That would be a great idea; however, during this time of economic stress, we believe that would be a difficult “sell” to the players. We have had other players the dues are too high now, and we should reduce them. Remember, two years ago, we raised the dues by one dollar and we had numerous complaints about that. And, when we did so, we still only kept .40 out of that dollar and gave .60 back to the player payback – and there was still complaining. This player doesn’t want to pay any extra money and wants a free ride, but is willing to pay extra money all year long in hopes to getting one of the National spots.

Remember that we have implemented 4 other programs to generate additional national funding; but, with the costs of hotel and airfare going through the roof and no expectation of it decreasing in the future, it’s unlikely that we will EVER be able to send more than 4 teams to the Nationals if we continue to follow the same path. The new program will allow us to offer 12 National spots, even though the teams may have to pay part of their expenses.