[SBU Board] Fwd: Announcement and Update from Joe Jones, ACBL Executive Director

[JC Chupack]

FYI...

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: ACBL <emailservices at acbl.org>
Date: Wed, Sep 2, 2020 at 11:38 AM
Subject: Announcement and Update from Joe Jones, ACBL Executive Director
To: <jc.chupack at gmail.com>


*Announcement and Update from Joe Jones, ACBL Executive Director*

September 2, 2020



* To: Unit and District Officers*

Hello everyone,

It's been a little over five months since the pandemic struck and
effectively suspended all in-person sanctioned bridge play and over fifty
percent of our usual revenues. I am happy to report the organization is
surviving and is continuing to serve our members. First, I have an
important announcement, and then I will give you an overview of what's
underway.

* Tournament Sanctions are cancelled for January and February 2021. *At
this time, we are not hopeful there will be a vaccine or a significant
change in the current conditions to allow in-person play for January and
February. We are announcing this now so Units and Districts can begin
cancelling their events. No decision has been made regarding the spring
NABC or March tournaments.

* Virtual Clubs*

With significant help from Jay Whipple and BBO, we were able to very
quickly create Virtual Clubs on BBO. Currently, there are over 500 clubs
running online games. Some clubs have pooled together, so the 500 clubs
represent over 1,500 in-person clubs. Virtual clubs are averaging over
115,000 tables monthly. Every other month we are offering upgraded games.

* Online Tournaments*

We just completed our third regionally rated online event. These have
proven to be very successful. The recent tournament and the last event,
held in June, generated 13,000 tables in four days. We are offering these
events every other month with the next ones being held in October and
December. In July, we held a very successful online NABC-rated knock-out
that attracted 72 teams and a pair event which drew 138 pairs. Look for
more NABC-rated events in November.

* Finances*

Despite losing half of our revenues from the suspension of in-person play,
we have managed to replace a large portion with online revenue. We have
also aggressively cut expenses to match the lower revenue. Year-to-date,
club revenue is up over $200K, tournaments are down over $600K, and NABCs
are down over $1MM. In order to cut expenses initially, all employees
worked a reduced schedule with reduced pay, and we ended up furloughing
almost 40% of our full-time employees. We are now working a full schedule,
and we have brought back some employees. We are expecting to end the year
with a positive bottom line.

* Future of online play*

The board established an Online Task Force to make recommendations on how
the ACBL should go forward with online play. The task force
reported
<http://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/about/AttachmentA_KeyConclusions.pdf>
their recommendations to the board and management last month. Later this
month, management will bring to the board their recommendations on how to
implement the task force's recommendations.

* Marketing & Membership*

We brought on Mary Stratton, our new Marketing Director, just as the
pandemic struck. Mary quickly got up to speed and was very helpful in
assisting with member and stakeholder communications. She, and her team,
has also done a great job of promoting special virtual club games and
tournaments. Now that revenues have stabilized, the marketing department
will focus on stabilizing membership. Very soon, the new free guest
membership will be rolled out, and there will be a campaign to get more
members playing online. A full marketing plan will be presented to the
board in October.

If you have not already seen it, here is the link to the more expansive
Management Report submitted to the board at the July meeting
https://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/about/MontrealA.pdf .

Please know how much we value all that you do every day to support the game
of bridge. As we work together to grow the game, I welcome your thoughts
and suggestions.



Sincerely,

Joe Jones

ACBL Executive Director



-- 
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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