"I'm confused as to where you got the idea that a team has to shell out "a few hundred bucks" to play ACF." Not just entrance fees, but travel and hotel expenses, food, lost wages, etc. The "few hundred bucks" isn't just the registration fee, it's the overall opportunity cost of attendance. "But did you actually talk to them? Did you ask them if they had fun? You may be surprised." They were mightily unhappy when I talked to them, and they left as soon as they could. They were the only team to leave that early, despite the fact that the tournament went quite long, and aside from the house team this was the closest team on the map. Draw your own conclusions. Again, however, I must remind you that my gripe isn't about the questions (they were actually quite good), or the fact that some teams did poorly (some teams are just bad and/or utterly unprepared). My gripe is that ACF doesn't recognize that it has to work extra-hard to attract young players because of its reputation. "It's up to schools to shed their preconceptions of ACF and take them up on the offer." What is your goal? Do you want more new blood? Would you like schools to shed their preconceptions of ACF? Then you have to do the work. These teams need convincing to come out to an ACF tournament, especially ones that feel as though ACF has burned them before. That means you might have to bend over backwards to get them to come. An investment of time, effort, and even money now will pay off handsomely later when these players keep coming back. It's not up to the teams to change their thinking, it's up to ACF to give them a reason to change.
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