It is my unpleasant task to announce that starting with this season, the entry fee for the League will be $800.00 per team. The costs of everything has gone up and I have to adjust to keep up. The three things about the League that are negatives for me are knuckleheads who aren't there to play ball, forfeits, and having to deal with money. I wish I could do it for free, but I can't. And I've promised my wife that, with all the time and effort that I put into the League, I wouldn't lose money on the deal. I've done the math (over and over again) and without this price increase, I would lose thousands of dollars on the upcoming season.  

The venue is raising the court rental rates again. It's really not their fault. A few years back, Arizona voters passed a law that raise the state minimum wage every year in an attempt to a reasonable and competitive level. (It used to be down around the level of the Federal Minimum Wage, which is STILL $7.25 an hour.) Since labor costs make up a large portion of the venue's operating costs, when the minimum wage goes up (this time of year), the court rental rates go up. In the past decade or so, the court rental rates have gone up 59%. In that same time, the League entry fee rate (including this increase) has gone up 42%. I'm never going to win the Businessman of the Year Award.

A few quick points:

--I feel obliged to reiterate that, in 37 years, I have never made a profit running the League. (In an effort to hold down costs, I don't pay myself for running the League or for reffing.) My goal is to break even while providing a safe and fun place to play some ball (and to provide some work opportunities to my refs and scorekeepers). This past season, I actually lost a couple hundred dollars when the bill for the championship shirts came back higher than I had budgeted.

--The Tucson Basketball League is much less-expensive than other leagues. The average cost of a league in Phoenix or L.A. is over $1,000. If you want to play at the JCC here in town, you would pay almost double what you pay here.

--In order to stay competitive with other leagues and tournaments around town, I am going to give (most of) the refs a pay raise. It's been years since I last raised their pay rate. 

I sincerely hope that this doesn't cause us to lose teams. If you have 10 players on your team, it's just an extra $5.00 per person for the entire season. That's not too bad. This is going to be a great season. We have exciting new features, including a phone app that will provide automatic schedule announcements and updates. Thank you for understanding.