What are the most important things to do for a local club to make money ("profit") for the club from running a tournament?

Marketing of merchandise.

Thanks Oldman. Do you know of any clubs that don't market merchandise for their tournaments and are able to make money for the club via other methods?

first hope for alot of ams so you can make some on merch price differential between wholesale and retail,raffles work good if you have some special or nicer merch /items to raffle.basket throw offs work as long as you take in more than the price of the basket.you can also do a players pack (even for the pros as long as your up front with them about it put it on your flyer!!)and make the same product wholesale/retail differential on the players packs.These players packs usually consist of a newer disc(think lycan,or something else people havent been able to get yet or in your area)maybe a club sticker or some other swag.Friday doubles is also a good way to make a lil extra you can do the doubles by division and pay out plastic to the ams or sell some mulligans for the doubles maybe 1 per person at $1 each.there are many ways to make some $ for your club my advice is to be up front about what $ will be taken out of the entry fees and more importantly what the $ is being made for (i.e. course improvements,new banners, signage,could be anything as long as the players feel there $ is going to something that will improve the club or courses in the area).then make sure you follow thru and use the $ for the reasons you explained.

If your goal is to make the most profit then it's quite simple. Make it an Am only event, you don't make any money off Pros. Provide the minimum allowed players pack value and award the minimum payout allowed.

jmonny,

Should the club "prize out" with their own disc inventory for the Am only tourney or pay an independent disc vendor for the payout?

We don't keep a big enough inventory so we order a "boat" from Innova and use it for payout, then send back what we don't use.

don't run anything higher than a c tier for pros so you don't get screwed into having to add a bunch of cash. pay out out of your own inventory to ams. raise sponsorship to pay for fees/rentals/incidentals. still don't expect to make a fortune...

All of the above.

Selling lunches can make you a little money, more if you're not close to fast-food restaurants.

You can get away with minimal players packs and payouts if the tournament is attractive enough in other ways---great course, cool format, etc.

Make rec trophy only. Wait and see how many sign up for am and get $5 teeshirts made at the last minute and mark them up to $20 for the players packs. Start a catering business, hire yourself to cater lunch, and charge yourself whatever you want to serve hot dogs. Donate 5% to charity and no one expects much pay out, plus everyone calls you a hero. You know, stuff like that.