Some perspective from an independent club with ~150 girls... Shortly before the shutdown, we paid for our next field permit period; we also paid for our insurance. So that money is spent, and while the permit fees should be refunded (eventually, but no one is refunding money quickly right now), we anticipate higher field costs once we're allowed to play again, because cities and school systems are in desperate financial shape. So at some point this calendar year we're going to need even more money to cover that.
At the same time, we have a coaching staff who we think highly of, who we have (in some cases) spent years training in to our system and philosophy. Not only do we like them personally and want to stick by them during a challenging time, they would be difficult, and expensive, to replace. So we need money to pay them -- to help keep them in their homes so we can keep them in the club.
Additionally, most of the standard fundraising that clubs do (like raffles) are pretty impractical right now. And the number of families requiring financial assistance at our club (as at all clubs, probably) is increasing.
So we're asking for dues in order to, essentially, run in place: to keep our staff and be ready to pay for fields as soon as we're allowed to. It's kind of like the remote training we're doing -- it's meant to keep everyone reasonably fit and connected, to "run in place," until they can play together again. Dues are an investment we're asking families to make in the club because they believe in what we're doing and want to support it, and because they want to make sure their daughter has her spot.
That doesn't sound unreasonable from the club side; I get that the idea of spending money for a service when you're not receiving the full service feels weird, but these are weird times. If you believe in your club and its coaches and want it to continue, it probably can't run in place without dues coming in.
I can't speak for club's with larger endowments; but one thing we've seen this year is how close to the edge a lot of companies have been operating, no matter how secure they looked.
And just so there's no confusion: every club needs to make its own choices, based on its own situation. We're in the middle of LA with limited field access and incredibly high permit costs; other clubs don't have that issue. We can't afford to just cancel club dues. But we're also committed to access, so our families pay what they can afford if it's not the full rate; as long as everyone pays something.
There's no playbook for this, but I think we're all trying to figure out how to be as fair to our families as possible while making sure our clubs come out of this the way they went in. I would just say that it's unlikely any clubs are "getting rich" right now.
Sunil Illuminati; another one hiding behind a pseudonym.
