Bad Machines is not just a bar, we are also a venue for esports. You can host an esporting event at our location free of charge to you and cater up towards 50 to 100 person turnouts.
Benefits
We built Bad Machines so that anyone can plan and run a tournament for most all competitive games. We have the equipment you need with the infrastructure in place to run your own events. With our high-speed internet (hardlined), stage, wireless mics, and projector, you can run some pretty sick tournaments where you can earn money per person per tournament. The only thing we ask for is that your events be 21+ and you encourage everyone to support the bar.
Equipment
We are constantly expanding on our equipment list. This is what we have for now, but we will be adding even more tools to help you run amazing events. In our next line of purchases, we will get better broadcast mics, XLR cables to pass commentating and game sounds from the capture cards through the venue speakers, as well the ability to run everything through the 32-channel mixing board to boot.
High-Level
At a very high-level, the approach is simple. You plan an event, work with us on a schedule of said event, then we can help you promote the event with you. Payments for the event should be split between a venue fee and a game fee. The venue fee goes to you (yes, you get paid) and the game fee goes to the pot for the players. Depending on the event schedule, type of game, and turnout, Bad Machines may also sponsor a pot too (see below for details).
Wait, I get paid for this?
Yes, we pass all venue fees onto the organizer running the event on behalf of the venue. Crazy, huh? We do this for a few of reasons. The first being that we believe tournament organizers should be paid for running events for the local esports community. The second being as a bar, we profit from beer and liquor sales. The final reason is that we view events as forms of entertainment. Almost every bar pays a fee for these types of entertainments (e.g.: Trivia, Music, etc).
Payment Structure
The payment structure should be split between venue fees and game fees. For example, for most weekly events that are reoccurring, the typical recommended rate is $10 per person. This is a $5 fee for the venue and $5 for the game. That means for an 8-man tournament the pot should be $40 and the venue (you) should get $40.
Pot Bonuses
Bad Machines often sponsors pots for most events. What this means is we donate at a minimum $100 per event that is hosted at our venue. These monies are ONLY for the players to incentivize a higher turnout. How we determine if we will sponsor a pot or sponsor more than $100 depends on the event, day of event, and turnout. For example, we follow a simple formula based on turnout. For every 8 people, we often donate $100. That means for a 32-man bracket. We could potentially donate $300 towards the pot.
Not every event yields a $100 pot sponsorship however. This is where the unfortunate reality of the business side of doing esports and running a bar comes into play. We are a business at the end of the day. We have to make money to pay rent and keep the lights on. How we do so is through the bar. The more profitable we can be at the bar, the longer we can stay open and the more we can sink back into the community through these events. Thus, certain events yield larger turnouts than others as well pull players that purchase more than others. The bigger the event, the more we can share to the pot as well potentially you as the organizer (see below).
Scheduling
Bad Machines is open Wednesday - Sunday and often open at 5pm and stay open until midnight. On Fridays and Saturdays we stay open until 2am and fine running events that late. For Saturdays and Sundays, we are fine opening earlier for bigger events such as majors or monthlies. When it comes to reoccurring events, we recommend either weekly, every other week, or once a month. For most events that are smaller events, we recommend 8pm start times to allow most players time to eat before the event. For major tournaments, we recommend a weekend event with start times around 1pm or 2pm, which allows you to have at least 7 hours to 12 hours of event time before closing.