanks for the notes. I have these amazing plans in my head, but then I remember that they're hard to pull off. My big thing for this year - well, relatively I guess - was the 8.5" x 11" posters with the pull tabs and QRs. I figured that was a cheap way to get in front of people where they were ... you know, bring the mountain to Mohammed, but the only tabs that were ever torn off were the ones I tore off before hanging the signs in an attempt to suggest interest. So that was an unwelcome dose of humble pie. Alas, at least I know something I won't spend my time on next year, lol.

If I'm being honest, I'm somewhat conflicted on the League being offered only to the kids in the District. I mean, in a lot of ways it's great because most of the families know each other, and if they don't then it's a cool way to be introduced. However, on the flip side the area we live in is a bit of a microcosm and in some ways this just closes the kids off even more. I dunno, no one complains about it so for now there's bigger fish to fry.

Since we go through NFL Flag we get new jerseys through them each season. I had thought about a 'buyback' program and also a 'gently used' program, but it came back to manpower and storage space. It would take years to collect enough jerseys to pull something like that off, and they're always changing the dye lots, etc. The price from NFL Flag is fair ($25 for the jersey, $5 for the belt), but it would be cool to make registration even cheaper.

I'll just hint at my personal view on the field fees, but I don't think we should be paying anything. The Town collects taxes and is maintaining the park regardless of how many groups use it. I dunno, in the end it's not much, but free is always better, lol - color me Libertarian I guess. I mentioned what we charge in the previous post, and the summary of the breakdown for this year looks like:

• $16,000 in Registration income
• $800 in Snack Shack income
• $5,000 in uniform expenses
• $750 in trophy (1st & 2nd Place per Division) expenses
• $5,700 in referee fees
• $2,300 in field lining fees
• $200 for field renting of the high school turf (Championship games under the lights)
• $1,100 for Insurance
• $450 in Miscellaneous (e.g. - footballs, tape, batteries, etc.)
• $700 in field fees
• $700 in website maintenance fees (i.e. - our share of the website annual fee + credit card processing fee)

So in the end we'll probably post a $600 loss, but I'm okay with that especially since I increased the Registration fee from $100 to $110 this year.

For the Semis and Championship games we did use the High School turf and ran the field perpendicular to the actual football field so that gave us lines for about 95% of the field which was nice. For the regular season games we have a large open space in Town that has room for a full size soccer field, two slightly smaller soccer fields, and a baseball field. So we drop one Flag field in the baseball out field (it's close to the parking lot), and then the two smaller soccer fields. And then in the picture I painted that purple field (it's only purple in the picture, lol) one time just because the walk to the farthest field is tough on the older spectators. The parking options aren't great and there's a good-sized hill you need to walk down to get from the baseball field to the lower fields. The coaches weren't a huge fan of the purple field but too bad for them - my wife's parents certainly appreciated it, and we only used it when we needed to run four games at once.

On a regulation football you can easily fit three fields if you're shooting for 70Y x 30Y, and definitely four fields if you want 70Y by 25Y. A regulation football field is 160' from sideline to sideline so that ends up being 53 1/3 yards. That's obviously more than the 50Y you need for your inside length, but having the sideline be the front of the endzone is a tradeoff we've always been happy to live with, so the playing area is a little longer in those situations. Depending on the facility you may run short on endzone depth, but when we're at the high school we run 7Y endzones and no one seems to mind. Then a football field is 120Y from end-to-end so you've got plenty of space for 3 x 30Y or 4 x 25Y. Depending on what sports your field is painted for you might even get lucky that your soccer lines can serve as the back of your endzone. Our league invested in pylons before my term started and those are worth every penny in my opinion ... it makes for a cool look and an authentic feel.

Our high school fields are literally brand new as of this Fall so Google's aerial imagery hasn't been updated yet, but I found this one which works. Sideline to sideline gets you 53 1/3 yards, then to the yellow line (Soccer) is 7Y for the back of the endzone. So the only part we don't have lines for - just using what's already painted on the carpet - is the sidelines of the endzones so just 28Y of the entire 188Y perimeter. Oh, and I guess we don't have the midfield line painted, but you get the idea.

The Cash Calendar is just a glorified raffle. You sell tickets for something like $5/each or 5 for $20 in the month of June (for example) and then every day in July there's a cash prize, or mix in some gift cards which were donated or that the League bought. Passive fund raising is the best. I'll happily give a kid $25 for a Cash Calendar as opposed to $20 for cookies I'll just throw away, or for a discount card to stores I'll never go to. Plus you can just say, "Prizes to be determined," so that you can come up with your denominations based on how much you bring in and how much you want to pay out. My second favorite form of passive fund raising is when restaurants donate a portion of their proceeds. Panera is really got about that and also Chipotle. Any excuse to get takeout is a good one and it's the same thing ... I don't leave with something that I don't need. The restaurant ones might only get you $150, but it's $150 of income.

The one other unsolicited thing I'll offer is to use a stiff policy with coaches, and in two specific areas:

• If a coach is a jerk - and there will be no doubt when it happens - sever the relationship. I guarantee you won't regret it. I've had guys yelling at my 14-year-old refs. I was like, "Dude, this is Flag Football ... settle down or I'm calling the Police."
• Create a culture of equal playing time. Despite my best efforts this is where I could do a lot better (though I have no leverage ... not like people are begging to coach). I try to set an expectation with the coaches that they come up with rotations pregame, but I still see tons of them making situational substitutions and parents telling me that their kid doesn't play as much as some of the other kids. I even gave them them this cheat sheet, but with little avail. And each Season I open with my line of, "You're competing for $9 trophies ... there's really nothing to win and these kids are not destined to be professional athletes. Your goal for any given week is to make sure each kid walks away feeling like he/she made a contribution."

I don't know what your youngest age will be for your League, but I'd say to give consideration to the PreK/K ones as a 'skills & drills' Division. Man, those kids are hysterical. A couple of my favorite stories:

• In the first week I asked the kids what kind of cheer they wanted to do at the end and one girl suggested her Soccer team's cheer so we did that
• I bought plush footballs from Walmart for the catching drills and that was the smartest thing I did. In one of the weeks the kids just wanted to go deep, which was foolish, but you have to fight the fights you can win. I threw one pass about 20 yards and the kid took it square in the face. He laughed so I laugh about it now, but in the moment I was like, "Oh, sh*t, I just broke that kid."
• I love messing with the kids so one week I opened by saying, "We're going to do stations: first station is run until you cry; second station is run until you puke; third station is run until you drop. It's right here on the practice plan." Then I showed the plan to one of the kids and he said, "That's a smiley face!"

Last, but not least, one thing I'm really proud of is that we do a donation drive every year. With NFL Flag they send you one football for every five registrations. For years we had footballs coming out the a$$. Then one year I said, "donate a pair of shoes and get a free football." Second year it was, "donate clothing and get a free football or choice of a raffle ticket for a Dick's Gift Certificate." And this year it was, "donate nonperishable food and get a free football or raffle ticket for a Dick's Gift Certificate." I'm not sure how to quantify how much we've raised over the three years, but that's probably been the most rewarding part of being the operator. Oh, and then I used one Gift Certificate as an incentive (raffle) for people to fill out the post-season survey.

Now you know all my secrets.   :)

Definitely don't hesitate to reach out if there's any way I can help, and really nice getting to know you, Sam.

[riseatl]

We're shooting for 70y-30y, or 68y-30y (8y endzones)  that is good to know as I want to run at least 2 at a time and possible do a third during playoffs.  We have pylons that we bring and set up ourselves, we will invest in more.  Do you by chance know the maker of the pylons you use, we find that they blow over too often when its windy so we're hoping on getting some more that are more sturdy.  I need to find aerial coverage of our field as I like the way you set up the pictures was gonnna ask how you found them before you mentioned it. Glad you did that parking is vital and we have also have eldery couples come out and watch our games so making it easy for them is something we also want to keep in mind. 

I did the pull tabs/QR codes idea and it was a dud for us. Imagine we bought over 400 of the hanging door adds to put up in our apartment complex and surrounding complex's and also a dud not one call or nothing.  And those things were nice ordered them off Vista Print. A budget $100-$300 in ad costs and run IG ads I don't think you will be disappointed, especially if you ever get to expand to other districts.  We are starting the ad campaign soon and we will just run it for a few days at a time which is about $3-$5 a day.

The donation idea is really good.  I found a supplier that makes the footballs so we can get them anywhere between ($6-$11) so hoping we will be able to give some sort of gift/raffle out to the parents etc... One idea I had (dont laugh)  is to set up a market/ shopping store where kids who either did well or got awards could shop at the RISE Store with (gwinnett bucks) sell below.  What we would do is set up the cafeteria as a make shift shopping store with booths (think walmart).  And they could use special money to buy clothes, school supplies etc...  I got the "money" special made on pintrest or etsy cant remember.  But I wanted to set it up through the school so it can be given out to students who did well or just do it as a before the school year supply drive, where students can come "shop"  for supplies on their list.  Easy way to give back plus fun and innovative way for kids to get supplies.

Was that a rule before you arrived about district exclusivity?  I mean expanding it if there is enough man power I think is pretty important and gives kids the opportunities to play a sport and socialize as well.

Thanks for the price breakdown  that registration income is AMAZING, man we can only wish to get there one day. Our league registration is below, honestly I want everyone to get in on the early registration that is why it's so long, and we absorb the registration fees, so they only pay the $95 etc..  I wanted to make it as straight forward and simple to follow.  Yea we hope to minimize our uniform costs and ref fees are our biggest costs as well along with field rental. For the uniforms what does NFL Flag supply?  Is it tops, bottoms and flags?  Or just tops and flags?  And are the uniforms true to size for their size list?  We are using their size chart as a template but can vary if needed.  The pricing is definetly fair we are wanting to do a bundle (jersey,shorts,belt)  with the registration and a separate gear kit(sleeves,socks,mouthguard,head band) for those parents who just want to get everything at once and not go shopping.  

Abusive parents/students are a concern of mine as well.  There is a code of conduct policy that every parent signs during registration process and we hope big hope, is to have at least 1 security officer there at all times.  That would make the costs jump but I want to avoid those situations where parents/coaches etc. are being abusive and/or threatening staff/players/refs.

Playing time isn't something I thought about until now as our rosters are small (10 max) but I can see how that can become an issue.  That maybe something we speak to all coaches/volunteers about is getting everyone in the game.  Our league is 8th-12th grade so form about 13-17 give or take.  Yea the really young kids are really cute but if we were to expand ages we would need to have someone direct that portion of the league.  As of now I thought the older kids would be easier to manage(could be wrong).  But that is awesome you have really taken to helping and encouraging them.  I can tell this is a labor of love for you when it comes to the league and players.

$95 (3 months long)--early registration includes (jersey,shorts,belt)

$125--regular

$140--late

leagues in our area $140-$250 per child

[Felzani, Matthew]

19 hours ago, riseatl said:

We're shooting for 70y-30y, or 68y-30y (8y endzones)  that is good to know as I want to run at least 2 at a time and possible do a third during playoffs.  We have pylons that we bring and set up ourselves, we will invest in more.  Do you by chance know the maker of the pylons you use, we find that they blow over too often when its windy so we're hoping on getting some more that are more sturdy.  I need to find aerial coverage of our field as I like the way you set up the pictures was gonnna ask how you found them before you mentioned it. Glad you did that parking is vital and we have also have eldery couples come out and watch our games so making it easy for them is something we also want to keep in mind. 

I did the pull tabs/QR codes idea and it was a dud for us. Imagine we bought over 400 of the hanging door adds to put up in our apartment complex and surrounding complex's and also a dud not one call or nothing.  And those things were nice ordered them off Vista Print. A budget $100-$300 in ad costs and run IG ads I don't think you will be disappointed, especially if you ever get to expand to other districts.  We are starting the ad campaign soon and we will just run it for a few days at a time which is about $3-$5 a day.

The donation idea is really good.  I found a supplier that makes the footballs so we can get them anywhere between ($6-$11) so hoping we will be able to give some sort of gift/raffle out to the parents etc... One idea I had (dont laugh)  is to set up a market/ shopping store where kids who either did well or got awards could shop at the RISE Store with (gwinnett bucks) sell below.  What we would do is set up the cafeteria as a make shift shopping store with booths (think walmart).  And they could use special money to buy clothes, school supplies etc...  I got the "money" special made on pintrest or etsy cant remember.  But I wanted to set it up through the school so it can be given out to students who did well or just do it as a before the school year supply drive, where students can come "shop"  for supplies on their list.  Easy way to give back plus fun and innovative way for kids to get supplies.

Was that a rule before you arrived about district exclusivity?  I mean expanding it if there is enough man power I think is pretty important and gives kids the opportunities to play a sport and socialize as well.

Thanks for the price breakdown  that registration income is AMAZING, man we can only wish to get there one day. Our league registration is below, honestly I want everyone to get in on the early registration that is why it's so long, and we absorb the registration fees, so they only pay the $95 etc..  I wanted to make it as straight forward and simple to follow.  Yea we hope to minimize our uniform costs and ref fees are our biggest costs as well along with field rental. For the uniforms what does NFL Flag supply?  Is it tops, bottoms and flags?  Or just tops and flags?  And are the uniforms true to size for their size list?  We are using their size chart as a template but can vary if needed.  The pricing is definetly fair we are wanting to do a bundle (jersey,shorts,belt)  with the registration and a separate gear kit(sleeves,socks,mouthguard,head band) for those parents who just want to get everything at once and not go shopping.  

Abusive parents/students are a concern of mine as well.  There is a code of conduct policy that every parent signs during registration process and we hope big hope, is to have at least 1 security officer there at all times.  That would make the costs jump but I want to avoid those situations where parents/coaches etc. are being abusive and/or threatening staff/players/refs.

Playing time isn't something I thought about until now as our rosters are small (10 max) but I can see how that can become an issue.  That maybe something we speak to all coaches/volunteers about is getting everyone in the game.  Our league is 8th-12th grade so form about 13-17 give or take.  Yea the really young kids are really cute but if we were to expand ages we would need to have someone direct that portion of the league.  As of now I thought the older kids would be easier to manage(could be wrong).  But that is awesome you have really taken to helping and encouraging them.  I can tell this is a labor of love for you when it comes to the league and players.

$95 (3 months long)--early registration includes (jersey,shorts,belt)

$125--regular

$140--late

leagues in our area $140-$250 per child

That all sounds really good and as long as you're prepared to play with your dimensions a bit I expect you'll be fine. Any High School field is going to give you at least 7Y-8Y beyond the sideline because they're all multi-purpose now and men's/women's lacrosse and men's/women's soccer run wider than football. If the field also has a track around it that's the only thing that I can think of which might cause an abrupt change in surface just because the track is going to be a fixed size. No matter what you should have a pretty easy time getting at least the three fields in left-to-right. I'm pretty sure we ran from the back of the endzone to the 20YL, then 35YL to the 35YL, and then the 20YL to the back of the other endzone - so that gives us a 15 yard gutter between fields. We did have one night with just one game so were thinking about running our field on top of the football field (parallel instead of perpendicular), but then we were going to lose an entire 70Y of painted sidelines so we just ran the config I drew above on that turf field.

The park has been great for us and we bend the rules as we need. The only true parking area is at the top of the photo, but then there is an emergency access road so we invite our older spectators to use that. And then as long as people are careful we tell them it's okay to drive along the treeline as long as they go super-slow ... both for safety as well as to minimize the stress on the field itself. The park is pretty old so there's really no considerations there for ADA unfortunately.

All the gear is in the shed at the moment, but I have to head over at some point to get rid of all the coaching bags so I'll check on the pylons. We've had really good luck with them and they fall over sometimes, but mostly because the kids like to play with them. I've left myself a note so as long as you don't need that info urgently I'll definitely get it to you.

If your field has been there for a while you should be able to go to Google Maps and enter the address. By default it will give you the drawn version, but they have aerial coverage for most everywhere so you should be able to get that no problem. Not sure if this is where your games are, but I tried to highlight what I clicked:

If that's your field then I think you're in good shape as the black lines are the soccer sidelines so could serve as the back of your endzones. You are a little snug up against the track, but might get stuck trying to choose between the lessor of the evils.

I love the reward bucks and I think that's a great idea. I'm sure it would be well-received by the kids, too.

I like working with NFL Flag and their customer service is very responsive. Essentially you get your teams together and use their site to place your order. Each order is 1 Jersey + 1 Belt so they don't come with shorts. And then for every five orders you get a football. This year they offered an upgraded football if you want, but you get one of those per ten orders. And the jerseys are nice ... a good material and reversible. No one's ever asked me to replace it because it didn't fit their player the way they expected so I'd say the size chart is pretty accurate. NFL Flag does also sell shorts, sleeves, gloves, etc., so if you want more you can get more. And they'll also set up a Team Store for your organization where you can give the families a link and NFL Flag will give you a credit for some percentage of what the families order. I've never even sent that out though.

From the player pool perspective I'm not sure why we only offer it to the kids in the District. In 2016 I think they were just trying to get it off the ground so I don't know if there was a vision to get larger. The kids do play the other towns in other sports like Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, etc., so it's not like there isn't precedent, though those teams are only ever made up of kids from the towns as opposed to a massive pool. Something to think about for sure, though as you said I'd need some more help (and fields) to pull it off. Part of me is jealous when I see Spiked and SYFFL with so many registrations, and I don't even want to compete with them, but I just always thought I'd be able to grow the League each year (within the District) but seems I'm going in the other direction, lol.

That's my take, too, to just have one price. Our $110 gets the kids the jersey, flags, and covers the League expenses so my $16,000 above is essentially 145 people playing $110. It's not quite that simple just because the PreK/K division was only $50 per player, but the expenses were much lower (e.g. - no refs, we didn't use the field lines, etc.), and we scholarship some kids. Your price is spectacular especially since you add in the shorts. What I'd love to add in for us is a separate shorts option (additional fee), but to get our logo on them, as well as make tie dye tee shirts to sell on the side, too. I've been working with someone on the logo, but she's super-busy. This is what I'm trying to go with (I had her put it on a tie dye background just to get a feel), though want it to be "Flag Football" instead of "FLAG FOOTBALL." I have a bit of an ego, but I like the incorporation of the laces in at the top, and the Flag belt + Flags across the shield.

We were $100 for the longest time, but then NFL Flag increased the jersey cost from $25 to $30 and my paint guy had to increase the paint cost so that's where the $10 bump came from. We also threaten with a late fee, but I end up waving it every year. I feel like we never had enough late registrations to have it be a needle-mover for the income, as well as it gave me the opportunity to send one last email saying, "Okay, I decided to waive the late fee so now is the time to sign up." And we have the credit card fees factored into the $110 so what the families see is what they get when they go to pay.

I haven't logged in to our NFL Flag account in a while, but if you want me to pull pricing for the other apparel they sell just let me know and I can do that.

Having a Security Offer is a great idea, but like you said that's going to be a pretty massive expense. I imagine the minimum there is $500 for a shift (I think that's what it is up here through our PD).

On the playtime, I think it all depends on how you market your League. Just meaning, if you're saying it's a rec League then the kids should get about equal playing time; however, if it's being offered as a competitive product then all bets are off and the families need to understand that play time won't be equal. There's certainly benefits to both (side note: NFL Flag holds a Regional in Atlanta every year and those are a fun time. There's no one from the NFL team there, but the Division winners move on to other sites. New England has one each year also, and I've reffed a few times. Really fun times.). What I find is that there are some coaches who follow it religiously ... ensuring each player gets the same amount of touches, and then some coaches who just don't even realize how important the parity is. And I don't even think they do it to be jerks, it's just subconscious that they call plays to the same player over-and-over. And the passing game is tough because the QB is going to throw to the open player - I remind coaches that the handoff is the great equalizer. And if you're doing 5v5 then I'd say definitely set your max roster size at ten as otherwise at least one kid is playing less than half the game (my opinion anyway).

I do have a blast with it, but the reality is that I should really be asking for more help. At this point I don't have a kid in the League so I really don't need to be the one setting up the fields at 7:30am on a Sunday and then packing them up at 2:00pm, and managing the refs, and running the PreK/K Division. But, you're right, I do love it and there are a lot of kids and parents who go out of their way to say thanks for what I do, so that's nice. Plus, the woman who runs the Snack Shack stores the candy in the same shed as I store the gear so that's a nice perk.  :)

[riseatl]

On 12/3/2023 at 12:30 PM, Felzani, Matthew said:

That all sounds really good and as long as you're prepared to play with your dimensions a bit I expect you'll be fine. Any High School field is going to give you at least 7Y-8Y beyond the sideline because they're all multi-purpose now and men's/women's lacrosse and men's/women's soccer run wider than football. If the field also has a track around it that's the only thing that I can think of which might cause an abrupt change in surface just because the track is going to be a fixed size. No matter what you should have a pretty easy time getting at least the three fields in left-to-right. I'm pretty sure we ran from the back of the endzone to the 20YL, then 35YL to the 35YL, and then the 20YL to the back of the other endzone - so that gives us a 15 yard gutter between fields. We did have one night with just one game so were thinking about running our field on top of the football field (parallel instead of perpendicular), but then we were going to lose an entire 70Y of painted sidelines so we just ran the config I drew above on that turf field.

The park has been great for us and we bend the rules as we need. The only true parking area is at the top of the photo, but then there is an emergency access road so we invite our older spectators to use that. And then as long as people are careful we tell them it's okay to drive along the treeline as long as they go super-slow ... both for safety as well as to minimize the stress on the field itself. The park is pretty old so there's really no considerations there for ADA unfortunately.

All the gear is in the shed at the moment, but I have to head over at some point to get rid of all the coaching bags so I'll check on the pylons. We've had really good luck with them and they fall over sometimes, but mostly because the kids like to play with them. I've left myself a note so as long as you don't need that info urgently I'll definitely get it to you.

If your field has been there for a while you should be able to go to Google Maps and enter the address. By default it will give you the drawn version, but they have aerial coverage for most everywhere so you should be able to get that no problem. Not sure if this is where your games are, but I tried to highlight what I clicked:

If that's your field then I think you're in good shape as the black lines are the soccer sidelines so could serve as the back of your endzones. You are a little snug up against the track, but might get stuck trying to choose between the lessor of the evils.

I love the reward bucks and I think that's a great idea. I'm sure it would be well-received by the kids, too.

I like working with NFL Flag and their customer service is very responsive. Essentially you get your teams together and use their site to place your order. Each order is 1 Jersey + 1 Belt so they don't come with shorts. And then for every five orders you get a football. This year they offered an upgraded football if you want, but you get one of those per ten orders. And the jerseys are nice ... a good material and reversible. No one's ever asked me to replace it because it didn't fit their player the way they expected so I'd say the size chart is pretty accurate. NFL Flag does also sell shorts, sleeves, gloves, etc., so if you want more you can get more. And they'll also set up a Team Store for your organization where you can give the families a link and NFL Flag will give you a credit for some percentage of what the families order. I've never even sent that out though.

From the player pool perspective I'm not sure why we only offer it to the kids in the District. In 2016 I think they were just trying to get it off the ground so I don't know if there was a vision to get larger. The kids do play the other towns in other sports like Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, etc., so it's not like there isn't precedent, though those teams are only ever made up of kids from the towns as opposed to a massive pool. Something to think about for sure, though as you said I'd need some more help (and fields) to pull it off. Part of me is jealous when I see Spiked and SYFFL with so many registrations, and I don't even want to compete with them, but I just always thought I'd be able to grow the League each year (within the District) but seems I'm going in the other direction, lol.

That's my take, too, to just have one price. Our $110 gets the kids the jersey, flags, and covers the League expenses so my $16,000 above is essentially 145 people playing $110. It's not quite that simple just because the PreK/K division was only $50 per player, but the expenses were much lower (e.g. - no refs, we didn't use the field lines, etc.), and we scholarship some kids. Your price is spectacular especially since you add in the shorts. What I'd love to add in for us is a separate shorts option (additional fee), but to get our logo on them, as well as make tie dye tee shirts to sell on the side, too. I've been working with someone on the logo, but she's super-busy. This is what I'm trying to go with (I had her put it on a tie dye background just to get a feel), though want it to be "Flag Football" instead of "FLAG FOOTBALL." I have a bit of an ego, but I like the incorporation of the laces in at the top, and the Flag belt + Flags across the shield.

We were $100 for the longest time, but then NFL Flag increased the jersey cost from $25 to $30 and my paint guy had to increase the paint cost so that's where the $10 bump came from. We also threaten with a late fee, but I end up waving it every year. I feel like we never had enough late registrations to have it be a needle-mover for the income, as well as it gave me the opportunity to send one last email saying, "Okay, I decided to waive the late fee so now is the time to sign up." And we have the credit card fees factored into the $110 so what the families see is what they get when they go to pay.

I haven't logged in to our NFL Flag account in a while, but if you want me to pull pricing for the other apparel they sell just let me know and I can do that.

Having a Security Offer is a great idea, but like you said that's going to be a pretty massive expense. I imagine the minimum there is $500 for a shift (I think that's what it is up here through our PD).

On the playtime, I think it all depends on how you market your League. Just meaning, if you're saying it's a rec League then the kids should get about equal playing time; however, if it's being offered as a competitive product then all bets are off and the families need to understand that play time won't be equal. There's certainly benefits to both (side note: NFL Flag holds a Regional in Atlanta every year and those are a fun time. There's no one from the NFL team there, but the Division winners move on to other sites. New England has one each year also, and I've reffed a few times. Really fun times.). What I find is that there are some coaches who follow it religiously ... ensuring each player gets the same amount of touches, and then some coaches who just don't even realize how important the parity is. And I don't even think they do it to be jerks, it's just subconscious that they call plays to the same player over-and-over. And the passing game is tough because the QB is going to throw to the open player - I remind coaches that the handoff is the great equalizer. And if you're doing 5v5 then I'd say definitely set your max roster size at ten as otherwise at least one kid is playing less than half the game (my opinion anyway).

I do have a blast with it, but the reality is that I should really be asking for more help. At this point I don't have a kid in the League so I really don't need to be the one setting up the fields at 7:30am on a Sunday and then packing them up at 2:00pm, and managing the refs, and running the PreK/K Division. But, you're right, I do love it and there are a lot of kids and parents who go out of their way to say thanks for what I do, so that's nice. Plus, the woman who runs the Snack Shack stores the candy in the same shed as I store the gear so that's a nice perk.  🙂

Thanks for the great info I will use the map feature to set up the field for our youth leagues.Yes that is the HS we play at as our homebase, ideally we could use a local park field, but they give first right of refusal to other youth leagues.  I was out there this past Sunday for the adult leagues and it will be a tight squeeze but 7 yard endzones should allow  for space.  Most HS have the field and track combined so it does present a challenge but for youth I don't think it will make too much of a difference.  Absolutely no rush on the equipment check, I really do appreciate it, the ones we have may just be old but I which they could stay up more and not fall over so often even during non-windy days.

Yea, I considered NFL flag as well, but I just thought if we built from the ground up, although the initial investment will be larger we could get a better hold on some costs and also set ourselves apart.  We have a shopify store in the works similar to NFL Flag so we are hoping to get that rolling by next year.  Would definitely appreciate some of the pricing information but once again no rush it is the Holiday season. I have found some great suppliers so if you ever need shorts etc.. let me know. Although you have to buy in bulk with your registration numbers they will work with you on that.  For example our top and bottoms as long as we get over 50 registrations is $30 im sure you can get shorts for $8-$12 per shorts once you hit the 50qty, and this particular supplier apparently does some NFL FLAG Jerseys etc..I've included a mockup and pics below. Jerseys are also reversible.

Not ego at all, you have an idea and want it brought to life.  I've very particular about our logos as well.  I like the idea of the popflag surrounding it very good and innovative approach. We will use the triple threat version and will have it incorporated in some of the logos from our league as well, so job well done.  Get the logo as you like it, I'm very picky when it comes to the logo etc.. its the first impression and what people see and recognize about your business.

Ignorance is bliss when it comes to security, I havent asked yet but im not wanting to if you catch my drift.  But I've seen enough youtube and other vids to understand that some parents can get carried away.

One way I want to combat playing time and lower skilled teams losing interest, is have our playoffs be split in 2 divisions, so even if we have 8 teams and the 8th team is 1-5 they can still be a 4 seed in the lower division and still compete for a championship.  We do the same for the adults, and I think it helps keep everyone engaged more when they can still point to a post season birth.  I haven't been to a NFL Flag tournament yet, but I have attended UFFL tournaments.  My goal in 2024 will be to attend a few more USA FLAG, UFFL, and an NFL Flag one to see how they are ran and handled.  We would like to do one one day.

Yea man you run a massive league by yourself so getting help is paramount, even if its volunteer help that would be great.  We plan on getting  a league manager next year and have accounted for it in the pricing somewhat.  Yea running a league is a labor of love and it great to get recognized by those that see and recognize it.  Also have you considered vendors/food trucks?  We plan on having them next year and if you charge them $150-$300 for a whole season or have a year long price that may also be a way to have some extra to put towards a helper etc...

[Felzani, Matthew]

On 12/5/2023 at 10:33 AM, riseatl said:

Thanks for the great info I will use the map feature to set up the field for our youth leagues.Yes that is the HS we play at as our homebase, ideally we could use a local park field, but they give first right of refusal to other youth leagues.  I was out there this past Sunday for the adult leagues and it will be a tight squeeze but 7 yard endzones should allow  for space.  Most HS have the field and track combined so it does present a challenge but for youth I don't think it will make too much of a difference.  Absolutely no rush on the equipment check, I really do appreciate it, the ones we have may just be old but I which they could stay up more and not fall over so often even during non-windy days.

Yea, I considered NFL flag as well, but I just thought if we built from the ground up, although the initial investment will be larger we could get a better hold on some costs and also set ourselves apart.  We have a shopify store in the works similar to NFL Flag so we are hoping to get that rolling by next year.  Would definitely appreciate some of the pricing information but once again no rush it is the Holiday season. I have found some great suppliers so if you ever need shorts etc.. let me know. Although you have to buy in bulk with your registration numbers they will work with you on that.  For example our top and bottoms as long as we get over 50 registrations is $30 im sure you can get shorts for $8-$12 per shorts once you hit the 50qty, and this particular supplier apparently does some NFL FLAG Jerseys etc..I've included a mockup and pics below. Jerseys are also reversible.

Not ego at all, you have an idea and want it brought to life.  I've very particular about our logos as well.  I like the idea of the popflag surrounding it very good and innovative approach. We will use the triple threat version and will have it incorporated in some of the logos from our league as well, so job well done.  Get the logo as you like it, I'm very picky when it comes to the logo etc.. its the first impression and what people see and recognize about your business.

Ignorance is bliss when it comes to security, I havent asked yet but im not wanting to if you catch my drift.  But I've seen enough youtube and other vids to understand that some parents can get carried away.

One way I want to combat playing time and lower skilled teams losing interest, is have our playoffs be split in 2 divisions, so even if we have 8 teams and the 8th team is 1-5 they can still be a 4 seed in the lower division and still compete for a championship.  We do the same for the adults, and I think it helps keep everyone engaged more when they can still point to a post season birth.  I haven't been to a NFL Flag tournament yet, but I have attended UFFL tournaments.  My goal in 2024 will be to attend a few more USA FLAG, UFFL, and an NFL Flag one to see how they are ran and handled.  We would like to do one one day.

Yea man you run a massive league by yourself so getting help is paramount, even if its volunteer help that would be great.  We plan on getting  a league manager next year and have accounted for it in the pricing somewhat.  Yea running a league is a labor of love and it great to get recognized by those that see and recognize it.  Also have you considered vendors/food trucks?  We plan on having them next year and if you charge them $150-$300 for a whole season or have a year long price that may also be a way to have some extra to put towards a helper etc...

I hit the shed today and the brand of pylon we use is Pro Down. I like them a lot. I couldn't find the weight on the box or the tag, but I threw it on a scale here at the house and each pylon weighs four pounds. We use ten of them per field -- four for each endzone and then one on either side of midfield. And then the Umbro Soccer bag works really well for carrying them around as the bag has a flat bottom so they all sit on their bases in the bag.

I'm not sure what material is in the pylon to weigh it down - I'm guessing sand - but I'm pretty sure it's in its own pouch in the pylon as if you flip the pylon upside-down the material stays put, and I think this helps it to stay bottom heavy. We do have one pylon where I think the inner pouch broke, but I'm willing to bet that's because one of the kids tried to dropkick it, or some other thing that kids do when coaches aren't looking, lol.

I'm not sure where we got our pylons, but the Pro Down ones don't have a huge presence on the Internet it seems (though they are on walmart.com) - looks like a box-of-4 ranges from $65-$80 so a pretty large front-loaded cost. That said, I think they're worth it and they really make the field look cool.

This Adidas bag is kind of expensive (in my opinion), but you can see the shape I was talking about above. I did find some cheaper ones out there, but spending money might be a good idea as it's a one-time investment and I doubt the cheaper ones are going to do well holding 40lbs of pylons since most people use them to hold a couple pounds of soccer balls. We've had the same pylons and bags since the league started in 2016:

https://www.amazon.com/adidas-Team-Stadium-Black-White/dp/B076PGTRF4/ref=sr_1_32?crid=191WEAF8GO2G4&keywords=umbro+soccer+bag+team+gear&qid=1702148769&sprefix=umbro+soccer+bag+team+gea%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-32 

One last thought on the field, if you can get the turf that will save you on paint (if you planned to paint the other field). This year we ran three fields from early September until the end of October (they each got painted on Saturday) and that's where the $2,300 in field lining came from in the post where I shared our expenses.

We had a slush truck at one of our Jamborees one year and that was pretty cool. That was a full day and we made $185 in commission.

Good idea with tiering the playoffs based on how the teams finish - this year our largest Division had five teams so we'd need to grow quite a bit to have that as an option.  :) 

Your jerseys are sharp and thanks for the nod on the logo design - if you can get the girl to get back to me that would be a huge help.  lol.

 

 

[riseatl]

On 12/9/2023 at 2:37 PM, Felzani, Matthew said:

I hit the shed today and the brand of pylon we use is Pro Down. I like them a lot. I couldn't find the weight on the box or the tag, but I threw it on a scale here at the house and each pylon weighs four pounds. We use ten of them per field -- four for each endzone and then one on either side of midfield. And then the Umbro Soccer bag works really well for carrying them around as the bag has a flat bottom so they all sit on their bases in the bag.

I'm not sure what material is in the pylon to weigh it down - I'm guessing sand - but I'm pretty sure it's in its own pouch in the pylon as if you flip the pylon upside-down the material stays put, and I think this helps it to stay bottom heavy. We do have one pylon where I think the inner pouch broke, but I'm willing to bet that's because one of the kids tried to dropkick it, or some other thing that kids do when coaches aren't looking, lol.

I'm not sure where we got our pylons, but the Pro Down ones don't have a huge presence on the Internet it seems (though they are on walmart.com) - looks like a box-of-4 ranges from $65-$80 so a pretty large front-loaded cost. That said, I think they're worth it and they really make the field look cool.

This Adidas bag is kind of expensive (in my opinion), but you can see the shape I was talking about above. I did find some cheaper ones out there, but spending money might be a good idea as it's a one-time investment and I doubt the cheaper ones are going to do well holding 40lbs of pylons since most people use them to hold a couple pounds of soccer balls. We've had the same pylons and bags since the league started in 2016:

https://www.amazon.com/adidas-Team-Stadium-Black-White/dp/B076PGTRF4/ref=sr_1_32?crid=191WEAF8GO2G4&keywords=umbro+soccer+bag+team+gear&qid=1702148769&sprefix=umbro+soccer+bag+team+gea%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-32 

One last thought on the field, if you can get the turf that will save you on paint (if you planned to paint the other field). This year we ran three fields from early September until the end of October (they each got painted on Saturday) and that's where the $2,300 in field lining came from in the post where I shared our expenses.

We had a slush truck at one of our Jamborees one year and that was pretty cool. That was a full day and we made $185 in commission.

Good idea with tiering the playoffs based on how the teams finish - this year our largest Division had five teams so we'd need to grow quite a bit to have that as an option.  🙂 

Your jerseys are sharp and thanks for the nod on the logo design - if you can get the girl to get back to me that would be a huge help.  lol.

 

 

Thanks for the information, we plan to exclusively be on HS Turf fields or if we have to use grass either getting lined or buying the port-a-field system we have used it in the past.  I've saved off the adidas bag and will stick to pro down pylons from now on.  We have skillz?  I think we just found the cheapest ones and went with it.  We use BSN for our triple threat flags so they are definitely a trusted provider.  Let me know if  its okay to pass along the details to the supplier and I will. https://hastthou.en.alibaba.com/?spm=a2700.12243863.0.0.73093e5fhXjXTs, that is their website details so you can check them out.  They also do our championship rings as well. 

[sifyou93]

The Pro Down pylons you mentioned seem to be a reliable choice for field marking. It's convenient that you were able to determine their weight despite the lack of information on the packaging. The Umbro Soccer bag sounds like a practical solution for carrying them around, especially with its flat bottom design.

As for the material inside the pylons, it's likely sand or some other dense substance to provide stability. The fact that it's contained within its own pouch is a smart design feature to maintain the pylon's bottom-heavy structure.

While Pro Down pylons may not be widely available online, it's reassuring to hear positive feedback about their quality and durability. Investing in equipment that lasts, like the Adidas bag you mentioned, can save money in the long run, even if it requires a larger upfront cost.

As for directing interested individuals to the website ninjaiptv for live channel streaming, it seems like a helpful suggestion for those looking to access live channels. However, it's important to ensure that the content and services offered on the website are legal and reputable.

[sifyou93]

Pro Down pylons indeed offer reliability for field marking, and it's commendable that you were able to ascertain their weight despite packaging limitations. The Umbro Soccer bag's flat bottom design enhances its practicality for transporting them. The inclusion of sand or a similar dense substance within the pylons' pouch contributes to their stability, a thoughtful design element maintaining their bottom-heavy structure. Though Pro Down pylons might not be widely available online, positive feedback on their quality and durability, akin to the Adidas bag you mentioned, underscores the value of investing in long-lasting equipment, despite initial costs. While suggesting abonnement iptv for live channel streaming can be helpful, it's crucial to ensure that the website provides legal and reputable content and services to users.