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ACBL Board
Meeting at Washington NABC |
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The ACBL Board of Directors met in Washington D.C., July 15-18, 2002. Items of interest on the agenda were as follows:
The minutes of the Executive Committee meetings are ratified. Carried Comment: The Executive Committee acts on behalf of the ACBL Board of Directors on emergency items that require action between meetings of the Board. The only matter of consequence taken up by the Executive Committee since the previous Board meeting in Houston was to set financial guidelines for the mediation of the employment severance package of the former CEO, David Silber. The terms of this package had been in dispute, and both sides agreed to mediation. That dispute has been settled, but the specific terms of that settlement are subject to a confidentiality agreement and cannot be made public. 022-261: Election of ACBL President Wayne Hascall, Al Levy and Nadine Wood had previously declared their candidacy. There were no other declarations of candidacy. Nominations were closed. By secret ballot AL Levy is elected to the office of ACBL President for a one-year term beginning January 1, 2003. Comment: All three candidates were well qualified to serve as President next year, and the vote was very close, requiring three ballots. Emergency Item ACBL Board of Directors Fall 2002 Board meeting will be held in Phoenix, AZ dates to be determined by the President. Note: November 23 - 25, 2002 finished by noon on the 26th. Carried. Nay: 3, 4, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, 25. Abstain: 5, 8. Comment: Over the past year, several of us on the Board have been trying to convince our colleagues to have all Fall meetings of the Board in Memphis instead of at the sites of the Fall NABCs. At the Houston meetings this past spring, the Board voted to meet in Memphis instead of Phoenix this fall on a one-time basis. It passed 13 to 10, with 2 abstaining. The very next day in Houston, the same item was brought up for reconsideration, but a reconsideration vote requires 2/3rds majority (17 votes). The reconsideration vote only mustered 15 votes, so the reconsideration motion failed. In Houston, I voted to go to Memphis and against the reconsideration. As I said in my Houston report, I believe that there are advantages to having the Board meet in Memphis once each year. In addition to establishing a better working relationship with the headquarters staff, there are some nominal cost savings. Our job is to tend to the business of ACBL, of which the NABCs are only a small part. Unfortunately, most Board members do not see it that way. Since the spring meeting, it became clear to me that this Board, as presently constituted, would not come to Memphis this fall with a positive attitude about the idea. Thus, the concept of having some Board meetings at headquarters would be better served by waiting until another day. I requested another reconsideration vote on this matter, and I also changed my vote in order to meet the 2/3rds requirement. As you can see, the vote for the Fall NABC site passed by a majority vote. Hopefully, with a different makeup of the Board in the future, a majority will realize the advantages of having Board meetings regularly at our headquarters facility. Item 022-44: Membership Requirements for Sanctioned Tournaments (021-47) Effective January 1, 2003 at all NABCs, entry fees for non-members and unpaid Life Masters will be $2.00 per player per session higher than for ACBL members and Life Masters who have paid their service fee. Charity events and events limited to players with fewer than 20 masterpoints are exempt from this requirement. Carried. Nay: 3, 7, 11, 18, 20 Comment: This was a substitute motion of an original proposal that would make ACBL membership a requirement to play at any ACBL sanctioned sectional, regional, or NABC. Many other bridge organizations in the world have this requirement. While the Board feels that ACBL membership should be required to receive the benefits offered by the ACBL, we are not ready to extend that concept to tournament play. We lean toward providing members discounted tournament entry fees. In addition, we did not want impose additional hardships on the districts and units at a time when most were having a difficult time making ends meet at their tournaments. Thus, the discount was increased from $1.00 to $2.00 at NABCs only. Item 002-47: Survey ACBL will survey its membership regarding the scheduled dates for the Fall NABC. Carried without dissent. Comment: The fall NABC has traditionally been held around the Thanksgiving holiday. There are pros and cons to this practice. This survey is an attempt to revisit membership views on the subject. Item 022-49: Trophy The Coffin Trophy for the Women’s Board of Match Team game will be replaced with the Marsha May Sternberg Memorial Trophy effective with the Fall of 2002. This is contingent upon a contribution of $50,000 to be made to the ACBL by Dr. Jim Sternberg prior to September 1, 2002 and that Dr. Sternberg will also provide the trophy for this event. Replicas of the trophy will be given to the winners and paid for out of ACBL funds for 20 years. The trophy will be of Dr. Sternberg’s choosing. This trophy will be retired in 20 years as provided in motion 911-93 unless renewed by the ACBL Board of Directors. If the trophy is retired at that time all remaining funds will revert to the ACBL General fund. Carried. Aye: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25. Nay: 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 21, 24. Comment: The principal discussion point on this item was whether trophies for our NABC events should be named for anyone who was willing to donate $50,000, or whether they should be reserved for major corporate sponsors or persons who have made significant contributions to bridge. Obviously, I belong to the latter group. Item 022-51: Charter for the Hall of Fame The ACBL Board of Directors accepts the revised Hall of Fame procedures except the Board of Governors will be retained as voters. The combined committee will be: Term
Carried without dissent. Comment: The HoF Committee and Nominating Committee prepared a document that revised the operation of the two existing committees. It showed how the HoF process should work and combined the Governance Committee (5 members) and the Nominating Committee (9 members) into a single 9 person committee. The document also proposed several changes to the HoF operation, which are summarized below. Deletes the zonal committee representation requirement and specifies that appointments should be made with consideration to regions (including Canada, Bermuda, and Mexico), age and sex. Changes the effective date of committee appointments from the Summer to the Spring NABC. Establishes a new procedure for nominating candidates and selecting candidates for the Blackwood and von Zedtwitz awards. Restricts von Zedtwitz awards in the living and deceased category to those with exceptional performance tournament records. Specifies that a candidate's disciplinary file shall be reviewed prior to putting the player's name on the ballot. Specifies that the HoFC members can not be nominated or receive HOF awards while serving on the HoFC. Allows the HoFC to determine whether two or three candidates will be selected in the living category and one or two in the deceased category. Changes the electorate to players above 10,000 master points, and adds players who have won major ACBL and WBF events, and deletes Board of Governors. Adds additional ACBL and WBF events that will be shown on the performance chart which is included with the ballot. Discourages or eliminates formal campaigning. Details a "Timeline" that will provide more continuity from year to year for the committee and ACBL staff. Revises how the membership can make recommendations to the HoF Committee for worthy candidates. Adds several verification checks to assure that the performance chart and each candidate's biographical description are accurate and up-to-date. This information is included with each ballot. Specifies that a player can refuse to be
nominated to be on living player Specifies when the ballot package is to be sent and when ballots are counted. Establishes HoFC operating procedures. Removes the "W" and "A" (writers and administrators) from the living and deceased performance charts. Item 022-53: Bridge Bulletin The size of The Bridge Bulletin will be determined by Management. Carried. Nay 4, 5. Comment: Management believes that our ACBL Bridge Bulletin, in its current state, is not a good marketing tool to attract new members or commercial advertisers. They want a larger size with glossy pages, like most large national magazines. Along with that change, they wish to cease providing inserts/onserts to the districts and units. Currently, nine (9) districts (including our district) and two units (2) publish an insert/onsert in the ACBL Bridge Bulletin. I proposed an amendment to the motion to require that the insert/onsert service be offered to the districts and units with the new magazine format, but it failed. While I am disappointed that our district will lose its insert, I strongly support the new magazine format. Item 022-54: Sub-Committee for Rules and Regulations The President will appoint a sub-committee to write rules and regulations, and define relationships for ACBL-managed Computer Championships, including but not limited to disciplinary procedures for the Championships. Carried without dissent. Comment: Whether we like it or not, computer bridge is here to stay and will become an increasing presence in our game. We are probably tardy in addressing the specific issues that this form of play will present to our game. Item 002-17: Family Membership The ACBL resolves to reduce the family membership fee by $5.00 regardless of their point holding status. Deferred to the Fall 2002 Board meeting. Carried without dissent. Comment: This was a proposal from the Board of Governors. It was deferred so that the staff could get more accurate information on the cost impact if it was implemented. Item 022-19: Entry Fees for Summer 2003 NABC Entry fees at the 2003 Summer NABC in Long Beach will be adjusted to cover expenses associated with convention center rental. Not Carried. Unanimous Comment: The Board did not want to get into the practice of changing entry fees at each NABC to cover that site’s variable costs. Hence the above vote. However, this begs the even larger question, "Who should pay for the playing space costs at an NABC, all players (via entry fees) or the players staying at the tournament hotels (via sleeping room rebates)?" I favor the former, but the ACBL has traditionally leaned toward the latter method. For instance, players staying at the host hotel in Long Beach will be paying approximately $10/night extra to offset the costs of the playing space. Since all players use the playing space, it doesn’t seem fair to me. Item 022-311: Audit Committee Charter The Audit Committee charter is adopted. Carried without dissent. Comment: The Audit Committee has been in place for a number of years. (I am the Chair this year.) However, an exact description of its duties and/or responsibilities has never been defined. Item 022-90: Conditions of Contest I. The following Conditions of Contest are approved as attached, effective immediately: A. ACBL General Conditions of Contest B. David Bruce and Sally Young Limited LM Pairs (Mini-LM pairs) C. General Conditions and Guidelines for STaCs II. The Conditions of Contest for 2002 are reaffirmed for 2003 (Management is permitted to change dates as required and wording without changing the intent of the content) with the following changes: A. Appendix G is amended as follows: The opening leader is permitted to ask for clarification in writing from his or her opponent on the other side of the screen, and third hand is permitted to ask for clarification in writing after the screen is raised. Prior to the opening lead, the declaring side may, on their own initiative, confirm explanations given on the other side of the screen and is encouraged to do so for complex and potentially ambiguous auctions. B. Appendix C is amended as follows: The present four-way matches with one survivor are amended to be the appropriate number of all day three-way matches with one survivor and head to head matches. C. The Board-a-Match (BAM) General Conditions are amended as follows: ADJUSTED SCORE A strong effort must be made to achieve a valid table result at each table. When both tables achieve a valid result and they have played the identical deal, then the results are compared in the normal manner, with a BAM score for each team of zero, half, or one. A score assigned by a director or a committee is considered a valid result if it is assigned in total points prior to matchpointing (140, 400, etc.) The scores awarded to each side need not balance. The assigned score or scores are then compared against the result at the other table in the normal manner to reach a BAM score of zero, half, or one. When the scores assigned to the opposing sides are different, the BAM matchpoints for that deal need not total one. NOTE: Directors and committees shall assign adjusted scores only to the table at which an irregularity occurred, NOT to the whole team. An adjusted score at one table shall not invalidate a legitimate result at the other table. If a board is unplayable for any reason, then: 1. If the board has not yet been played at the other table, the director shall substitute a new board if practical. 2. If the board has already been played at the other table, or if substituting a new board is not practical, the director shall assign percentage scores to the pairs at the affected table, as follows: a. If neither side is responsible for the irregularity, each pair receives a matchpoint score of 50%. b. If only one side is responsible, that pair receives 40% and their opponents receive 60%. c. If both sides are responsible, they both receive 40%. These percentage assignments are NOT Average-Plus and Average-Minus. A 60-40 assignment is exactly that. 3. The result obtained at the other table is matchpointed across the field of pairs in the same comparison group who played the same board. The matchpoint percentage scores achieved by the pairs at that table are added to the assigned percentage scores at the table with the irregularity, and: a. A team that totals 120% or more receives a win. b. A team that totals 80% or less receives a loss. c. A team that totals more than 80% and less than 120% receives a half. 4. If a board is unplayable at BOTH tables, then: a. If both teams are responsible, they both receive zero. b. If neither team is responsible, they both receive half. c. If one team is responsible, it receives zero, and their opponents receive their TEAM percentage of game. This is the ONLY case in which percentage of game (of any kind) is used. 5. Any team or teams responsible for an irregularity requiring the assignment of an artificial adjusted score (percentage) shall be penalized ¼ board. FOULED BOARD Handling of a fouled board is similar to the handling of an adjusted score. When both tables achieve a valid result and they have NOT played the identical deal, then: 1. The director shall determine a matchpoint percentage score for the result at each table: a. If the board has been played at least six times in an identical condition, then the board is matchpointed across the field of pairs who played the board in that condition to produce a matchpoint percentage. b. If the board has been played fewer than six times in an identical condition, the director shall assign percentages, from best to worst, as follows: (1) Five times: 60, 55, 50, 45, 40 (2) Four times: 60, 55, 45, 40 (3) Three, two, or one time: 50% to each pair Any pairs tied at a particular score receive the average of the appropriate percentages. 2. The percentages of the two pairs on each team are added together, and: a. A team that totals 120% or more receives a win. b. A team that totals 80% or less receives a loss. c. A team that totals more than 80% and less than 120% receives a half. D. Conditions of Contest for all qualifying Swiss Teams of four sessions (two qualifying and two final) and six sessions (two qualifying, two semi-final, two final) are amended to reflect the following carryover formula with no limitation as to spread between the top and bottom qualifier: C = S * (Q/E + 1)/2 Where C = carryover S = raw score Q = # of qualifiers E = # of entrants E. The General Pair Conditions of contest are amended to include the formula for scoring a fouled board which is: FOULED BOARD OR BOARDS WITH AN ARTIFICIAL SCORE M = N x S/n + N - n/2n Where: M = final matchpoints on the board N = number of scores on the board S = matchpoint score within own group n = number of scores within own group Note this formula is used only when there are four or more scores within the same comparison group. The formula is also used on groups of three scores when it is the larger group (e.g., a board is played five times, three times fouled and twice unfouled). Otherwise the scores in a group of three are awarded matchpoint scores of 70%, 60% and 50% of top. In groups of two, the better score receives 65% of the matchpoints and the worse receives 55% of the matchpoints. A single score is awarded 60% of top for each direction. Scores are rounded to the nearest hundredth, 0.005 is rounded up. Note: This method is used anytime one or more real scores are missing from a comparison group. STaC Conditions of Contest The STaC COC were modified to: Permit a director to play even if hand records were used as long as the director did not duplicate the hands. And 1 . Add as a second sentence to 1.a. "However, Management may grant an exception for cause."Part D is deferred to the Fall 2002 meeting in Phoenix, AZ. Carried without dissent. Comment: None Item 022-91: Unseeded KO’s: The General KO Conditions of Contest are amended as follows: SEEDING There are no seeding rights. Should a seating disagreement arise: a. At the start of a match: There is a coin flip. The winner of the coin flip selects either the first half or the second half to have seating rights (the team with seating rights sits down last). The loser of the coin flip has seating rights in the other half. b. If there was no disagreement at the start of the match but there is one at the half: The team that is behind has the seating rights. If the match is tied, there will be a coin flip with the winner of the coin flip getting the seating rights. Carried. Nay: 14 Comment: None Item 022-145: Convention Card Laws Effective January 1, 2003, Clubs (for club games) are given the option of allowing players to refer to their own convention card in games under their jurisdiction. Deferred to Club Committee at the Phoenix 2002, Fall meeting. Carried. Nay: 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 21, 22. Comment: This item was deferred so that management could review the whole subject of rules for a more relaxed style of bridge. See Rich Colker’s article in the July issue of the ACBL Bridge Bulletin for a closer look at the subject. Item 022-146: 0-99 Sectional Approval A Unit not running at least two 99er Sectional tournaments per year is encouraged to grant approval to any club within its jurisdiction that applies for a sanction to run such a tournament and forward the sanction notification/application per existing regulations to the District tournament Coordinator for his or her approval. Note: Current Sectional scheduling and conflict regulations apply. Carried. Nay: 3, 25 Comment: None Item 022-147: Table Rulings by TD’s Management is instructed to develop and implement procedures consistent with the Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge which will give the Director-in-Charge of a tournament (or his or her designee) the responsibility for making a final adjudication of an appeal of a director’s ruling at that tournament. To be implemented January 1, 2004, Carried. Nay: 1, 3, 6, 10, 11, 13, 14, 23, 24, 25. Abstain: 15 Comment: This item eliminates appeals committees at all levels, including NABC+ events. We have been experimenting with this format for events below NABC+ level for a couple of years. While I lean toward the concept, we need more time to evaluate how that experiment in fairing. Clearly, the qualifications for the job of a tournament director are evolving. We need to make sure that our current staff and new hires are properly trained to meet those changing demands. The implementation date is more than a year away so that management would have time to do this. Item 022-148: No Trump Announcements No trump announcements will be required if the range is outside the 15 - 18 limit. If there is no announcement, a player is to assume that the lack of an announcement WAS an announcement. Therefore, the assumption should be that the NT was indeed a strong one. Questions pertaining to the range in the immediate seat will be deemed disruptive and dealt with as such. If the range turns out to be weaker than 15 -18, the director should make every reasonable attempt to protect the opponents from possible damage. Not Carried. Aye: 5, 9, 12, 14, 17, 18, 22, 23. Comment: You will recall that I voted against the recent alert system changes. The NT announcement requirement was just one of the reasons I did. However, since it did pass, I do not think we should tinker with it until enough time had passed to give each change a fair evaluation. (It has been on the books just since March 2002.) The above motion is just a knee jerk reaction to criticism in the initial stages because it affects all players. One of the major complaints about the alert system is that we make changes too frequently. If the NT announcement actually turns out to be a bad idea, we can always eliminate it the next time the alert system is revised. Item 022-150: District 9 Regional Tournament District 9 is allocated one additional permanent site Regional to be held in Orlando, FL. Not Carried. Aye: 2, 5, 8, 9, 12, 15, 22, 23, 24. Abstain: 3, 4. Comment: According to existing ACBL regulations, District 9 already has the allotted number of extra regionals based on the size of its membership. This action would require a change to those existing rules, thus opening the barn door for other districts to make similar requests. These changes are best made when the Board reviews the tournament allocation rules every five years. Item 022-151: Amendment of Item 911-118 Item 911-118 is amended as follows: With Management approval, a Sponsoring Organization may run a limited sectional with a maximum of 299 Masterpoints or less using local directors. Carried without dissent. Absent: 6 Comment: This is really no change from existing practices. Management just wanted it in the tournament regulations so that units would know about it. Item 022-152: Tournament Events and Restriction Items (952-112) (961-99) (973-204) (992-132) (992-133) (992-141) be combined into Item (942-78) and that (942-78) is amended to clarify the permissible method to ensure that a Flight or Flights of a Flighted KO end after no more than four sessions, the upper limit for Flight/Strat B for Regional/Sectional events is raised to 2500, the upper limit for Flight/Strat C for Regional/Sectional events is raised to 1000 as below: (additions = underline, deletions = strikeout) Events and Restrictions for ACBL Sanctioned Tournaments (942-78) (952-112) (961-99) (973-204) (992-132) (992-133) (992-141) The following event types and restrictions are authorized for ACBL Sanctioned Tournaments. Management is authorized to sanction other events on an experimental basis: EVENTS AND RESTRICTIONS
Carried. Nay: 5, 7, 14 Absent: 6 Comment: None. Item 022-312: ACBL Masterpoint Procedure 1 . Reisinger BAM and Spingold/Vanderbilt KO masterpoint awards are changed as follows:
2. Awards for NABC events when the field size is below a minimum threshold is reduced as follows: Senior and Women KO’s
Four Session Swiss and BAM Events
Pair Games
3. Section awards be modified as follows: A. Increase Flight A section awards by 10% for separate Flight A events. . Increase section awards by 10% when there is one cut in the field and by 20% when there is a second cut. . A less steep award scale (to be determined) will be used to increase section awards when multiple sections are combined for scoring purposes. 4. For all Club/Internet games with 30 or more tables, awards for positions lower than first be determined using the scale for overall awards for 4 session events. 5 . For Continent-Wide Charity games, International Fund games and District-Wide Charity games, overall and district awards be determined as follows:In Continent-wide Charity Games that use hand records, provide the following awards:
6 . The formula for KO’s is modified as follows:Reduce awards for middle brackets of large KO’s, but keep the top and bottom brackets approximately the same. In KO’s, the winner of any bracket cannot receive more than 90% of the award for the bracket immediately above. In KO’s, the minimum award for the top bracket is equal to the award for a 16 table bracket (19.93 masterpoints). A modest prestige factor (10%) will be applied to the top bracket of any KO where the average of all of the players in the bracket exceeds 7,500 masterpoints. Effective January 1, 2003. Subject to second reading at Fall 2002 Board meeting. Carried without dissent. Comment: Every five years the President appoints a Masterpoint Committee to review the overall masterpoint structure and propose any changes that may be needed. Any change to masterpoints requires two readings by the ACBL Board of Directors. This was the first reading. Item 022-300: Sponsorship Committee Action Items ACBL will develop an NABC sponsorship package to be used by local organizations. Carried without dissent. Absent: 6 Comment: The new management team is making a concerted effort to develop an active sponsorship search effort. Since most sponsors come to us via personal contacts by our members, we need to generate as much technical support from the home office as possible. Item 022-305: ACBL Bridge Bulletin Reduced Fee Policy ACBL members who reside in Mexico or District 1 may opt out of receiving the Bridge Bulletin as part of their membership benefit with a corresponding decrease of US $5.00 in their annual dues. Deferred to Phoenix Fall 2002 NABC. Carried without dissent: Absent: 6 NOTE: Management accepts as an action item to consider developing French/Spanish speaking material on the ACBL web-site including material from the Bridge Bulletin. Carried. Nay: 10 Abstain: 8. Absent: 6 Comment: I will not support any item that provides a membership benefit option to a select group of members without the entire membership having access to that option. As the agenda item was written, I could not support it. Thus, I voted against deferral. Item 022-306: ACBL/CBF Review The Canadian Affairs Committee will review ACBL/CBF issues and consider recommendations. Carried without dissent. Comment: Over the past year, the Canadian Bridge Federation has been considering the option of seceding from the ACBL. This committee was established to study and make recommendations on the issues that are unique to our Canadian members, clubs, units and districts. Please contact me if you have any questions or opinions that you wish to share:
1806-B
Saint Ann Street |
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