We're coming up on the time of year when I'd have to lock down the venue for an N.Y.S.E. Open the following year, and I'm considering it.
I haven't played Vintage in more than a year now, but I'm beginning to feel the itch, and that makes me more willing to consider the incredible time sink that is the N.Y.S.E. Open.
The biggest stumbling block is going to be the prize support. Last year, I got hurt on us having 131 players (and fighting to get the last two dozen or so whom we got). The prize support was expensive enough last year, now it's impossible. In order to offer last year's prize event, the entry (assuming 130 players), would have to be something like $220 per, and that's with (literally) zero margin for error.
I'm all for high-roller events, but that's a bridge too far.
Does the event lose too much of its mystique if it's for cash? At the very least, the entry could go back down to $100 per, and the prizes would scale easily enough.
Thoughts?
It's very early in the process, so I'm a little more open to ideas than I would be later in the year.