Come on, who here really CD's a contest/event just for the free AMA? Anyone willing to admit that? If that is truly your motive then you shouldn't be a CD. The AMA obviously put the CD program into effect to encourage members to organize contests. I think the AMA has realized that the payoff is small and that very few contests/events would fold if they didn't pay the CDs. In other words, any contest/event worth having will go on even if the CDs are not paid, so why pay the CDs if you don't have to. You may not like it but it is a good business decision... why pay for something you can get for free?

What I want to know is why should the AMA pay CDs to host a contest/event in the first place? Where is the payoff for the AMA? I'm a club officer and I do twice the work of ANY CD at my club and I don't get my AMA dues paid... not one red cent, and that's fine with me. I do the work for the club without monetary compensation becasue I LOVE THIS HOBBY. I think if CDs had never been paid in the past you wouldn't hear very much moaning about how CDs should be paid. What would you think if a club officer started thread about how he wants to resign becase the AMA won't pay him, slap in the face, all that?

MSCCI: Bad analogy, makes no sense. What's the cover charge? Dues? Then what is the other stuff I want to buy from the AMA? Sanctions? I just don't get it.

JohnB: If nobody in the club cares about the contest/event, then it should be obvious there is no demand for that event. Either stir up interest or stop the event. Why should the AMA pay anyone to host a event that no one is interested in?

RCPilot: I for one appreciate what our club CDs do. Running an event is not really hard, but it isn't a walk in the park either. Our club always pays the sanction fees. If their isn't enough support in the club to pass the paying of the sanction fee then there is no contest/event. On that, I can only remember one planned event that didn't get approved by the club.

Hoss: You mention promoting the hobby... to who? Other AMA members? How many contests are actually promoted to the general public? How about TV or newspaper coverage? I think the point the AMA is making is that CDs do not typically promote model aviation to anyone other than existing AMA members so why does the AMA need to encourage (compensate) them for that?