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boon
Posts: 3
| I have a 120x300 covered arena being constructed this spring. Everything should be done-done by the end of March.
I live in a weird area of Kentucky where everyone and their sister has a horse, but you have to drive an hour or longer to find a show with at least 50 horses in the Open barrels. My arena will mainly be used for training barrel and team roping horses, but I would like to potentially host a summer series barrel race or at least some jackpots periodically (maybe sanctioned in the future, but right now just a regular ole jackpot).
What kind of profit could I hope to achieve?
I have local businesses interested in sponsoring the shows (i.e. added money), so I am hopeful that I can offer events that are worth coming to!
Any information or tips on running a summer series, speed event saddle club, or stand-alone jackpots would be SO MUCH appreciated! |
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 Expert
Posts: 1343
 
Location: Oklahoma | All I know is what I've heard around here - the exhibitions (time only runs) are what make you money. But it sounds like you are in a really good area to have big turnouts at your jackpots. |
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 Scooters Savior
Location: "Si Fi" Ville | We ran a great saddle series for two years that was very profitable.
We had great advertising
Showbills slick and glossy with old west bright colors
$20,000 plus in prizes and money
6 shows
Double J saddle for each D winner at end of series... all saddles were paid for by sponsors
2nd place in each D received a very expensive tack set that was Doyble J as well.. also sponsored
3rd place very expensive custom saddle pads
And so on
5-6 place winners in each division
Consolation prizes for those who made so many shows
Drawings to win stuff
Home made food. Chicken spaghetti. Gumbo. BBQ
Jackpot. Added money $500 each show. Could pay to run in it or rollover time into it
Ground was immaculate
Everything started on time
Everyone had a specific job
Every staff member was courteous and appreciative
Good music
Fun contests
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | I think it depends on how much you want to invest in it (time/resources).
There's a girl down here that puts on a jackpot every now and then when there's nothing else to go to. She'll have a couple sponsors throw in some added money, like $500 or less. She promises 100% payback, I think this just makes it so much easier on her. She doesn't have to have software or do as much math for payouts. Makes her money from the exhibitions and the $5 office fee per person. She's only making around $500 a race, but she's not investing a lot into it compared to what it takes to put on a big production.
I'm also friends with the couple who used to put on the Platinum Productions big super shows. It's a 3-4 day event with hundreds of entries. Those are pretty dang profitable, but take nearly a year of planning and preparing. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 194
Location: Texas | I know in my area of Texas having your own covered arena and you don't have to put out the money to rent one you can make decent money! at 5 dollars an exhibition and they are always sold out within a 2-3 hour time frame.
But that's my area, hard to speak on somewhere I'm not familiar with |
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 Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | BamaCanChaser - 2018-01-10 9:22 AM
I think it depends on how much you want to invest in it (time/resources).
There's a girl down here that puts on a jackpot every now and then when there's nothing else to go to. She'll have a couple sponsors throw in some added money, like $500 or less. She promises 100% payback, I think this just makes it so much easier on her. She doesn't have to have software or do as much math for payouts. Makes her money from the exhibitions and the $5 office fee per person. She's only making around $500 a race, but she's not investing a lot into it compared to what it takes to put on a big production.
I'm also friends with the couple who used to put on the Platinum Productions big super shows. It's a 3-4 day event with hundreds of entries. Those are pretty dang profitable, but take nearly a year of planning and preparing.
That's not bad at all from the contestant's point of view... If you only enter on one horse, and it's say, a $25 fee plus the office fee, that's like a 83.5% payback, that only goes up with each horse you enter. 4 horses would be 95% payback. Not bad at all!
Edited by dashnlotti 2018-01-10 12:25 PM
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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | I organized some week night jackpots for the local saddle club in my hometown the past couple summers, and even with super small turnouts (no more than 25 entries in open or 10 in youth at any one show), the club was making about $100 per show. That's with a $20 entry fee ($17 or $18 paid back ) in open, a $10 youth entry fee with $9 paid back, $3 exhibitions, and a $5 office fee per person. We had a demand for a place to go since people around had colts that needed to go to other arenas, so we kept everything priced super cheap to encourage those folks to make the drive. It was fun, and our jackpots were always over at a decent hour for those who had to drive a ways. If I was still living there, I'd do more jackpots just to keep the arena in good shape. Our only real investment was gas in the tractor and an increased water bill from watering the arena, and club members volunteered to do all the work. OK really it was my family doing 95% of it but we usually had a contestant's parent who stepped in and helped run the gate.
ETA - this was in a rural area of Southeast Kansas with very very few bigger races and not much during the weeks at all.
Edited by rodeowithjoker 2018-01-10 12:34 PM
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