Complex Event Budgeting

Your Scenario

The Queensland Weightlifting Association (QWA), has been invited to bid for a four-day international weightlifting tournament. The event will take place in six months time.Although it would seem a welcome boost to the organisation to run this tournament, the QWA committee are concerned as to whether the event can be run profitably. The last time this event was run in Australia, the Western Australian Weightlifting Association hosted it and they made a loss of 20,000. The QWA committee has asked you to investigate probable income and expenditure and prepare a budget for next week's committee meeting.After some initial investigations you have come up with the following information.

Venue Costs

The Theatre of the Sleeman Sports Complex is available for the dates of this event. It is a great venue as it was used for the Commonwealth Games in 1982. The venue will cost a 75 per hour and it is expected that the event will start at 12:00 noon and finish at 8:00pm on each of the four days. Therefore is a need to hire the venue for 8 hours per day. The venue has excellent sound and lighting systems and therefore there is no need to bring in extra equipment. However, the venue manager does not allow users to have access to the sound/lighting control room. Instead, there is a requirement to pay for a sound/lighting system operator who will be hired by the venue manager. The cost of the sound/lighting system operator is 40 per hour. The venue has a maximum capacity of 3,000 persons.

Equipment Costs

Although the association has plenty of weightlifting equipment, the QWA committee think it appropriate to purchase a new bar and weights for the competition platform. A quote has been received from the supplier as

Item Required Qty Required Price Each

20Kg Bar and Collars 1 1,250.00

25Kg Disc, Rubber 2 250

20Kg Disc, Rubber 2 200

15Kg Disc, Rubber 2 170

10Kg Disc, Rubber 2 150

5Kg Disc, Kevlar 2 150

2.5Kg Disc, Kevlar 2 140

1Kg Disc, Metal 2 25

.5Kg Disc, Metal 2 15

Accommodation for Referees

There is no actual payment for referees but it is generally the practise that referees who have travelled interstate have fully-paid accommodation provided. The number of such referees requiring such accommodation is six (6) and the average accommodation cost is expected to be 120 per night. Accommodation for these six referees needs to be provided the night before the event starts and each night after there has been a day of competition.

Trophies

A very large number of trophies will be needed.

The tournament will have a total of eight bodyweight divisions, that is eight (8) for men and seven (7) for women. There will be a need to present a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophy in each of these 15 bodyweight divisions. It has been agreed that you have 100 to spend on trophies for each bodyweight division, and that this will be apportioned as follows:

1st place 50

2nd place 30

3rd place 20

Functions

There will be two-functions, one to open the event on the first day and one immediately after the event on the last day. The first function is an Official Opening Function for dignitaries only. The second event is a "Dinner" for all competitors, officials and volunteers. A catering company has been contracted for both events and has provided the following details of costs:

Opening function: The expected number of officials, sponsors and dignitaries will be 50 persons. The catering company will provide finger food and beverages at a price of 15 per head.

Closing function: The expected number of persons will be 300 at a cost of 20 each. There will also be some entertainment at a cost of 500 for the night.

Advertising

You will need to advertise the event in the regional newspaper at a cost of 500, and purchase some 10 radio adverts of 30 second duration costing 3,000 in total.

Ticket Sales

The normal costs of a spectator ticket to the four-day international weightlifting tournament is 10 per day.

It is estimated that you will achieve the following spectator numbers:

Day 1 - 400

Day 2 - 400

Day 3 - 600

Day 4 - 1,000

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Now that you have details of costs and income, you should draft a budget and determine whether or not it is advisable to go ahead with a bid for this event.