City Racquetball Club (CRC) offers racquetball and other physical fitness facilities to its members.

There are four of these clubs in the metropolitan area. Each club has between 1,800 and 2,500 members.

Revenue is derived from annual membership fees and hourly court fees. The annual membership fees

are as follows:

Individual............................................................................................. $ 40

Student................................................................................................ 25

Family.................................................................................................. 95

The hourly court fees vary from $6 to $10 depending upon the season and the time of day (prime

versus nonprime time).

The peak racquetball season is considered to run from September through April. During this

period, court usage averages 90 to 100 percent of capacity during prime time (5:00-9:00 p.m.) and 50 to

60 percent of capacity during the remaining hours. Daily court usage during the off-season (i.e., summer)

averages only 20 to 40 percent of capacity.

Most of CRC's memberships have September expirations. A substantial amount of the cash receipts

are collected during the early part of the racquetball season due to the renewal of the annual membership

fees and heavy court usage. However, cash receipts are not as large in the spring and drop significantly

in the summer months.

CRC is considering changing its membership and fee structure in an attempt to change its cash

receipts. Under the new membership plan, only an annual membership fee would be charged, rather than

a membership fee plus hourly court fees. There would be two classes of membership as follows:

Individual ............................................................................................................. $250

Family .................................................................................................................. 400

The annual fee would be collected in advance at the time the membership application is completed.

Members would be allowed to use the racquetball courts as often as they wish during the year under the

new plan.

All future memberships would be sold under these new terms. Current memberships would be honored

on the old basis until they expire. However, a special promotional campaign would be instituted to attract

new members and to encourage current members to convert to the new membership plan immediately.

The annual fees for individual and family memberships would be reduced to $200 and $300,

respectively, during the two-month promotional campaign. In addition, all memberships sold or renewed

during this period would be for 15 months rather than the normal one-year period. Current members

also would be given a credit toward the annual fee for the unexpired portion of their membership fee, and

for all prepaid hourly court fees for league play that have not yet been used.

CRC's management estimates that 60 to 70 percent of the present membership would continue with

the club. The most active members (45 percent of the present membership) would convert immediately

to the new plan, while the remaining members who continue would wait until their current memberships

expire. Those members who would not continue are not considered active (i.e., they play five or less

times during the year). Management estimates that the loss of members would be offset fully by new

members within six months of instituting the new plan. Furthermore, many of the new members would

be individuals who would play during nonprime time. Management estimates that adequate court time

will be available for all members under the new plan.

If the new membership plan is adopted, it would be instituted on February 1, well before the summer

season. The special promotional campaign would be conducted during March and April. Once the

plan is implemented, annual renewal of memberships and payment of fees would take place as each

individual or family membership expires.

Required: Your consulting firm has been hired to help CRC evaluate its new fee structure. Answer the following questions.

1. Will City Racquetball Club's new membership plan and fee structure improve its ability to plan its

cash receipts? Explain your answer.

2. City Racquetball Club should evaluate the new membership plan and fee structure completely

before it decides to adopt or reject it.

a. Identify the key factors that CRC should consider in its evaluation.

b. Explain what type of financial analyses CRC should prepare in order to make a complete

evaluation.

3. Explain how City Racquetball Club's cash management would differ from the present if the new

membership plan and fee structure were adopted.