FOB NZ Open - Rolling in Cash

So now a week on from the Fields of Blood NZ Open I have paid all my bills and am now rolling in the surplus cash.

Of sixty dollars.

The cost of running a large scale event for an individual is not insignificant. I was very lucky that I could call on the tabletops of the Warlords and terrain of mates (Hagen & Aaron) to alleviate some of the cost.

When it was created the FOB NZ Open was going to be an 80 person event in a licensed venue. The ticket sales allowed this to stretch to 90 people.

What does this mean? Forty-five tables each with tabletop and terrain. I'm lucky in that I have a good relationship with my club, the Warlords, and we help each other out. I run 5 one-day events for them providing all the terrain as well as supplying the terrain for Call to Arms. They let me use their tabletops a couple of time a year.

I have managed to build up 23 tables of terrain - all in tubs and each with a neoprene  mat. However this is now pushing my storage capacity. Hagen has ten tables worth which now lets us run up to a 66 person event without calling on others. However for a 90 person event that means we still need to rely on the generosity of others to provide the remaining dozen tables of terrain.

Now the asset base has been built going forward means we need to factor in replenishment and repair (stuff does get damaged).

As I said, I was able to sell an additional ten tickets and the money for this was earmarked to allow the Down Under Network to attend and stream the event. Covid-19 killed that so the money was leveraged into $1000 of prizes with our local sponsor, Kapiti Hobbies. Given the investment in trophies for performance, it was felt that spot prizes were the way to go. This meant that of the 90 ticketholders, 19 walked away with a $50 gift voucher (the last voucher went to Hagen for giving up his weekend for umpiring).

So was FOB NZ Open a financial success given it barely broke even......and if it had been cancelled would have run at a sizeable loss given the sunk costs?

The answer is a wholehearted "yes". While a TO will never be compensated for the time they put in - unless perhaps they are Frontline Gaming - the event allowed the expansion of an asset base to allow events of significant size to be run in Wellington in a more professional manner. Expectations of a certain amount of quality and consistency can be made by people attending Fields of Blood (and Hagen's) events. Now created that allows us as TOs to do other activities e.g. facilitating streaming to publicise the NZ competitive community, invest more with sponsors, fund event specialty items etc.

So was it worth it all for $60.....hell yeah.

And finally a special thank you to those who signed up and because of Covid-19, workplace issues, etc were unable to attend. I really appreciate your support for the event and hopefully we'll see you at a future event.