I've produced a lot of weeknight jackpots.  You've hit on all the options.  I'll tell you the top two I hear from people fall into the top category:

1.  Start on time.

2. Good ground.

There is a very successful Tuesday jackpot about an hour from me. I go occasionally. If it was a little closer I would go more. You pay a $15 entry fee per horse and a $5 arena arena fee. If you get there before exhibitions start, you can ride in the arena as much as you want. You get 2 exhibitons per entry. They do their exhibitions by handing out a deck of playing cards with numbers on them and they call out the numbers in order. It actually works pretty good. Exhbitions start at 7 and the jackpot starts at 8. They normally have 40-60 entries, sometimes more if its the week prior to a big show. The payout is good, they start on time and move quickly. There is another jackpot on Thursdays here that tends to be slow moving. I'm less likely to go to that one because I dont want to be out until midnight and have to get up for work the next morning. 

I usually hit weeknight jackpots If and only If they are close to me.  I'm not traveling much more than 1/2 hour/45 min on a weeknight.  Reason being I can't get there in a comfortable amount of time and don't want to be home after midnight. 

Jackpots to me aren't about the added money.  They are just for tuning or to have some fun when not much is going on.  It's an added bonus if there's Bonus Qualifiers or whatever.  The rest of the stuff in your list is reasonable, but START ON TIME and good ground are probably your best bets. 

Edit to add....If I've got a race on the weekend, there's a good chance I'm not going on a Thursday unless there's an added bonus (money, qualifiers, etc).  I'd rather go Tues or Wed and have time to let horse have a recovery day and clean tack/boots, let saddle pads dry etc. 

good payout, if i need points and it's sanctioned with something I'm a member in, and the biggest for weeknights is that I want to get in and out and be home at a reasonable hour. I hate going to weeknight races that take forever and a day to get through 50 girls. You better have a good and fast tractor driver because they will send girls running when it takes them forever to drag.

I produced races for 4 years, we did weeknights and weekends, big money races to nothing added and the fastest i have found for dragging is to have barrel setters pull the barrels, tractor driver gets in and out and setters set them back up. Mark the fence where the stake is, measure exact distance and write it on the tape, have a measuring tape at each barrel and a rake and you'll find the stake fast everytime. Stops the big holes that can form too by pulling the barrels up everytime.  

For me, close proximity is VERY important. Good ground is definitely a top priority as well. But having a child in school, we can’t be gettting home at midnight.

There was a series going on nearby a few years back. I attended one race. But the ground was very hard packed and shifty. We decided it wasn’t worth the risk. Two horses were crippled and euthanized during that series.

I am currently sitting at the top for a “progressive” series. But it’s an hour and a half away. Payout isn’t good. So I’m debating as to whether or not I care to run the last couple for a buckle. We spend far more in fuel and entry’s then we receive back.

A local arena is planning on having a Friday night, 8 week series, with a high point saddle. I’m excited for that one. Close proximity. Good ground. Should be good payout by the number of people interested.

   Starting on time, moving things along in a timely fashion, and good ground are probably the most important. Also being a convenient location- I dont like to travel more than 30-45 minutes on a weeknight.

Being sanctioned for either Bonus Race Finals or BBR I think help a bit too. 

Usually, the only way I can make a weeknight jackpot is if the producer keeps the books open later or allows text/call in entries for a late draw.

Thanks guys, you all align very well with my personal thoughts on the topic, wanting to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

Ground has been improved drastically over the past few years - frankly the first time I ever came down to our pen I said I wasn’t coming back.  Now it’s my hometown, but I think some folks still remember what it use to be.  We’ve already done a lot and are budgeting to do more.  It’s not 300 head indoor race perfect ground yet, but it’s far from trashy rodeo ground - there is actually a rodeo at the arena now and it gets rave reviews from the rodeo girls.  We would rather and have cancelled races because we didn’t feel the ground was safe.

Right now we are drawing around 20 runners and really questioning how to improve that number.  From an investment standpoint we’ve decided to try sanctioning with UBRA this year instead of being a Bonus Race Qualifier.  We didn’t feel that it increased our numbers this year and with the move to Tulsa in 2020 (and additional 3.5 hours away) I don’t think it will do anything for us this year.  We are hoping to get other smaller NBHA type jackpots in the area to sanction UBRA as well so that perhaps we can all benefit from some additional entries and such.

Weekends are hard to find one where you’re not conflicting with another race, which is why we’ve chosen weeknights.  20 miles south of us a town does a Tuesday night race and 50 miles north of us there is a Wednesday night.  Most NBHA’s are just Sat/Sun and we tried to avoid the Thursday’s prior to 3 day races in the state as much as we could, unfortunately that hasn’t always been doable.

For me, it has to be close enough that I can get back home, get everyone put away, truck/trailer unhooked and get to bed for work the next day. That's a biggy.

After that, entry fees. Since most of the week night races are no or low added money, lower entry fees help too. 

Side pots are nice, and I just signed a membership for a sidepot series this year, but overall I don't know that it would make or break you provided the proximity was good, entry fees were good, ground is good and its well run. 

1. Starting on time

2. Keeping things moving (including having a fast tractor, so dragging doesn't take forever)

3. Call-ins/pre-entries are a huge plus so if I don't need to be there early for exhibitions, I know ahead of time what my number is.

If you are trying to get people to come, put on a short series.  4 weeks, $10 awards nomination, and give something cool.. You may not make much the first one, but that will start people coming. 

I feel that if you have one every Thursday that gets stagnet and people stop coming.  So maybe do a short series, then have one every other week, then another short series.

Maybe do one a month with $500 added??  Reputation is everything with barrel racers. :)

For me, Its all about location! 

theres lots of jackpot series I would love to go to, but they are two hours away from me and I just cant make it in time after work. 

Seems like everyone pretty much has the same opinion =] Location, ground, organization! For me, there is a Tuesday night jackpot that is literally 20 min away...but the ground is so deep..still not the reason I will never attend again though. That one used to be my favorite series! But it is SO poorly ran and so unorganized..I will never support them again. A few years ago, I was planning on attending, but it had absolutely downpoured that day..so everyone was posting questions on if the race was still on and how the ground was. The arena posted and said that the ground was great and had been floated, so they will open it up for the race later..blah blah. Well, long story short, they cancelled the race because the ground was so bad..after everyone was already there. This happened two weeks in a row! Just plain dishonest, especially to those (like me) who left work early to attend. My favorite series, on the other hand, is about 45 minutes away, and has AMAZING ground. There's always a ton of entires, so you can be running untill 11:00 or so..but it's so much fun! The ground is always great, the people are lovely, and the organizers are very professional!