Carnival ride operators

[LuminousAphid]

So, I was just writing about an interesting carnie ride in another thread, and got to wondering- how do travelling carnival ride companies get paid? I don't mean "how are they able to make a profit," because they obviously do; I'm wondering about how the payment for services actually works.

 

Does the event pay a flat rate for the ride co. to come out, and the ticket proceeds go back to the event's bottom line? Does the ride co just come out and take all the ticket proceeds themselves? Maybe the operator gets paid to come out and gets some of the proceeds from the tickets, and the event just benefits from the extra crowd draw? Does this work differently depending on what country/part of the world?

 

Basically, I want to know how the money I spend on tickets gets back to the ride operator co. Another thing I am wondering, what percentage of their gross income is spent on transport costs?

 

I just realized this is probably one of the most boring topics I have created, but I don't care- I want to know!

[chadster]

I can speak to two specific cases in which I have previously been involved, but can't speak to all of your questions.

 

If a small organization such as a church or school group, etc is interested in holding an event they more or less provide a guarantee of X amount of dollars to the carnival operator or a simple flat fee. If ticket sales don't meet the guarantee then the event holder is responsible for making up the difference. In our case we paid a flat fee.

 

State Fairs run a somewhat differently. They have contracts with the fairboard to be the exclusive provider of rides and/or games on the midway. (The State Fair of Texas is a bit different in that they contract for rides individually, one of the only ones I know of in the US that still does it this way, Europe I understand this is quite commonplace) Depending on the contract, they may then work on a revenue share with a percentage going to the fairboard or event organizer as 'rent' and the remainder going to the carnival operator. While I can't recall exactly what our split contracted for, I believe it was in the range of 70/30, 70 for the carnival operator which over the period of two weeks with an attendance of over 500k would put a couple million in their pockets. Our fairboard provided the ticket sales and cash control for the midway. The Sheriff and local PD provided the muscle. Considering the costs of the rides, crew, maintenance(LOL!) and transportation you can imagine they burn through that cash quickly.

[LuminousAphid]

They have contracts with the fairboard to be the exclusive provider of rides and/or games on the midway. (The State Fair of Texas is a bit different in that they contract for rides individually, one of the only ones I know of in the US that still does it this way, Europe I understand this is quite commonplace)

 

That's awesome, thanks for your answer! I figured someone on here would have some idea, and I could have looked it up, but I always like hearing real-world examples. I bet the single-ride contracting is why they have some of the more kickass carnival rides in Europe vs the sort of "white trash" (but, nice white trash) ones you find at the fairs around here. The fairs I usually go to are just smaller though, so that may not be the case in the rest of the US.

 

I don't think we have very many events around here which draw 500k, but I will have to look it up... maybe the PNE up north, but I don't think WA, OR, or ID have that type of huge event to draw the big operators.

[cfc]

I'd always assumed they made their money from "rubes."

 

[Hilltopper39]

I had a carnival operator at my local county fair offer me $20 to help him tear down the ferris wheel one year, so they certianly know how to save money on labor!

[Comeagain?]

Seattle would. Over here on this side, no. Spokane's population is ~210,000.

[cal1br3tto]

I'd always assumed they made their money from "rubes."

Funny, I always heard it was from "marks."

[cfc]

^Must be a "generational" thing.

[chadster]

I'd always assumed they made their money from "rubes."

 

I had to look up the def of 'rubes'

[chadster]

I knew I snapped a photo of a help wanted sign, this was Crabtree Amusements at the annual rodeo in austin, its like a 2.5 week rodeo.

[LuminousAphid]

Yes, I remember reading about several accidents that happened to people who got roped into taking down rides. One, predictably, involved drug use. Not to give a bad ride to all companies, but there are definitely some sketchy ones. I always check now who operates the rides.