[SBU Board] ACBL update for D19

[Thomas E Land]

That was great, JC. Thank you for putting so much effort into that clear an comprehensive letter. Sorry to have missed. I was at a Regularly scheduled community committee meeting .
Tom

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 25, 2020, at 7:08 PM, JC Chupack <jc.chupack at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 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 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 President, Web/Email Admin, & Publicity Chair
> * Lead Technical Product Manager, Zulily, Inc.
> 
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