Coach May, Thank you for saying that and please forgive me for what I've written here.
BEAR,
You have effectively ruined my day. JERRY’S CASH COW! WHAT YOU HEARD??? What you HEARD??? Skill & Talent NAIA & D3..maybe?
What is your need for saying that?
Your addition is inaccurate but not bad. Your subtraction stinks! Our business needs revenues of roughly $14,000 each and every day of the year… IN ORDER TO BREAK EVEN! Add that up!
I don’t know about others, but here is how we operate…
Usually a coach from a college will contact us wanting Perfect Game to hold an event at their site.
A full time employee makes the appropriate contacts and coordinates everything and then schedules the event.
Other fulltime staff members in our organization go over the request and discuss logistics and then if agreed upon, OK the event.
The full time employees who will work the event are then notified of their schedule and our full time employee who handles travel sets up flights, lodging and rental cars and any other things that are necessary.
Our full time office staff then gets the proper insurance papers and other paper work in order.
Then full time employees print brochures in our in house printing department.
Then full time employees take the printed material… stuff them and mail them.
Our full time tech staff designs and enters all information on the website.
Our office staff then receives signups, enters all the information creating a file for the player. Then they prepare confirmation letters to make sure the players info is correct and mail these back out to the players. Then as the confirmations are returned any changes and added information is added to the players file.
Then our full time staff at BaseballWebTV plans for the event, once again using our fulltime travel person. Baseballwebtv, then creates a file for the player so when his video is edited it can go right up.
Then each players file is sent to our fulltime staff at pgcrosschecker so that the players report and information is prepared to enter after the event.
A fulltime staff member then tracks the event players and charts by position and teams. About a week before the event date he creates rosters for printing and website posting.
Our fulltime equipment and merchandise people are notified to prepare shirts, hats and anything else needed including baseballs, helmets, laser equipment, etc. for shipment or if trucking ourself coordinating with our fulltime driver who travels the country.
Then as the event fills up, our fulltime staff prepares and prints the programs for each event… in our own printing department. They also prepare and print the scouting information that is often requested by many colleges. In fact, there are some very major colleges who pay to get every player info sheet we print all year. Our staff takes care of this task.
Fulltime staff coordinates umpiring, trainer, coaches, and any other help we need to hire for the event.
Our fulltime web people prepare and post all information and enters each players info in profile format.
There are probably several other important items that take place that I’m forgetting.
The above is the cheap part of holding the event.
Then at the event, our fulltime staff meets and goes over details the day before the sign in.
At the event the players receive their game shirt and hat. Have their photo taken and their video introduction.
Then our fulltime cameramen film every single thing each player does during the entire showcase. This video is available to every college coach in America and every MLB scouting department.
The normal costs take place to run an event. This could include anything that the staff needs.
Then after the event is over the biggest expense starts for us.
The video is used along with all other information gathered to write an accurate report on every player in attendance… Yes, this is done by fulltime PG scouts. The captured film is sent to editing to prepare it for Baseballwebtv. This requires labeling each player and dragging the players info from our master database, where the scouting report and other info is listed.
Then the edited video and reports are checked by Baseballwebtv staff (employed by PG) and then added to the content. It’s really much more difficult and time consuming than I’m making this sound.
This video becomes part of the streaming video package we pay Akami $160,000 to stream. Then we pay another company for Rac Space to store the video.
Then our tech who works fulltime on pgcrosschecker, develops each players personal profile after a fulltime office worker has proofed everything for mistakes or omissions.
Everything is posted on a developmental page and scouts who wrote reports go over their information once more.
Our fulltime PG Web guy enters the appropriate info in the profile of the player that goes on the PG site.
If a player ends up going into the national rankings or state rankings list another fulltime staff member assigns the player an id number in the database that recognizes that player as such. Many fulltime staff work together in compiling national and state rankings.
Our fulltime PR person then emails colleges and scouts that the information from that event has been posted.
The our fulltime accountant compiles an estimate of the complete financial report on the event. This is the part that would surprise a lot of people who don’t understand running a small business this size.
Then we answer any questions someone including college coaches and scouts have on any player who has ever attended one of our events. This information can be brought up quickly on the aforementioned database that contains everything we know about a player.
I’m sure there is much more that I’ve not mentioned above. Things like building costs, insurance, taxes, telephone, computers, printing equipment, mailing, vehicles, the list of expenses is endless.
The process never ends. Often it takes a month or more to get all the work done for a two day showcase.
Do you really think all of this costs $5,000? $5,000 doesn’t even pay for the on site bills. The on site costs are a very small % of the total cost of running our events.
I just hate it when people view what we do based on what others might do.
By the way, Jerry’s Cash Cow, probably makes Jerry less money than nearly everyone here could imagine. I could be doing many other things that would be much more rewarding financially. I don’t do this because of money, but we couldn’t continue to do this without paying the bills.
BEAR, A bit more… Seeing you’ve ruined my day with your comments.
The DI coach you quoted would be doing his program a grave disservice by not going to another one of these events. If he is a good DI coach I expect to see him at one of our events yet this month.
Bear, I’ve always gotten the feeling that you were the enemy, your slanderous remarks intended to harm us/me kind of proves it.
What is your purpose in this “slanderous” attack on our business and me personally? How do you know what things cost us? Are you aware that we will spend 4 million dollars this year and right now it looks like we will end up in the RED?
Who said it was a nonprofit organization? Quotes are easy to spout out, when they come from the unknown! Is that really a QUOTE or is it just a comment made by you? I wish you could experience Jerry’s cash cow and exactly what we do. There are not many who would do the things we do for the financial reward we receive.
Now regarding the cost and benefits and profit you felt obligated to PUBLISH! Every player, BP, the 60, the infielders, the outfielders, the catchers, the pitchers, the entire showcase can be viewed by every college coach and scout in America on Baseballwebtv. Does anyone else do this and how much do you think it costs to do it? Cameramen, editors, streaming video service, etc. Ask Rick Stephenson, Matt, Ashley, Tom Koerik, Skillshow, etc. if they do this service free of charge? Or if there is a large expense in producing and making this available.
For your information, using your numbers, Perfect Game has a payroll that $34,000 would account for less than one weeks payroll. We don’t work out of our house and rent a facility and then go on to the next one. The work and the expense start long before an event and doesn’t end for a long time after the event is over. We have no volunteers, they’re all on the payroll. Jerry’s cash cow can barely keep up with it. I consider that insulting and degrading.
If a player shows our staff enough he will benefit greatly. That is the way it has been for 14 years. We have the ability to make someone very well known in a hurry. It is well documented. Before making your degrading comments, take the time to investigate the facts. Call the top programs in the country and ask their opinion. We had a kid attend an event with zero coaches or scouts. He was immediately recruited by three major powers. He ended up at Clemson and was drafted this year. It would be real easy to check that out.
While you have decided to take a cheap shot at us, was it necessary to take a cheap shot at the kids who attended this event? That’s just… well… CHEAP!!!!
By the way, I don’t know if you read USA Today, but there was a story this week about someone winning an 11 million dollar lawsuit from someone who made accusations on a message board that was damaging to there business and occupation. Another one of the many expenses of ours is having a very good attorney. We have never sued anyone yet in 14 years, but there’s always a first time.
It’s really too bad you don’t bother to find out how much money PG donates around the country to help young players and promote the game. Perhaps you would change your opinion if you’d take the time to find out.
If you really think expenses of flying in staff, camera people and other workers… paying umpires, providing equipment, paying people to write reports, paying insurance, paying salaries… let alone other expenses you’ve mentioned, comes to $5,000… you are extremely confused regarding how we operate. Come to Cedar Rapids sometime and see the way we operate before making more degrading comments about something you know absolutely nothing about!
I have email and a phone… You can contact me if you have a problem. That way you can’t be sued for PUBLISHING slanderous comments intended to harm someone. I hope you UNDERSTAND what I’m saying? We’ve been around the block… You’re in over your head on this one! I expect a written apology!!!! Ask your lawyer if that might not be a good idea?
Finally, to all others. I apologize for this post. I realize every event we do is not exactly the same. However, to do things the best way, it gets expensive. If someone wants to complain or has concerns about anything we’re involved with, please feel free to email us/me. jerry@perfectgame.org
We do care and take great pride in being honest. You don’t last long doing what we do without being honest. We are entering our 15th year. We are not perfect! We do appreciate first hearing concerns privately rather than reading them on a message board. I know it’s not good business to post things I’ve posted, but I’ve been saying for a long long time… I am not a good business person. Words like Cash Cow don’t fit.
The fact is… I’ve never cut down any person or business on this site, no matter what I really thought or knew. If there is a problem I’d contact the person rather than publicly insult and degrade. I only expect the same in return. To read about quotes where no one is quoted, let alone the other comments about us, me and the players who attended the event, shows a lack of class and definite intent to harm. Just so someone doesn’t get the wrong idea… I’m ****ed off and plan to address this further if needed. If anyone thinks this is not serious, I’ve spent more than the past 5 hours on nothing other than this.
