[SBU Board] ACBL update for D19

[JC Chupack]

Hi Julie,

Seattle Unit Board 446 convened tonight in a special meeting to discuss the
letter from D25, your update, and the update from ACBL BOD President Heth.
I am writing this letter to express comments on these issues on behalf of
the board, insofar as they impact our unit's operations and the operations
of clubs within our unit (our areas of concern). Please help to voice these
concerns during the upcoming meeting, as appropriate.

*Online Sectionals *
Many units, including ours, have ongoing expenses related to unit
operations and growing bridge participation in our area that are not
covered by membership dues and are typically financed by proceeds from
sectional tournaments. (I am happy to go into detail on these if you are
curious.) Sectionals' purpose (vs. club games or other tournaments), in
large part, is to fund operations in the unit that help bridge grow at the
local level, as well as being events that themselves help encourage bridge
play.

We accept that logistics and necessary expertise, both in scheduling and
actually operating sectionals online, may require that they be run at a
national or regional level rather than by individual units. We have no
direct objection to that proposal. However, if sectionals are to be run
outside of the units, our expectation is:

   - A substantive portion of collected entry fees are returned to the
   associated unit(s) and their clubs, such that they continue to help fund
   local bridge growth/play
   - Sectionals have geographic restrictions on entries applied such that
   players mostly get the opportunity to play with people in their own area,
   in some practical/manner
   - Scheduling of the online sectionals should be done with an eye to
   minimizing impact to clubs, be it by the days of week or frequency of such
   events
   - There is transparency to the units in how the share of entry fees are
   allocated between BBO, ACBL, Units, Clubs, and any third party entities.

We would like to see this commitment by national and/or districts if they
are planning to run sectional events online. *If this commitment cannot be
made, our preference is that sectionals not be held online at all versus
that these needs are not met.*

*Transparency*
Several of our board members expressed a lack of trust in the Board of
Directors' interests and motivations, sparked by many issues in the past
years. We likely represent the membership in this regard. As such, it feels
paramount that the Board of Directors begin operating with greater
transparency to regain and build that trust, for the ongoing success of the
ACBL.

With this in mind, we were frustrated to be given less than 3 business days
of notice of this vote that impacts our unit operations. We are frustrated
by the lack of transparency as to how Support Your Club fees (distinguished
intentionally from Virtual Club fees) are being allocated between local
clubs as well as between other entities and when club managers can expect
associated payments.

Further, we are seeking transparency and notice (sufficient for comment) on
any votes pertaining to substantively changing fee allocations between
clubs, BBO, and ACBL in Virtual Club games and SYC games.

We understand that the pandemic required a rapid response that limited time
for discussion and planning, but patience based on that will not last
forever. Before the Board of Directors expands online operations, it would
be prudent to provide transparency to the membership for the operations
already in progress.

*The Future of Live Bridge Tournaments*
The last communication we, as a unit, officially received from the ACBL was
that tournaments were suspended through May 12 and that the summer national
was cancelled. We have independently cancelled tournaments in the interim
and are now hearing/learning in the communications from you that
cancellations through end-of-year are expected.

When we look to 2021, we have uncertainty still.  As a unit, if we aren't
booking sites now, we can't hold tournaments in the first quarter of 2021,
and so on month-by-month. At the same time, we are taking on some financial
risk when we book sites, barring very favorable contract terms, as well as
expending board member efforts in locating, booking, and negotiating.

It would be helpful to us in planning for next year if the league would
offer *more frequent guidance *as to the earliest "best guess" expectation
of live play resuming, with recognition that our population of players are
highly vulnerable to this pandemic and that live play is fraught with
transmission potential. Similar to how Washington state has a phased
playbook for re-opening, we would like to see a league-wide plan for
phasing back in to club play, small tournaments, and large tournaments in
succession.

===
Please feel free to reach out to me and/or the board directly with any
questions on the above. I'm happy to provide additional detail or clarity
as needed.

Best regards,
JC Chupack
*and on behalf of the board of Seattle Unit 446*
--
JC Chupack
* Seattle ACBL Unit 446 <http://www.bridgeinseattle.org/> President,
Web/Email Admin, & Publicity Chair


On Fri, May 22, 2020 at 12:58 PM District Nineteen <
d19director.acbl at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear District 19 Unit Board members,
>
> *MAY 2020 UPDATE *
>
> Hello. I am writing to you today as your District 19 representative to the
> ACBL Board of Directors. These are interesting times, with many new
> challenges.  I want to let you know about the state of your national
> organization, to inform you of upcoming initiatives, and to invite your
> comments and questions.
>
> *FACE-TO-FACE TOURNAMENT AND CLUB PLAY CANCELLATIONS*
>
> All previously scheduled District 19 regionals have been cancelled for the
> rest of 2020. At this time, to my knowledge, face-to-face bridge is not
> occurring anywhere in North America, and the timeline for reopening of
> regular club and tournament operations is unclear. The Spring and Summer
> NABCs have both been cancelled, with relatively minor financial losses for
> the ACBL. The future of the Fall NABC in Tampa, Florida remains unclear at
> this time.
>
> *FINANCIAL IMPACT*
>
> The ACBL has three main sources of income: membership dues, tournament
> revenues, and club sanction fees. It is easy to see that income will be
> substantially reduced this year. In the early days of the pandemic, it
> appeared that the financial losses to the organization would be more than
> $2,000,000 in this year, but this estimate appears to be far too negative.
> We are doing all we can to preserve our assets and to plan for the future
> of our game, with some success.
>
> *ONLINE BRIDGE*
>
> Online bridge has become much more active. The ACBL, together with Bridge
> Base Online, is offering an increasing variety of games, in which members
> may participate, support their local clubs, meet their friends, and earn
> masterpoints. Save Your Club games, Virtual Club Games, and various other
> ACBL-sanctioned BBO games have become increasingly successful, and are
> generating revenue for clubs and the ACBL (as well as for BBO). The
> first-ever online ACBL Regional was held April 30 through May 3. This was
> an experimental trial of the possibilities for future online tournaments.
> It was also a special fundraiser for the national organization, and had
> correspondingly high entry fees. The tournament ran smoothly for the most
> part (with some hiccups), and the ACBL earned a profit of over $220,000.
> Future special games are contemplated.  For instance, during the week of
> May 25 to 31, clubs will be able to offer special silver point games, with
> very generous masterpoint awards available.
>
> *BOARD OF DIRECTORS ACTIONS*
>
> The Board of Directors has been meeting online every other week, for
> management updates and consideration of ways to deal with our recent
> unprecedented challenges. In late May, there will be a special formal ACBL
> Board of Directors meeting.  Items of particular interest on the agenda
> include consideration of a proposal to allow districts and units to run
> their own online regionals and sectionals, as well as the proposed creation
> of a new oversight committee, specially created to deal with allegations of
> cheating in online games. Additionally, considerable time will be devoted
> to development of an action plan to carry us through the rest of 2020 (and
> beyond, if needed).
>
> *NEEDS AND PRIORITIES*
>
> In my opinion, our priority as a bridge organization should be, above all,
> to do no harm to the health of our members. Another priority is to preserve
> the game of bridge for the future, in any way that we can. Additional
> important goals are to promote the survival of the ACBL and our local
> clubs. The financial states of our districts and units are also important.
> While units and districts are not presently hosting tournaments, they
> still, by and large, have some fixed costs. While units share in income
> from membership fees, the districts do not. There may be a need to provide
> the districts with some revenue to meet their financial obligations in this
> time.
>
> If you wish to share comments on these issues or any others, please
> contact me. I welcome your thoughts, and will address your concerns as best
> I can.
>
> Julie Smith
>
> d19director.acbl at gmail.com (please note new email address)
>


-- 
JC Chupack
* Seattle ACBL Unit 446 <http://www.bridgeinseattle.org> President,
Web/Email Admin, & Publicity Chair
* Lead Technical Product Manager, Zulily <http://www.zulily.com>, Inc.
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