[SBU Board] Fwd: ACBL update for D19

Tue May 26 13:25:21 PDT 2020

FYI...

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: District Nineteen <d19director.acbl at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, May 26, 2020 at 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: ACBL update for D19
To: JC Chupack <jc.chupack at gmail.com>

Hi JC. Thank you very much for your letter of last night. I do appreciate
the thought that has gone into your response.
First, I wish to apologize for the late news letter, including the notice
of the vote regarding units and districts being enabled (or not) to hold
their own online regionals and sectionals. I wanted to reach out to
everyone on this topic, and had requested help from the ACBL to construct a
usable contact list for all unit board members in the district, and they
agreed to help. I think, however, my request was forgotten. By the time I
buckled down to do it myself, days had passed. I will do better in the
future, I hope. It is my intention, going forward, to keep everyone up to
date with all the latest news in ACBL bridge.
Some issues you have raised:
-*running online sectionals*. You make some good suggestions, and I will
make sure that they get consideration. I have noted your concerns about
sharing of entry fees, geographic restrictions, scheduling to protect local
club games, and transparency in how fees are allocated.
-*Support Your Club fees*. I was informed by ACBL management that monies
from these games (and for the Virtual club games) would be distributed for
the first time in early May. Are you saying that that did not happen?
Please let me know, if that is the case. I can certainly follow up.
-Regarding *transparency of fee allocation*, there is a bewildering (at
least to me) structure of who gets how much of each entry fee. every type
of game seems to be a little different. I believe this has happened because
every new undertaking involves a new negotiation between the ACBL and BBO.
I will follow up, and get a complete listing for you, for each type of
online event, as they are presently arranged.
-*Cancellations through the end of the year*. I did let you know in my
update letter that all D19 regionals have been cancelled through the end of
2020, and that the spring and summer NABCs have been cancelled. The fall
NABC in Tampa is still scheduled to run at this time. I am not aware of any
F2F sectionals (or club games) being planned for the next few months.
I don't know what the future will bring.
-*In 2021*, there is no way to tell at present about what planning should
be done. I can endeavor to do my best to keep you up to date on any
information that might be helpful. In general, though, at present, there
is, to my knowledge, no ACBL directive about planning face to face bridge
games or tournaments. I believe it is up to local, state/provincial, and
national governmental guidelines.
Everyone has the same problem right now. We just do not know how we may be
able to act in the near and more distant future.
I will be in touch as soon as I can, regarding fee allocations for various
online games. I appreciate your thoughts about units running sectionals
online, and will carry those into the discussion of this issue. Lastly, I
will certainly try to help in any way I can to assist you in thinking about
future planning. In the coming weeks, expect to hear much more frequently
from me, as I recognize that more information is better than less. (And now
I have a good start on a working email list!)
Please feel free to share this response with anyone who might have an
interest.
Regards,
Julie Smith

On Mon, May 25, 2020 at 7:03 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 <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.
>
>

-- 
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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