Football field for free????

[Jon99]

I talked to a local high school about mowing their field and they made me an offer, if I mow the field during the season, once a week for about 10 weeks for free, they will announce the name of my business during the game and also give me a 1/8 ad in their program... School usually has about 2000 show up to each game and I am guessing I can mow the field with either a Tiger Cub or 52" WB in about an hour... Is this worth it??

[JML]

I would do it, try to get a bigger ad in the program though...

[wojo23323]

It might be worth it. You could probably pick up a few customers. I would mow Lambeau Field for free, no advertising or anything. Go Packers!!

[rvsuper]

Go for it. Stripe the best for you can for them, and that will for sure get you more clients. And by the way, are they only going to announce your bus. name and put you ad in the program once? You should ask if you can get it every game.

[Jon99]

They said they would give me either a 1/4 page ad for football only or 1/8 for both football and basketball... Honestly, I love high school athletics and try to support the local programs as much as possible, would probably do it for free w/o the advertising.. The possibilty of this helping my start up business next spring makes it all the more appealing...

[rvsuper]

So next year is going to be your first year in the bus. Do you have modifications/striping kit on your mowers? Get them on there and make the field as nice as you can and show people how good of a job you can do.

[Jon99]

The schools around here use one program for each season, so the ad would be in the program for all 5 home games, plus during the game they will say something like " We would like to thank XXXXXXXX for donating his time in preparing the field" or something along those lines...

[65hoss]

I think I would contact some of the other business owners that have an ad in the program and see if they get any business off of it before I agreed to that. That could be an aweful risky and expensive gamble if it doesn't work.

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Originally posted by 65hoss
I think I would contact some of the other business owners that have an ad in the program and see if they get any business off of it before I agreed to that. That could be an aweful risky and expensive gamble if it doesn't work.

Didn't think about it this way but I agree with the Hoss.

[yardboyltd]

Man I've had the same thought

Our district has a hard time keeping our field up to par. And when it does, inproper mowing techniques ruins the potential...

However, our district is building a new stadium next year complete with astroturf and the stripes permanent, so...

[KirbysLawn]

If you did this, how much extra business would you need to generate to cover your cost for doing this one job? Time, labor, fuel, etc....

[Jon99]

Roughly, it would take me 10 hours of labor and only a few gallons of fuel.. Since its a start up I will have plenty of time as well... :)

[lahanko]

Lets not forget, it is for the school.
You should be able to figure the cost and claim it as advertisement expenses.

[jeffyr]

Originally posted by lahanko
Lets not forget, it is for the school.
You should be able to figure the cost and claim it as advertisement expenses.


I'm not so sure about that, but your CPA should know. I take care of the property at our local Volumteer Ambulace building. I charge them for a seasonal chemical program and I provide the rest as a donation. This is not a donation that I can deduct however since time is not deductable. I suppose I could issue them invoices and then donate the total from the invoices back to the squad and deduct that...but I would be working a scam at that point.

What happens when the field gets torn up from a game and needs repair ? Would you do that as part of the donation as well ? That could take quite a bit more time and soil/seed to keep your name looking respectable.


jeffyr

[lahanko]

You should be able to claim all out of pockets expenses. This does not include the owner’s time spent although it does include personnel working for you.
I would assume?

[Brickman]

Being a volunteer Fire Fighter I say thumbs up for Jeffyr.

As far as the school department needing donations I would wonder. The school district around here runs better equip than I do. I say they DO NOT need me to give them a donation.

It was mentioned before, and I think it is a good idea. Talk to others that advertize thru the school programs and see how much biz they get from that. I am willing to bet they don't get much.

What this will all boil down to is how badly the guy wants to do this for the school. For his own personal enjoyment he may want to, and how do you put a price on that?

[Runner]

O.k., if we'ere going to do this, we need to do some strategic thinking, first. First of all, you can't really go by the other businesses if they are geting calls or business from it. The reason being, is that it depends what TYPE of business it is. Some businesses may NOT get calls from it, and some, for example, a grocery store or something, wouldn't know if they got business from that or not. One of the main things you need to consider is your type of business. I'm sorry, but there are just not going to be alot of people in the market, or even giving much THOUGHT to a lawn service in the middle of October and November. HOWEVER, you go with a 1/4 ad, and put in a 10% off Fall Cleanup special in there, NOW you're talking! You could also get your foot in the door to sell some aerations as well if you play your cards right. The key is: Emphasize the right service at the right time. You just don't see that many snowmobile ads in June, for some reason. Another thing you may want to do, is see what more it would take to expand to a 1/4 ad. Also, if this works out, let them know that you can do wonders for their baseball field in the spring. NOW you're talking timing! However, on the downside of this, don't be too disappointed if the whole thing gets shot down. Just because administration says it would be o.k., that doesn't mean that it's going to fly with the maintenance workers for the district. They get a little funny when work , especially possible overtime is being taken away from them, and they can, and will file a grievance in a New York minute. Administration usually doesn't THINK about things like this because they are well, essentially braindead when it comes to things like this. Anyway, I hope it works out for you, and I wish the best of luck.