Forums Home / Tournaments and Challenges / Setting the Record Straight II (
View Older Thread |
View Newer Thread)
First |
1 |
Last
| brain
- 29 Mar 2015
Total Posts: 578
|
So Chris and I are taking to business approach to expand the sport. As business men, our priority is to make our customers not just happy but raving fans of our model such that, not only will we earn repeat business, but our raving fans will become our #1 marketing method by selling the idea to their friends, family, co-workers and even complete strangers.
In order to create this kind of good will with our customers, we must understand what our customers' desire. Presently, that includes means running the events by rules that people like, allowing players the flexibility to enjoy the venue where the event is held and to finish up at a decent hour so we all get sufficient sleep and can have a better chance at achieving maximum performance capability. Over time, men like Vince Schappell and Mark Robbins and even Phil Arnold, Andrew Flanagan, Travis Luscombe, Marc Sandlin, and others have contributed ideas that have helped me to develop a set of "best practices", and I think many of you would agree that the tournaments that I run are well administered.
Many of you own your own businesses. As such you have to make decisions on how to run the business. Over the years, I have accepted and paid for USAA oversight in my tournaments because I value its rules and history and because some customers value the USAA brand. However, as we have developed our business model, Chris and I have looked at the short and long term history of the USAA and reached some conclusions. Here are some facts:
|
|
|
|
| brain
- 29 Mar 2015
Total Posts: 578
|
1) In the 2013 Chicago nationals, the USAA elected head referee overstepped his bounds as head referee and forced a ruling into a match in which one of the competitors was a personal friend. That incident was a clear violation of the Head referee positions which, according to USAA "tradition", was a consulting role that only acted if an issues was escalated by a player or match official. This is one example of abuse of authority. There have been others. As a business, we cannot have elected leaders behaving in this fashion, and this referee was elected by the USAA board.
2) In 2014, I was managing the Colorado WC tournament when a match came up for a player who was not present. As I always do, I shuffled the match to later in the round. This is a practice I have done for years and was taught to me by Mark Robbins. The USAA President decided that I was violating USAA tournament procedures and convened the elected USAA Tournament Committee to try to force me to start the clock. First there are no such written procedures. Second, again this committee is appointed by the USAA board, and again, as stated in #1, this behavior would risk our higher priority goal of providing a fair and enjoyable event designed to build raving fans.
3) Then there was the bigotry that occurred in the 2013 USAA meeting in which a motion was proposed to expel a dedicated member (Marc Sandlin) because he was "retarded", and, although it did no pass, it was voted on my several prominent members including the newly elected president. No consequences were ever proposed to the proposer of this motion nor the elected leaders who voted for it. Any person who said or openly supported anything like this in any legitimate business or organization would be fired immediately. We cannot condone the behavior nor the lack of accountability that ensued.
4) Last year, in a USAA online voting session, motions were proposed designed to force promoters to divulge financials to the USAA. This is clear overreach and beyond what the USAA was meant to do. Moreover, it is hypocritical. The USAA doesn't even have its own detailed financial records which is legally required for any public organization. Any USAA board member, according to Article VII.F of the USAA Constitution, has the right to see "detailed financial records", and the Treasurer has a Constitution duty to provide them. The unwillingness of the USAA leadership to provide these records and violate its own Constitution is a breach of business ethics. Proper tracking of financials and decisions surrounding capital spend are a minimal requirement for any organization managing money.
|
|
|
|
| brain
- 29 Mar 2015
Total Posts: 578
|
5) For this event coming up, Chris and I saw no strategic advantage to asking for USAA sanctioning. Initially we were not going to apply. We asked for it because Danny Hynes, and Lazaro Garcia and several of our current raving asked us to. We thoroughly scrutinized the rules regarding sanctioning and followed all guidelines in our request except the money which I explained in another thread in detail (and match recording control). As explained in #5, USAA leadership had refused to show me detailed financial records when I asked back in 2012, when I calculated a significant discrepancy in the amount of money it held versus what it should have collected. Furthermore, Lazaro and Mark Waheed agreed to pay the fee on our behalf. The USAA board has said they cannot do that. That is not written. It is our belief that certain members of the USAA do not want to sanction the event, and they are bending and twisting and investing rules and "traditions" as needed to achieve that outcome.
6) Several USAA board members have engaged in mud-slinging tactics declaring that our event is not a real tournament and that players should not attend. How exactly is this supporting section I of the USAA Constitution regarding Duties and Goals? From where we stand, sections I.A, I.B, and I.E have been violated by this behavior. The USAA is supposed to help the sport grow. To openly discredit the longest tenured promoter who has run more tournaments than anybody else in the sport's history doesn't coincide with the goal of growing the sport. What it says is that the USAA is not supporting anything unless it has full authority over it.
7) The USAA asserts that Air Hockey should have only one sanctioning body. AHPA doesn't agree with that premise. We're not advocating the eradication of the USAA. In fact we embrace its history, rules, and rankings and acknowledge that they have been excellent. It is our position that competition in this realm will result in greater productivity for the sport. And just look at what has happened since AHPA was announced. The USAA has gotten organized, created a Facebook page, started in motion the effort to build an official web site, conducted daily business, and even allegedly found 1-2 of its prominent members to sponsor a USAA tournament this year. None of this was even a consideration prior to our announcement. It seems to us that the sudden introduction of competition has lit a fire under the USAA.
|
|
|
|
| brain
- 29 Mar 2015
Total Posts: 578
|
AHPA will operate on a solid Air Hockey sport infrastructure designed to attract, connect, and maintain players worldwide, continue to improve the way events are managed, and build meaningful business relationship with vendors, media, similar sporting organizations, and sponsors. We will create a hierarchical organization which includes some elective representations bodies (like rules) and will give others direct authority over their business units (like a business). AHPA will seek to generate revenue and eventually build a profitable company with real jobs and titles and financial compensation which would mean a lot of events and a lot of players which would be needed to sustain that business model. How exactly is that bad for the sport?
In addition to everything else Chris and I want to change, we believe the most important change is a change of culture. If you don't agree with what we are doing, then you do not have to support it. If you don't want to come and play in the Colorado World Championship, then you are free to choose not to come. If you feel compelled to continue to paint Chris and me as bad men with bad motives who only want to divide the sport and thus discourage players from coming, then do as you will. Those claims are completely false, and that type of behavior are unprofessional and juvenile in nature, and we'll choose not to respond with people who choose this approach. We're choosing to be above that. Instead of wasting precious energy and resources in this unproductive manner, we are going to lead by example and focus our energies on developing a quality product for the current and future raving fans. I personally believe in our customers and believe that when they consider my contributions to the sport for the past 19 years combined with the degree of professionalism that Chris has demonstrated along with the impressive relationships he has already built in getting us plugged into a professional sporting organization, they will see that the opportunity far exceeds any risk.
|
|
|
| fupersly
- 29 Mar 2015
Total Posts: 231
|
Thanks for the explanation, Brian - as a USAA member myself, I wish you guys all the best in making your tournament the best it can be. I saw first-hand evidence of how hard you and Chris worked last year to make the 2014 Worlds happen, and I know everyone who attends an event you two are responsible for in 2015 will get their money's worth as we all did last year.
I can't speak to all of the issues you mentioned regarding what you view as the USAA's historical shortcomings as I was not present or directly responsible for many/any of them. I am but one voice, two regimes removed from the last time I served on the executive board. As you well know, the USAA is comprised of individuals, each of whom are driven by their own personal beliefs and have different tolerances for certain types of behavior. As vexing as it can be, I have stuck with the USAA because I believe it does great good for the sport of Air Hockey, even if those within it do not always conform to what my personal vision of "proper" behavior should be. As one example, I voted against the reinstatement of the individual responsible for the incident you referred to in your 3rd point and was out-voted, but used that same voting power to vote against the motion proposed by that individual (as did many others) to keep it from passing. I'm sure you're aware that I have also disagreed with your actions during your time representing the USAA in various capacities, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate and respect what you've done and continue to do for the sport, and I can only hope you believe me when I say I wish you (and Chris) the best of luck in your endeavors.
Also, for the record, regarding the details you outlined in your fifth point, I am not aware of any reason why this would not be allowed. I'm not suggesting you made that up, but as a USAA member, I would like to believe that was just a misunderstanding as it has no material bearing on how the fee gets paid. Even if you used money from the tournament to pay it, you could simply reimburse yourself with the money from whoever wanted to donate it to the AHPA and consider the matter closed.
Again, I wish you and Chris the best of luck running an amazing event in Colorado this year, and hope that everyone who can make it takes advantage and plays as much world-class Air Hockey as they possibly can. 
|
|
|
| ajflanagan
- 30 Mar 2015
Total Posts: 509
|
Wil is so right. You guys desperately need a PR person.
|
First |
1 |
Last
Forums Home / Tournaments and Challenges / Setting the Record Straight II
|
|
