Has anyone else noticed that the prices of the grand prix's have steadily been increasing over the past year without any increase in prize support? Last year GP Philly was $40 for sealed. Last November GP NJ was $50 for legacy. Now GP AC is going to be up to $60 for sealed. This would be fine with me if it meant that at least some of the money was going back to the players, but looking at the prize payout for each event, they are identical. In fact, GP vegas is only $75, but the 6 packs of MM15, at least have an MSRP of $59.94 (though we all know they will be worth more) while 6 packs of dragons/fate only have an MSRP of $23.94 (but who pays retail for them anyways). Is this the cost of WOTC having other companies host their events now?
Presumably prices are going up because players are willing to pay those prices to play in the event (and it is evident that they are; it's not like GPs are getting smaller). And yes, prices are going up, but the events are also better run, so it seems fine to me. Back when I was first starting to travel to GPs (eight years ago) the events were much cheaper (I seem to recall having paid €20 ($21.50) in entrance for a sealed GP, for example), but they would have huge delays and other issues, and frequently Day 1 would end around midnight. Things tend to go much smoother now. Whether this is actually due to more resources being spent on (good) staff or whether GPs are better run for other reasons I don't know, but I know I'm not unhappy about paying more for better service (if that is indeed what's going on here).
I guess I am okay with the price increase if it means better staffed and smoother events, but it seemed like gp philly ran smoothly and it was only $40.
They took away/reduced the # of/gated behind higher judge level requirements the Grand Prix Judge Promos last year, didn't they? Which likely contributes to an attendant rise in needed judge compensation to attract sufficient numbers of judges.
Staff compensation is an important part of it. Because WotC distributes Judge Promos based on Exemplar Program recognitions now instead of contributing them to the standard compensation package for GP work, the compensation offered directly by the TO had to be buffed up to account for the difference. Also GPs are wildly larger now than in past years, requiring more and harder work from everyone involved, so the compensation also has to go up to match for that reason.
Of course it's going to go up. Its' going to keep going up until they see an attendance drop.
They're not profiting from those increased fees. TOs pay judge compensation in cash and product now & don't get judge promos from WotC to cover part of the judge comp needs. If they kept cash/product/per diem at the same level as before, TOs would have serious issues finding enough L2+ judges for their GPs on the ~$20 and 1.5ish boxes per day that most TOs were giving to L2s because the judges wouldn't even be getting enough back to cover hotel and travel costs.
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Of course it's going to go up. Its' going to keep going up until they see an attendance drop.
Along the same lines this means that attendance has risen BECAUSE prices has risen, which is absurd.
They're not profiting from those increased fees. TOs pay judge compensation in cash and product now & don't get judge promos from WotC to cover part of the judge comp needs. If they kept cash/product/per diem at the same level as before, TOs would have serious issues finding enough L2+ judges for their GPs on the ~$20 and 1.5ish boxes per day that most TOs were giving to L2s because the judges wouldn't even be getting enough back to cover hotel and travel costs.
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