[SBU Board] Club issues with the expanded Regional schedule

Tue Oct 17 17:52:03 PDT 2017

Nice try Tim and a shame that our district board can't see the same way as our unit.  I fear there will be similar battles in the years ahead.Ann

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S7, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
-------- Original message --------From: LARRY HOLDREN <larryholdren at comcast.net> Date: 10/17/17  3:16 PM  (GMT-08:00) To: Seattle ACBL Unit Board <sbuboard at mailman.celestial.com> Subject: Re: [SBU Board] Club issues with the expanded Regional schedule 

I agree, sounds like a valiant effort. Tim, to a short sight sighted group. 
No thanks to our other rep. Is Steve expected to represent the Unit/Board or his 
personal view?

Larry

From: Patti 
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2017 2:35 PM
To: Seattle ACBL Unit Board 
Subject: Re: [SBU Board] Club issues with the expanded Regional 
schedule

Thank you for the 
effort, Tim and Steve

From: 
John
Sent: 
‎10/‎17/‎2017 12:43 
AM
To: 
Seattle ACBL Unit Board; Nick Tipton; Stan Roberts
Subject: 
Re: [SBU 
Board] Club issues with the expanded Regional schedule

Very disappointing result – but good effort, 
Tim.
The problems of our clubs are the problems of our 
units, and of our districts, and should be recognized as such.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “If we do not hang together, we 
shall surely hang separately.”
The consequence of ignoring the clubs’ problems is not so 
draconian – but the principle is the same: if the clubs suffer, we all 
suffer.

John Weinberg

From: Sbuboard 
[mailto:sbuboard-bounces+judgejohn=msn.com at mailman.celestial.com] On Behalf 
Of Tim White
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2017 8:19 PM
To: 
Nick Tipton <alkibridgeclub at gmail.com>; Stan Roberts 
<stan.milliman at gmail.com>
Cc: Seattle ACBL Unit Board 
<sbuboard at mailman.celestial.com>
Subject: [SBU Board] Club 
issues with the expanded Regional schedule

Nick and Stan,

Thank you for including me on distribution of your emails 
below.  Consideration of your request reached a point of culmination 
today.  While I wish I had better news, I would like to report back on how 
your request has been handled.

The U446 board took up your request at its September 11 
meeting.  (Note for background:  as part of its effort to better 
harmonize with the clubs, the unit board had previously undertaken an analysis 
to better understand the extent of conflicts between various tournaments' 
sessions and regularly scheduled clubs games within U446 and how these conflicts 
may cannibalize clubs' business.)  There was much discussion during the 
unit board meeting.  Your request was viewed very favorably and the 
following motion carried unanimously:   “Moved that The Unit 446 
representatives to the District 19 Board be tasked to convey at the October 16 
district board meeting, Unit 446’s concern with adverse impact on club games of 
the Monday afternoon session at Lynnwood because of the proximity of three club 
games, and ask that the tournament chairs discontinue that session so as to best 
serve our bridge community.”

On September 17 I sent a note to Steve Kasner, our other U446 
rep to the D19 board, alerting him that he and I had been tasked as above to 
speak at the Oct 16 (today's) D19 board meeting on behalf of U446 in support of 
the clubs.

Today in Olympia, D19 held its fall board meeting as 
scheduled.  Your request was addressed on the agenda under New 
Business.  The President read your letter aloud.  I then requested 
time to speak in support of the request.  I reported on the discussion at 
the Sept 11 U446 board meeting and read aloud the motion adopted (italics above) 
tasking the U446 reps.  I emphasized Nick's point about acting for the 
greater good of the bridge community and the importance to the long term health 
of the game of considering actions' effects on constituencies at district, unit, 
club and player levels.  I reported that U446 is making an effort to 
harmonize its activities with the clubs because it sees the health of the clubs 
as essential to the long term success of tournaments.  I noted the growing 
financial challenge clubs face as a result of increasing sanction fees, player 
demographics, and in the case of Alki the emergent parking problem, all of which 
make clubs that much more vulnerability to cannibalization by conflicting 
tournament sessions.  I reported that for these and other reasons U446 has 
decided to cut back to a two-day summer sectional in 2018 so as to deconflict 
from club games on Friday.

There were no other comments in support of your 
request.  The gist of the other comments was that this is not D19's 
problem, that D19 is taking advantage of an opportunity to better leverage its 
fixed costs at Lynnwood to get more revenue, that it's not D19's job to solve 
clubs' problems, and that the clubs should solve their problem by getting more C 
level players out to play.  The other U446 rep spoke in opposition to the 
request.  I then tried to go after one of the problems underlying the 
addition of the Friday afternoon session at Lynnwood by making the following 
motion:  "In setting session schedules, D19 regional tournament chairs 
shall consult with the local unit."  This motion died for lack of a 
second.

I regret your request has not produced a change in D19's view 
of its approach to scheduling at Lynnwood.  I assure you the U446 board is 
sensitive to the impacts of conflicting events on club attendance and financials 
and will continue to explore ways to harmonize its activities with the 
clubs.

Tim White

U446 President

D19 Board Member

On Sep 9, 2017, at 6:03 PM, Stan Roberts <stan.milliman at gmail.com> 
wrote:

  Nick makes good points about the health of the bridge 
  clubs. We at
ESBC had a large loss for the month of August. It would help 
  if, we
could get Monday back. Please consider Nick's request.

On 
  Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 1:47 PM, Nick Tipton <nick_tipton at yahoo.com> 
  wrote:

District 19,

Congratulations on a well run 
    Lynnwood Regional.  I heard many good things
about it from the 
    hundreds of bridge players that I personally know who took
part.  
    The exception to that were some relatively minor complaints about
hard 
    copies of the bulletin.  I suspect that the number of hits on 
    those
pages was a bit lower than expected.  There were a number of 
    changes in the
event scheduling.  Some were good and some not so 
    good.  One player told me
that the Tues-Wed morning Swiss game was 
    cancelled due to sub-minimal
attendance, as was the three session morning 
    KO on Thurs-Fri-Sat mornings.
I also heard many good things about the 
    Gold Rush Pairs, and that making
those daily would have brought more 
    people in.

The purpose of this email is to express my concerns for 
    the change to
Monday's schedule.  Adding an afternoon session Monday 
    allowed the Opening
KOs to run through Tuesday night without requiring 
    three sessions on
Tuesday.  This change adversely affected the local 
    clubs.  I firmly believe
that a healthy tournament schedule is 
    important to the health of the overall
bridge community.  However, 
    this must be tempered with allowing the local
bridge clubs to continue to 
    exist.  All bridge clubs run at or near the
break-even point, some 
    even below it.  Mondays are a historically good day
for bridge 
    clubs.  Taking at least half of our tables away on the opening
day 
    of a regional is adding insult to injury when we must remain 
    closed
Tuesday-Sunday of the rest of the week.  Speaking for Seattle 
    Bridge Center,
we lost an estimated $1000 in revenue from the week's 
    closure.  Considering
that a good month is anything over $200 in the 
    black, this guarantees that
August is a month that requires at least 3-5 
    months of financial recovery.
I have spoken with Stan Roberts, the owner 
    of the Eastside Bridge Center,
and he has indicated that he has very 
    similar concerns

Of course Puget Sound must have an annual Regional 
    Tournament.  Please keep
in mind that although this is the only 
    Regional that we must lock up our
clubs for, we are greatly affected by 
    all of the local regionals, whether
they are in Olympia, Leavenworth, or 
    farther afield.  Vancouver, Penticton,
and Seaside take 30%-50% of 
    our club players in spite of their distance.
Just as damaging are the 
    twelve open sectionals (Olympia north to the
border) that draw down our 
    attendance.  If you put it all together, owning
and operating a 
    bridge club is just barely viable.  If the bridge clubs
begin to 
    fail, then tournament bridge will not be far behind.

I am asking, 
    indeed pleading, that D19 return to the normal 18 sessions 
    per
Regional.  It probably seems minor that we are losing one more 
    session with
this change, but it truly does make a difference to the 
    financial viability
of a bridge club.  I understand that you cannot 
    control any of the
Sectionals, and that you are unlikely to curtail the 
    number of Regionals
each year.  Expanding the number or the length 
    of Regionals is a step in the
wrong direction.

I currently 
    distribute fliers for all of the local and neighboring
tournaments, but I 
    find myself asking why I am working against myself in
doing this.  
    Is part of the District's mission statement to work towards the
benefit 
    of the bridge community as a whole?  I found nothing on the D19.org
website 
    that suggests that, and yet I am confident that every member of the
board 
    would personally support that idea.  New players play 
    almost
exclusively at the club level, sometimes for years, before ever 
    playing a
tournament.  If all Bridge Clubs revert to non-profit, 
    twice a week games in
church basements, then the available bridge classes 
    will drop precipitously.
Within 2-3 years, it will be easily noticeable 
    at the club level, and in 3-4
years, 199er games at tournaments will no 
    longer get enough players to
guarantee a game.  If that starts to 
    happen at the Sectional or Regional
level, then new tournament players 
    will be very few and very far between.

Thank you for your 
    considerations,

Nick Tipton
Seattle Bridge Center
Alki Bridge 
    Club

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