Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Questions to PTO's

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venom034

New Member
Hopefully this is a good place to post.

I've been a part of a league that is about 45 mins away from my town for about 6 months now, and have recruited a good number of people that usually travel with me on a weekly basis to the league. The problem is that it's nearly an hour away, which adds up in gas and is quite time consuming for just a couple hours play. We have a card shop in town that would be willing to host a league as long as someone (me) is willing to take up most of the responsibility and such, and it would definitely draw a larger crowd than the other league gets. I know that being a league leader will get us the pins and promos and all of that good stuff, but what I'm particularly interested in are sanctioned events - battle roads, cities, prereleases, etc. I'm guessing this is where a PTO comes into play. So here goes the questions:

1. How might I, a college student with many highly interested college aged friends that want a serious Pokemon go-to place, become a PTO?

2. What does the PTO do to arrange prereleases and other sanctioned events?

3. Are PTO's allowed to play in tournaments or are they forever tied to judging and organizing?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.
 
First, it's important to know where you are. Are you in an area that could use a new PTO to develop OP in that area.

1. First step is to get a league going and get approved as a TO and run some non-Premiere tournaments.

2. You may be able to run some low end events first, as part of working toward being a PTO. But first you must show some results at successfully running sanctioned tournaments that are not Premiere.

3. It depends. You can certainly play in other events that you are not running, but you cannot play in an event that you organized. As a PTO, you can judge your own small events, but anything that is a City or larger you cannot be both organizer and judge. They need different people filling those roles to handle issues as they occur (and they will!).
 
Even though I'm not a PTO, I've been through much of what you're trying to get done in order to become a PTO...

1) Years of work, including Leagues, Tournaments, and Premier Level Tournaments (not Pres). I worked for 6 years, and couldn't even get close.

2) Not public information.

3) They're allowed to play in tourneys that they are not Organizing or Judging.

Some free advice, though. In the short term, work on building your League and your Tournament profile. Hold weekly or monthly events. Make them successful. Invite a PTO in your area to observe you running an event. If that's not possible, work your way onto a few PTOs' good sides, and work them for recommendations to run Battle Roads. This could take years to get done, though. It took me 2 years to become a BR-level TO. Another year to run my first City. And another year to get my second. Somewhere in the middle, I got in with the right PTO who was willing to run Prereleases in my area for me. It helped that I had cheap venue costs that could offset the PTO's travel expenses.

But, again, before you start thinking about anything Premier-related, focus on getting your local level events (League and Tournaments) to the point where somebody would think your area is worth a second look.
 
Thanks alot for the quick and extremely helpful answers. One more thing though, since it more or less makes or breaks the chances of the league forming. Does the shop get anything out of hosting events? Obviously league is free, as is the entry for players into everything except prereleases, so I'm somewhat lost as to what the benefit is for the shop itself - the shop here is huge on Magic, aka revenue, so the word free doesn't really appeal. Does Pokemon compensate for hosting, does the shop get a cut from prerelease charges, etc? I understand these may not be the best public questions, but maybe private messaging would be acceptable too, if at all.
 
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League does not have to be free. The store is allowed to charge a fee.
One of the most successful leagues in my area charges a fee.

And they may get compensated by the TO/PTO for the use of their venue. How much, is negotiated between those two parties.
 
I'm gonna ask something rather obvious: is there a PTO at the league you have been going to that is 45 minutes away? If so, your best bet would just be to organize your own league in your local card shop and try to become a TO. Get your league rolling and grow while doing some small tournaments, then start pester the (if there is one) the PTO 45 minutes away. If your numbers are looking pretty good, getting a PTO to run the tournaments shouldn't be that hard.

As for "what's in it for the shop" question: revenue. I would talk to the owner and ask him if he can order some Pokemon cards. It shouldn't be that hard for him to get a box as his distributor will carry them. On top of selling cards, they probably sell snacks. My local shop lets us bring in food on Friday night, but not drinks or snacks. Another thing I do is talk with the owner before every set is released and tell him how many boxes I think he should get. Then, we hold drafts at the store about once a month or so to help him move the product. We do $20 for a draft with 5 packs. If you get 8 people, that's over a box he sells. Not a lot, I know, but its a place to start.
 
As far as a fee goes, is it a monthly fee? I would ask how much but I doubt it's more than $5 and could easily depend on the demographics of the players in the area too.

Since I would probably need another year or two of leader experience I think I'm temporarily out of the equation, but how would the store owner himself fair in attempting to become one seeing as he's hosted who knows how many MTG, YGO, etc tournaments? Or does Pokemon want strictly knowledgeable Pokemon people running the show? Right now we're working on different draft style tourneys, as well as win-a-box tourneys and such, but as a business major I never stop thinking ahead, especially when this area has huge potential for a huge league.
 
It is up to the store owner to determine what, if any, fee they would charge for league. Some give a pack of cards in return for the fee, so it just ensures that they move some product. Others charge no fee. Some charge a fee with nothing in return.
Totally up to the store owner. Pokemon has a mix of stand alone PTOs and store owner PTOs.
However, most recent PTOs have been standalone PTOs. It depends on the needs of the area. But you are getting ahead of yourself. You're trying to nail down ahead of time something that needs to develop based on the results and needs of the area.
 
Yea I know I'm getting way down a road that hasn't even been paved yet. No such thing as too much information though, right? Anyway thanks a ton for your responses and the info/advice you guys have given. Definitely gave me a better feel as to what to do in the near future.
 
venom034 said:
Yea I know I'm getting way down a road that hasn't even been paved yet. No such thing as too much information though, right? Anyway thanks a ton for your responses and the info/advice you guys have given. Definitely gave me a better feel as to what to do in the near future.
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Yes it has. I'm one of a very select few that have walked the road you're thinking of walking on. I started as a LL as a college Freshman. I became a TO around that same time (IIRC). It took me a year to get a BR into the area. Another year to run one by myself, and to get a CC in the area. Another year to get the second BR. Another year to get a CC by myself. Another year for the second CC and the Prereleases run by others.

Granted, I was also in the situation of having ZERO OP within 2 hours of me when I first started. So you're probably in a slightly better position insofar as getting events done.

However, the PTO label is incredibly, almost impossibly, difficult to get. It requires years of service and the recommendations of tons of different people to get done correctly. I never reached that level. You will likely never reach that level. At least, not while you're still in college. About the best you can hope for is to set up a system that somebody else can step into easily once you have to leave the area.
 
bullados said:
Yes it has. I'm one of a very select few that have walked the road you're thinking of walking on. I started as a LL as a college Freshman. I became a TO around that same time (IIRC). It took me a year to get a BR into the area. Another year to run one by myself, and to get a CC in the area. Another year to get the second BR. Another year to get a CC by myself. Another year for the second CC and the Prereleases run by others.

Granted, I was also in the situation of having ZERO OP within 2 hours of me when I first started. So you're probably in a slightly better position insofar as getting events done.

However, the PTO label is incredibly, almost impossibly, difficult to get. It requires years of service and the recommendations of tons of different people to get done correctly. I never reached that level. You will likely never reach that level. At least, not while you're still in college. About the best you can hope for is to set up a system that somebody else can step into easily once you have to leave the area.
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Is there a difference between a TO and a PTO? TO possibly being an established organizer from anything from MTG to YGO, and PTO being strictly Pokemon?
 
TO = Tournament Organizer. Basically, this grants you the ability to create tournaments in the Pokemon databases, as well as access to the Tournament Operations Manager software. Eventually, if you do a good enough job in this role, you might be allowed to run lower level Premier events such as BRs. This has absolutely nothing to do with MTG or YGO. Normally, if you apply, you'll get accepted within a couple days.

PTO = Premier Tournament Organizer. You have proven yourself beyond a reasonable doubt to TPCi, and you can run higher level tournaments, especially Prereleases.

---------- Post added 02/11/2012 at 02:37 PM ----------

TO = Tournament Organizer. Basically, this grants you the ability to create tournaments in the Pokemon databases, as well as access to the Tournament Operations Manager software. Eventually, if you do a good enough job in this role, you might be allowed to run lower level Premier events such as BRs. This has absolutely nothing to do with MTG or YGO. Normally, if you apply, you'll get accepted within a couple days.

PTO = Premier Tournament Organizer. You have proven yourself beyond a reasonable doubt to TPCi, and you can run higher level tournaments, especially Prereleases.
 
A PTO gets to run Premiere events - Prereleases, City Championships, Battle Roads, States, & Regionals

TOs get to run events, mostly local but sometimes they can do a Battle Road or City Championship.
 
So basically a TO is much more attainable from an early stage, compared to a PTO that takes a rather lengthy amount of time and dedication. I'm honestly asking for curiosity's sake now because all of this info is really cool. I'd be more than content with simply being a league leader at the moment.
 
From what I remember, becoming a TO is basically filling out an application and submitting to a background check. I don't think it's any more difficult than becoming a LL. LO is a little more difficult, but I've never had a problem with it...
 
bullados said:
From what I remember, becoming a TO is basically filling out an application and submitting to a background check. I don't think it's any more difficult than becoming a LL. LO is a little more difficult, but I've never had a problem with it...
Click to expand...

Does being a TO give you access to tournament software? Even being able to organize small non-premiere tournaments would be great, especially for the sheer experience of doing so.
 
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