Because they did not increase by 600%. Here is how TT365's CEO explained things. So 7 pounds per member is basically needed to maintain running costs now that previous income stream from TTE had vanished.
You pay your affiliation fees to Table Tennis England and they use some of that money to fund the TT365 software and thus League Manager can be provided for free as a membership benefit, but in reality, you are… and always have been paying for it, just indirectly.
All the income we receive from TTE for the provision of Membership Manager, the Ranking System, Tournament Entry, Club System and loads more will cease on 31st July. This is worth tens of thousands of pounds per year and it now leaves a massive hole in our finances. In addition to this, with the exception of the last year or so, TTE have generally commissioned custom projects with us that have generated income again the tens of thousands of pounds per year range; this will now also stop. TTE also pay an amount to TT365 for every member that has a full paid membership and has played in a league that uses league manager, but at the time of writing it is still very unclear if this will continue either.
The average total annual income from Table Tennis England over the last 3 years is over £100,000. Obviously, this goes up and down, based on the variable level of bespoke work under-taken. This income accounts for a very significant portion of our total income. It would be an impossibility to continue to pay our full-time members of staff and cover the other expenses of the business on the income we get from advertising and smaller income streams such as email manager pro.
So why am I being so open about the company finances? Well despite what some might think, I set up TT365 to be a force for good in the sport I love, not to get rich. All I ever wanted was to run a company that was beneficial to Table Tennis and be paid a fair wage that justifies the efforts I put in on a daily basis. The simple fact is that with the loss of TTE income, the finances just don’t stack up any longer and the future of TT365 is now in serious question. I cannot run TT365 at a loss, just like you I have a mortgage and bills to pay, as do my other staff.
One thing that is worth addressing now, is why we have 4 members of staff. Every day we handle dozens of requests for support, often one enquiry can sometimes take an hour or more to debug and respond. It is a system that is supported 7 days per week, and we pride ourselves on providing a fast and high-quality response; in 10 years I cannot recall one serious complaint about our support service. Unfortunately, there is a lack of recognition for how big an operation TT365 actually is; its not just me in my spare room working on this part-time after work, it’s 4 highly skilled professionals working full-time. It is not owned or supported by Table Tennis England in any way, other than that already described; it is its own legal standalone entity. Finally, in terms of scale our webservers cost thousands of pounds annually and handle in excess of 12,000 requests per hour and deliver close to 2.5 million page-views per month and this continues to grow month on month. TT365 is a big operation, with significant costs, that requires a 6-figure turnover, each year.