I also think people likely significantly underestimate the costs of running conferences. From what I understand, $2000 per person is a pretty standard number even for a 3-day conference, if hosted in a standard hotel convention center. I’m not claiming that EA should host many conferences which are that expensive—just that buying a property to host them could relatively quickly become cost-effective.
Others have commented that you could get a much cheaper venue. I’m skeptical, though. For external-facing events you want a hotel-quality venue, and I don’t expect that getting one with 30 rooms anywhere near a major city is going to be much cheaper.
Most of the costs of running conferences don’t come from the cost of the (pure real estate) costs of the property. (You’d still incur lots of the $2,000 if you run an event at Wytham Abbey, the only bits that you aren’t paying for are the pure capital costs for the property, part of the profit margin and costs for times the venue is otherwise empty.)
I’m not sure how I even feel about the price tag mattering considering it is an investment we can sell later but very quick research shows that there is a 13,000 square foot hotel (12 rooms) in the heart of Chicago for 300,000 a room. So conservatively we could guess that a similar building in downtown chicago would go for about 9 mil. And that is in pretty much the most expensive area in the city—If we are willing to go within an hour of the city center I think you could get something of comparable quality for ~5 million or maybe even less.
Not saying Chicago would be the right place but I would call it a major city (totally biased though).
I also think people likely significantly underestimate the costs of running conferences. From what I understand, $2000 per person is a pretty standard number even for a 3-day conference, if hosted in a standard hotel convention center. I’m not claiming that EA should host many conferences which are that expensive—just that buying a property to host them could relatively quickly become cost-effective.
Others have commented that you could get a much cheaper venue. I’m skeptical, though. For external-facing events you want a hotel-quality venue, and I don’t expect that getting one with 30 rooms anywhere near a major city is going to be much cheaper.
Most of the costs of running conferences don’t come from the cost of the (pure real estate) costs of the property. (You’d still incur lots of the $2,000 if you run an event at Wytham Abbey, the only bits that you aren’t paying for are the pure capital costs for the property, part of the profit margin and costs for times the venue is otherwise empty.)
I’m not sure how I even feel about the price tag mattering considering it is an investment we can sell later but very quick research shows that there is a 13,000 square foot hotel (12 rooms) in the heart of Chicago for 300,000 a room. So conservatively we could guess that a similar building in downtown chicago would go for about 9 mil. And that is in pretty much the most expensive area in the city—If we are willing to go within an hour of the city center I think you could get something of comparable quality for ~5 million or maybe even less.
Not saying Chicago would be the right place but I would call it a major city (totally biased though).