I went to watch the Toronto Open on Saturday Jan 9th. Found out that one of Badminton Canada's way of getting funding - ambush the spectators. The entry fee is $5 each. They know that people drive from out of town to watch the badminton tournament - so they will have to shell out the money. Literally no one knew that they were going to charge people. There was no mention of it on the tournament website. You would think they would mention something like a TICKET FEE for an event where people would be showing up! I asked about 6-7 people and they all shared my thoughts. Some people mentioned that they came on Friday (the day before) to watch the Singles matches and there was no entry fee. So they came back on Saturday expecting the same. I'm sure the turnout (and therefore the total money collected) will be a lot less if people knew beforehand that there was going to be an entry fee to watch this badly run tournament. Which is why they have to keep it a secret!! The gym has 10 courts with different matches going on at the same time. People walk around the gym like a zoo and just stand and watch any interesting games - you are literally watching over the heads of a crowd - shoulder to shoulder - to watch any interesting games. Chairs are very few and always occupied by jackets and bags (people reserve the chairs and then walk around to watch other matches). Ontario Badminton Association (now no more) had a reputation of organizing crappy tournaments with expensive entry fees (to play) and shitty prizes. Which is why people (myself included) stopped playing those tournaments and we often used to hear of tournaments that were cancelled due to insufficient turnout. The new organization - Badminton Canada - is supposed to be the "new leaf" - unfortunately, it seems like it has many of the the same people from OBA running it. As the saying goes - "you can put lipstick on a pig..." . . . .
I was there on Saturday Jan. 9 for the "2016 Yonex Toronto Elite series" (also known as Toronto Open) too, I agree the venue maybe too small for the event as badminton getting more popular in Ontario (Michelle Li's effect after PAN-AM last summer). However, all people working for OBA are still deserved my full respect. They worked hard to make this event successful, in their own time. They are all volunteers with the unbelievable passion in badminton. In regards to the ticket for the event, it is true it was not mentioned on any of the website. Although it was not a big surprise for me, it was also the same $5 last year or two. I don't mind to support badminton in Ontario and in Canada as the government does not provide direct funding to any badminton associations. I am sure the event organizer (Badminton Ontario/Badminton Canada) will consider the bigger venue for Toronto Open next time if more sufficient fund is available, perhaps, the ticket fee can help a little.
I don't have a problem with the foot soldiers (volunteers and people working on the tournament). It's the organization that is the problem. AFAIK Humber College doesn't charge them for the venue. They get sponsorship $ for some advertising. Not sure, but they probably don't have to pay (or at least not full price) for the shuttles since it's sponsored by Yonex Canada (see Yonex sign boards besides the courts). From all the money collected through participation fees, approx. half goes towards the prize money - they keep the other half. The half they keep probably goes towards paying the line judges and buying lunch and snacks for the officials. So, considering they're supposed to be non-profit and have so many willing volunteers helping out, they shouldn't be having so much expenses. So why try to squeeze people for additional $ - instead of trying to promote and encourage more people to take part in these events. As a comparison, we can see other tournaments run by clubs that have lower entry fees and still don't lose $. That's true non-profit. They give back the collected $ to the participants.. aiming to promote and share their love of the game. Since the old OBA days most of the players (myself and my friends, included) have completely stopped participating in OBA run tournaments and only play these non OBA tournaments. We also noticed a huge surge in stronger player participation in these tournaments. Many lower to medium skill level tournaments suddenly had A level players playing in them - all running away from OBA. In my opinion, it is these non OBA sanctioned tournaments that are promoting the sport more effectively. Some we've played: Pointefore KW Open KW Oktoberfest Survival Of The Fittest (U of Waterloo) UWBC Open (U of Waterloo) Team format tournament in Markham (Sponsored by Mongolian Hot Pot) Same Team format tournament sponsored by someone else the following year Milliken Badminton Club tournament ... and many other such tournaments. It's also good that many clubs are opening up in Markham and surrounding areas. Hopefully we will see more events organized by these clubs too.
Hey are there any sites that lists these tournaments? all the ones i found are either for juniors or masters, nothing for adults
