Customer Snapshot
- 34: Member Swim Clubs
- 4,000: Swimmers
- 6,500+: Spectators
About Tri-County Swimming Pool Association
Tri-County Swim is a 34-club swim league in New Jersey that has run a championship meet (Burt German Tri-County Swimming Championships) each year since the late 1950’s. The championship is the only fundraiser for the association and funds the league’s entire year, so getting the gate right matters.
The Challenge: Cash Box to Cashless
The Burt German Tri-County Championships rotate through all 34 member clubs, meaning each club has decades between hosted events. This rotating set of responsibilities can make it challenging to update the event, and Tri County’s gate ran entirely on cash for years. There was no clean read on attendance, and no way to catch loss.
In 2025, current Board President Anthony Esgro insisted on allowing for credit card payments, and about half of the payments converted to credit cards. Thanks to a referral, Anthony was able to further advance the ball in 2026 and convert Tri-County to a cashless gate using TicketSignup. In two years, they went from 100% cash, to 50% cash, to no cash.
“A lot of our swimmers are club swimmers — they swim year round, and all the meets we go to year round are cashless. So it made perfect sense to just rip the band-aid off and go this route and put it in place for the next board members. That way we can start better predicting our gate sales, predicting our staffing.”
Anthony Esgro — Tri-County Swim Championships
The move to a cashless gate made a difference for both event organizers and spectators, creating a better informed event team and a more efficient on-site experience.
Easy online ticket sales for the Tri-County Swim Championships
Important Financial Insights
As the league’s sole fundraiser for the year, revenue at the Tri-County meet is crucial. TicketSignup provided real-time data, including ticket sales and revenue. At any moment, the treasurer could cite real numbers and understand how that might impact the budget for the coming year.
“To be able to see with our treasurer what’s happening in real time helps us make decisions, and understand if we can take other risks based on what’s coming in the door. It is a big advantage to the organization to see the totals immediately, and made our end of the year that much quicker to close out.”
Anthony Esgro — Tri-County Swim Championships
Additionally, the cashless gate was flexible: ticket sales were initially set to close at noon on Sunday, but when Anthony realized people still wanted to come in at that point, he was able to instantly update it 2:00pm. Flexible sales options maximize revenue.
An Improved Spectator Experience
On-site, Tri-County used the TicketSignup Tickets app for Check-In. The benefit of an integrated system is that Tri-County had all data synced between TicketSignup and the Tickets App, instantly. This meant late purchasers could still check-in quickly and easily; even if they couldn’t find their email, their purchase would show instantly under their name.
“All the data was web-based with the app syncing to TicketSignup, and being able to update everything in real time — creating tickets and coupon codes — was really nice. It was easy to use. It was very refreshing to have options at everybody’s fingertips, and the staff was really excited with how well it worked.”
Anthony Esgro — Tri-County Swim Championships
45% of all ticket sales happened before the first day of the meet, and 75% of sales were made before the spectators ever arrived on site. In other words, once spectators felt confident they were attending, they were happy to buy online and avoid the hassle of on-site purchase lines.
And, in addition to selling tickets online, Tri-County used TicketSignup’s integrated Store capabilities to sell programs for each day. Like tickets, store items show in the Tickets app, making it easy for the on-site team to fulfill programs along with checking people in.
Check-in can be done by QR scan or quick search.
View and check-in tickets alongside store items.
Store items can be fulfilled from the Tickets app for Check-In.
Looking Ahead: What’s Next?
Now that Tri-County families expect the cashless gate, Anthony is looking ahead to the next efficiencies and improvements. With a year’s worth of check-in data, he expects to be able to evaluate the flow of on-site traffic with the CheckIn Interval Report and tweak volunteer schedules to prevent over-staffing at slow times. And, he’s identified other local events that are good candidates for a move to cashless gates.
The CheckIn Interval Report shows the real-time traffic flow to help events make smarter staffing decisions.
