Youth football, best way to make cash?

I'm the official photographer for my nephews pop warner football team. I was also asked if I would like to be the photographer for one of the teams 2 years older than my nephews team. The problem is this is not a paid gig and considered voluntary. The league will only allow 1 photographer on the field per game so competition is not a problem. They will also allow me to sell prints to the parents.. One of the ideas I had was to simply offer a game cd for $200 but have the parents split the cost... I could offer a cd for $20 but what stops a parent from copying it and giving it out to the parents... Anyone with any suggestions of what I should do to profit the most from this?

IMO, the best way would be to see which parents are actually genuinely interested in purchasing photographs, & get them to pay up before the match. This way you are guaranteed to get paid, & you only have to worry about shooting certain kids & not the whole team.

My friend does this with yacht racing. She puts together a package say consisting of a video clip for an iphone, a canvas, a montage and some prints of various sizes and then people prepay for the package at the sign in night. They list their boat name, number and details and when my friend is up in the helicopter or race boat she targets those prepaid competitors with lots of footage and photos. Then she puts together their montage, canvas, video clip etc and posts it to the boat owner. Crew members can also order the name. Works well for her. You could adapt it for any sport.

I think you are right that parents would share the disk and copy it. Selling prints of an individual might work better with a copyright stamp on the back.

Do Not Sell A CD Of The Images!!!


Make a website with photoshelter or another company that you can upload and sell the photos. Since you are the official shooter and not getting paid... let the league help market your website!! Flyer's, sings, cards...

'View and purchase official images of the game at www.yoursite.com'

I would hope that would get traffic to the site and the parents can buy prints and downloads.

BUT, an upfront payment of images on a CD might be more profitable and it is guaranteed money. Maybe have the parents tell you their kids number and put the buying customers images on the CD then they and everybody else could buy images on your website.

So if 5 parents want photos... charge them 20 or more each up front then give a CD or a coupon for your website for their photos. You get $100 up front plus sales. Let them know you will focus on the specific kid so they know paying up front will be worth it.

Just make sure every kid is represented well on the CD is that is the way your are going to go. Mamma gets grumpy is she paid $20 to see junior play ball, and there are more of the other moms kid. I know - I know - you have no control how much they play -but having made the mistake of doing youth sports before, just be prepared for the "mom of the player" syndrom.

That is why I shoot college sports - no mommas involved. That said, it is fun, and to see the kids light up when they see pictures of themselves. Very cool Have fun doing it.

Do not sell the CD! I have seen this with other sports. One buys it and then everyone else just copys it.

The best way to make money in youth sports --- become the Team & Individual photographer for the league.

Gatorboy wrote in post #14824954
The best way to make money in youth sports --- become the Team & Individual photographer for the league.

Truer words never spoken. You can make substantially more money doing T&I in 3-4 hours work, on one day, than in an entire season of shooting and selling action.

I wish I could unfortunately he is a family member of one of the board members... the T&I guy shoots with a rebel Xti and what looked like a kit lens.... I was annoyed when I saw that and now i realize why last years football portraits for my nephew looked pretty weak...

As said, T&I for profit.

Being on field is definitely more fun shooting and you'll hear great things about the action shots but its tough to make a significant amount of money shooting it.

When I was shooting my son & his teams during his PW years, I heard complement after complement but didn't sell much. Maybe 15 photos a year. And they mostly were the same people that bought the year prior. I guess everybody else was satisfied with copying the 640x480 I was showing online.
My son is friends with Dave Stewart's(Hall of Fame Pitcher) son and Dave asked me to shoot one of his son's baseball games, ended up making several hundred on that by providing a Wallhog(Fathead), some prints, coffee cup, etc. It was a pretty nice score.

Again, if you're looking for profit only, T&I is the only way to make consistent $$$ on youth sports.

I guess realistically my best best is to take on 1 team, its not feasible for me to shoot one game in the morning and then another at 5pm, chances are it will not be worth my time spent on a saturday which could be used for something else... as it is I've had inquiries for other gigs including a few weddings. I had to turn them down because I already commited to this football team on saturday mornings during the fall.... So far this month ive brought in around 1k from a couple of shoots and it felt like my business was barely starting to pick up....

I suppose every market is different, but from what I've seen in my fourth year of shooting sports is that there are pockets of opportunities. I've yet to predict where those pockets lie. I’ve shot games I figured would have great sales, only to have sold a couple or no images. I’ve also receive all of the accolades on the images I produce, and even the “get lots of shots of my kid #21 and I’ll purchase them, never to receive on sale from that parent. LOL I’ve also shot games thinking I’d have zero sales and yet sold several hundred dollars of images. In my area, as you can see, it’s a crap shoot. So for the past two seasons I shoot very little on spec and rely on being a stringer for a couple of newspapers and an occasional paid gig for MaxPreps. So any parent sales are simply gravy.

With that said shooting sports does have some indirect benefits on the other side of the photography business (portraits) and other side sport gigs. But like anything it takes time. Time as in visibility, driving traffic to your site, and just generally exposure. The more your out in front of people, the better chance your name will come to mind when someone needs a photographer. So if you don’t have anything else to do and have some free (and I mean free LOL) time spec does have a place, as the monetary benefits is not always just print sales.

As far as your T&I, just know you can’t always land one of those projects any time you want. You can only lay in wait for the current photographer to give a reason for the administration to look for a change. Again, that is where the time invested in being in front of your future clients comes in.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Warren

As has been pointed out....I've found that action photos done on spec are a dud when it comes to actually making money. It's tough to just break even when sales are are high (which is rare). More often than not, you'll most likely find that shooting action on spec is pretty pointless (at least when it comes to making money).

i also shoot league football,I but meet the parents at half time, and give them my card, which has my site, and then they puchase prints off my site..best way about doing it, i have regular parents that purchase prints weekly.

Every family has someone with a Camera even if it might be a PnS, and that someone always thinks they are a pro. Look at the bleachers and all the flashes going off, your not going to make money. Most people are satified with a blurry cell pic as long as it was free.