Tourney with different starting stacks

[Bulldog]

Year-end tourney with $$$ added to prize pool from monthly tourneys. There are 24 players with a total of 710,800 chips to start, between 10,000 and 53,200 depending on monthly tourney results. There is $708 added to the pool, and $45 to play the year-end tourney. Prizes:

1st: $633
2nd: $325
3rd: $220
4th: $175
5th: $135
6th: $100
7th: $ 80
8th: $ 65
9th: $ 55

How big would your starting stack have to be to make it +EV to play in this tourney? I'm going to do the math best I can figure it out now, but anybody who wants to also try, I'd appreciate it.

[Bulldog]

~17,900?

Well, if eveyone is equal skill-wise, then:

With 710,800 chips and a $1788 prize pool, the equity for each chip is only about .0025. And with a $45 buy-in, you need to get over $45 worth of chip equity to make it a +EV play (at least, I think I'm doing that calculation right. Maybe someone else can make sure). This would be right around 18,000 (without doing anything in depth, since I don't have a calculator with me). Which is right near what you said, so it looks like we're either both right, or at least on the same train in the wrong direction.