Thanks Brad..hahaha

Austin,
What I was actually asking was how YOU, the reader of this thread, would set up the sport in Illinois and how would you go about doing it.

I was just adding to the post to let everyone know what I've gone through to give some insite what a pain in the ass it can be. hahaha
A lot of people believe that all you need to run a meet is some equipment and a place to hold it. Not so.

By reading the suggestions and ideas it gives me a better idea what you guys would like to see and gives me some direction.
Never hurts to pick the brains of others to help the sport.



=======================================

I'll post again...

Let's say I'm not in the picture, not involved with the sport what so ever. YOU, the reader, are the Illinois Chairman. How would you go about setting up the state?
It doesn't have to be a series of meets. Use your imagination and write down what you'd like to achieve.
How would you...
1. get sponsors? What sponsors? What would you ask for or expect from them?
2. Venues? Spectator fees? Entry fees?
3. Advertising? Marketing?
4. What would your budget look like and where would get the funds to finance what your shooting for?
5. Deal with NAS?

Here's is a better question....

How do we make the sport profitable for everyone?

I just did some calculations and found for the amout of time I have spent with the contests (planning, holding and running, answering e-mails/ phone calls, etc...) and fabricating equipment I make much less than minimum wage. hahaha
If you take the contest stuff out, I actually make above minimum wage.

don't tell Obama. he will tax you

Good point. I won't ask him what he thinks.

Well then I always like supplement companies as sponsors. Because they usually have great deals and free items to people who place. But I'm sure they're not easy to get.

If you have any specific companies in mind I'd like to see them. Earlier this year I contacted a several and didn't hear back but only a few. The few that did basicly said they were unable to sponsor or that their sponsorship brackets were already taken or full.

Thanks for the suggestion.

This is what I'm looking for. I have read threads on a few other forums where people were bashing NAS/ ASC, saying this is terrible and that is bad, etc...but very few if any actually wanted to help the orginization by contributing and offering advice. They had no problem saying what is crap but when it came down for them toprovide a solution...they were quiet.

I think a supplement company would be hard pressed in today's economy to provide money as a sponsor. But I would imagine they would have no problem giving a higher percentage off as a preferred provider or sponsor.
say if Vitamin Shoppe sponsored IL Strongman. and you were able to arrange for them to give us a 20% discount. no free products but a higher % discount than the average joe.
we would be able to drive more business to them.

fitrx does a lot of internet business. they have a store in Schaumburg and Algonquin. seem small and run by only a few people. may be an idea.

I'll comment at length about this topic.

Tony is unarguably the most ACTIVE chairman in the country. Many guys have more fame in the big leagues (e.g. Slater and company) but nobody to my knowledge puts more into the LOCAL amateur strongman scene, as far as I can tell.

That being said, I have spoken to some low-key pros and such who assert that Tony's meets are very dry, grip-oriented, even dull. Truth be told, they ARE lacking in panache, but that's precisely why I respect what he does. The ILUSS is a competitor-first setup, with rather basic events and implements, easier access to train them, etc. As Austin pointed out, this allows competitors simpler preparation over more exotic, crowd-pleasing things (anyone have a car deadlift apparatus lying around?).

I wasn't at the Morton meet this year but I remember Rob's last strongman in 2007 (the first one I ever attended). I served as a staff guy. He had many of the same events, save for the yoke and tire deadlift. He definitely does his homework and puts on a decent show, but my impression was that his priority was self-promotion above all else (had to wear the shirt, an announcer mentioning his practice repeatedly, etc). There is nothing wrong with that at all, of course. Strongman competitions are SUPPOSED to be a show to draw crowds for a reason usually other than strongman. But keep in mind that Tony holds most of his 'no frills' meets for the primary purpose of giving guys a venue to qualify for nationals without having to travel too much. Some of the meets are stacked and rowdy, others end up being kind of milktoast if not too many guys show up. Either way it's a lot of work for the little advertising he gets and it's a service to the athlets through-and-through.

Now, regarding the question posed about a Tony-less Illinois, that's impossible, since Tony IS Illinois strongman, so I shall base this on what we currently have.

1. Illinois has a lot of meets - this can water down the competition somewhat. One way to mitigate this is to have each meet with a characteristic set of events serving a particular purpose (some meets have these by default, anyway). An example - the June meet we held had a surprisingly large teen division, and I'll bet it was partly the event selection. I have suggested two meets for the following year - one very 'athletic' oriented (endurance medleys, drag, carry, flip, etc), the other more 'old-time-strongman' oriented (max lifts, static holds, stationary loading, no split-times on events, etc). So the former would be popular with teens and younger athletes where pure strength is not fully developed, and the latter with Master's competitors or guys like Byron who like strongman but can't run around with his hip and leg injury.

2. Craig mentioned "zones" - I like that - collaboration never hurts. Promoters are responsible for their own competitions, but for the extra stuff, Tony has some good ideas with his record-breakers and 'power' meets. To take the pressure off him I would like to see these at other places, perhaps a NAS (or ILSA) judge certification for power meets, almost like a powerlifting fed except with the overhead press (so kind of like, say, the APA federation). And a log pressd as a bench-only substitute. Some powerlifters would get in on this, I'm sure, and the athlete pool may grow somewhat. More open training 'grottos' of strongman never hurts.

Regarding record breakers - best idea ever, and possible in multiple places too, but a little more involved. For my end, I have been working hard all year to make almost every conceivable implement and event on-site. I am not finished but in a couple of months I shall be (hopefully). We plan on holding record-breakers in-house on the order of once or twice a month - both for official, repeatable ones (e.g. axle press, farmer's hold), and unofficial ones repeatable only with available equipment (tire flip, keg carry, etc). This could enthusiastically be extended to all Illinois competitors if they desire. Implements and athletes can also be brought to other parts of the state for a training day (Byron once suggested we get involved eventually with the Iowa guys from Team Weber since they are a mainstay at the UPA meets, so it's not a prohibitive thing). There could be some modest reward for the athlete who breaks a record impressively- dinner, beer, whatever, if the attendance is high enough, perhaps augmenting solidartiy to the sport, as well as help eliminate the 'record by circumstance' people get because the records are continually being tested.

3. Rule book. Tony suggested this idea before. Powerlifters are required to have one in every federation. Standardized judging in certain events for certain circumstances would be a good thing to nail downand for everyone to know ahead of time, athlete or not. Example - at ILSM, I penalized a competitor two seconds for failing to cross the line on a keg carry. He was perhaps an inch from the line. A heavyweight did the same thing. His judge gave him 80' distance, which cost him a trophy, when he was actually in 1st or 2nd up to that point. My penalty may have been perhaps too lenient and his too harsh. But both were consistent for the weight class, so neither were actually unfair. Still, having default rules for different events to iron out what circumstances lead to what penalties will help everyone in the long run. People can offer suggestions on the 30-something events typically seen in strength athletics.

My two cents..

I agree that IL is run awesome. If I ran IL I would utlize the resources of other states. The south has their slam series or whatever it is. Why not have a midwest championship and take advantage of everyone's athletes and resources. Between IL, IN, WI, and MI there would be tons of talent and each state would only have to put on a couple shows. This would allow promoters to focus on 2 big shows a year and also draw in a big group of competitors to every contest because if you missed one show you would be out of the race. I would also raise the weights of some of the events and keep all of the events to strongman events. I'd toss front hold, anything with a bb, any squat with a bar, and make all farmer or frame holds head to head. In fact having everything going multiple people at a time makes it more entertaining and faster. This means more equipment though. I would never run a show after seeing what Pete does up here. On a side note I agree with Craig about the trophey. I personally hate getting weapons, but get them at every conest. I would rather have a plaque or cool looking trophey.

Danimal wrote...
"I have spoken to some low-key pros and such who assert that Tony's meets are very dry, grip-oriented, even dull..."

My reply....
That's why low-key pros don't compete in my meets.

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Good points by all.
I'll touch on some things that have been behind the scenes here and haven't been discussed too much publicly.

Spectators:
To be honest I could care less if my shows attract any spectators. However I do understand to get the sport more attention it needs more exposure. That's one reason why I've done the September Challenge in Manteno the last few years. It's also a reason why the ILSM was in Champaign during the fair (however not too many people showed).
For 2010 I am trying to get with the St. Anne board and use their pavilion and generate more local interest.
Just remember...
Bigger shows = Bigger expenses = More red tape = Bigger pain in the ass.

Staff:
One of the toughest jobs in the sport. Most of the smaller meets I run are set up specifically in case all my help decides not to show and I have to do everything myself. This has happened more than a few times.

Rule book:
I've written it...for NAS/ ASC. I haven't checked the NAS site however I wrote it a while back. One thing I'd like to do is go thru the document and clean things up a bit and post it on our site.


Certification
for judges is something I have been discussing with a few other chairman.

Numerous Shows in Illinois:
That is something the guys had wanted a few years ago. It's the reason the Series was set up.
A side benifit of doing a number shows is that if one loses money the others may be able to support the expenses. This has happened in 07 and 08 with the Illinois Hercules. There were a couple of other meets that were in the red. However by years end everything pretty much equaled out.
The first couple of NAS shows I held in 2000 and 2001 were waaaaay in the red. I spent well over a $1000.00 of my own money financing those meets.

Midwest Series:
I have discussed this with some guys along with possible "Border Wars" with WI and IN. Nothing is set in stone yet.

"Zones" in Illinois:
You'd actually get people complaining that "Zone two has more and better meets than Zone one, I believe we need more for Zone two.." Or something along those lines. The guys in Southern Illinois have already made that arguement a while back.
One state = One Zone.

Head to Head:
Tried it.....looks cool......if the judges are just slightly different in how they officiate, the athletes gets pissed. That's why if I have head to head competition it a LW and HW.

Trophies:
Can't please everyone, hahaha. In the beginning we hade nothing but trophies and plaques. The guys got tired of it wanted something cool...that's when the pointy stuff came about, plus it was better deal.

I'm not dismissing anyones suggestions. Just posting the reasons why I do certian things.
Believe me if I could make the meets a WSM production with TV coverage, prize money, sponsors, and get paid for the job...I would .
hahaha.

I'd be happy with one meet a year.

hahaha

Tony

I love the series, don't interpret anything anyone is saying as bad. I don't think you are, but just make sure you aren't

I like the awards. I like the trophy I saw as an award for the final award for the 1st place only winner of the IL series if I were the chairperson.

don't ever think of having only one contest. we will have to come and camp out at your house until you hold more than one. that will teach you.

Craig,

Not at all Craig. I want an open forum. I haven't regarded anything anyone has written as bad.

I mentioned the one meet a year simply as a joke, plus it would make my life easier, hahaha.

Pretty much everything everyone has written we've worked on before. My responses were just to update and inform on the reasons why we have done certian things.

Sorry, Craig, I haven't looked at the link of the award you posted. I was responding to Brians anti-weapon stance (hahaha).

Tony

If you haven't looked at the link you should. It is a strongman lifting an atlas stone. very cool. pricey but cool. only for 1st place or maybe for the overall super series winner even.

just and idea.
very cool statue.