College Sports Information Directors of America

Over the last few months, the Board of Directors has undergone the process of compiling and reviewing a decade long study which evaluated various financial aspects of the annual convention. The survey covered conventions from 1999-2009.

Our main reason for this study is the good deal of concern - raised over the last year or so within our Board - about the deteriorating fiscal situation of our annual convention. With that in mind, but not wanting to overreact to just the past year or so, the Board has reviewed a decade of fiscal convention records.

This study and evaluation clearly point out what we feared: the total costs of putting on the convention were growing at a far greater rate than revenues. Our annual convention has been changing from one that, for much of our history, had been financially successful and played a key role in funding overall CoSIDA operational needs throughout the balance of the fiscal year.

As you know, it is the commitment of the Board and the convention workshop program and social committees to work hard year-round to bring a quality program to the convention that benefits everyone in attendance – no matter what division or level of experience.

We also understand that every CoSIDA member cannot attend each convention, and it is the Board’s commitment and vision to make CoSIDA a 365-day organization, providing programming, resources and professional development outreach for our members throughout the year.

Now, the convention is no longer able to provide such needed financial support.

For example: The first year of this study, 1999, showed that 48% of the total revenue raised for the convention was transferred to the yearly operational fund after paying all convention expenses. By 2009, that figure had fallen to less than 6% - a mark that is far too low to support our growing agenda and initiatives.

A close study of our various convention fiscal charts and trends clearly identified a significant gap between “per person registration fee and per person convention cost.” 

1.     That specific analysis showed that in 1999, the “gap” between per person registration fee and actual per person cost for putting on the convention was just over $55; by this past June in San Antonio, that gap had increased to over $170. 

2.    In short, it was now costing us $320 per convention attendee in San Antonio, while the registration fee per person was $150 in San Antonio. In other words, we lost $170 per person in San Antonio. That “gap” has been at $100 or more five times in the past 10 years.

3.     Our analysis also showed that the convention registration fee paid 50% (or more) of the actual per person convention costs only three times in the past 10 years. The per person registration fee in San Antonio ended up paying less than 45% of actual per person costs. 

Based on this evaluation the Board believes we have no option but to increase the registration fee for the convention in San Francisco. The Board has approved a 2010 pre-registration fee of $190, a fee that will still likely leave us over $100 short of actual per person convention costs (due to the costs of doing business in San Francisco).

The Board was able, however, to achieve this increase in a manner that will impact the individual membership in what it believes is a most reasonable way. As part of our contract renegotiation with the San Francisco hotel (going on at the same time of our final deliberations with regard to the registration fee analysis), the hotel agreed to decrease the daily hotel room rate from $139 to $129. 

In short, for those of you that were planning on going to San Francisco and staying four nights, your overall hotel room bill has been decreased by $40 and your registration fee has been increased by $40, making your total combined costs for registration fee and hotel a wash. If you stay longer than four nights, you will actually spend less on these two combined elements than you would have just a few weeks ago. This decision helps the Board somewhat deal with handling another challenging convention from a financial standpoint in a way that does not increase total membership costs for those combined two elements.

CoSIDA’s philosophy regarding the convention has always been to try and keep the registration fee as low as possible. Traditionally, that has clearly been the case, including the present 2010 situation even with this $40 registration fee increase. As stated above, even with the $190 registration fee we anticipate that per person convention costs will exceed $300 in San Francisco.

It also is important to note that our review of other administrative professional group conventions within intercollegiate athletics showed that per person registration fees for those conventions were all in the $295-395 level. CoSIDA’s convention still stands at least $100 below that range. Our convention, even with this registration fee increase, stands among the very best in terms of “value for the money” as any in college athletics. 

Again, our per person cost to CoSIDA for the San Antonio convention was over $320. When you add in a couple of functions that were directly paid to the hotel (by CollegeFanz Network and ESPN) which costs a combined $75 per person, an attendee in San Antonio received nearly $400 in “value” for a $150 registration fee.  That type of “value” still applies in San Francisco.

San Francisco is, of course, one of the great convention cities in our country. Our hotel, the San Francisco Marriott, has just recently been elevated to a Marriott Marquis level status and our $129 rate for such a hotel in the heart of this beautiful city is an incredible value.

Already for our July convention, we have secured several PR industry-leading speakers and tremendous panel/presentation ideas have surfaced. We sincerely hope that you will make every effort to attend and join your colleagues.