Bet that headline got your attention...
Well guys and gals, I was chatting with a buddy who seldom posts here the other day who happens to be pretty savvy about all things ABC related and he was able to direct me to pdf downloads of the proposed changes.
http://www.bowl.com/bowl/BowlDotCom/common/static.html?page=bowl_singlemembership_2003proposal#proposalSawbones appears rather prescient when in another thread he anticipates that the reduced costs promised by the new USBC would not be passed on to the bowlers. Indeed... we will probably see a significant dues increase.
In section B of the National Bylaws we found this...
"Section B. Dues
USBC members are required to pay dues to USBC, to local associations, as well as to state associations that assess dues in combined amounts established by USBC.
Annual adult membership dues are:
USBC dues not to exceed $10
State dues not to exceed $1
Local dues not to exceed $ 10"
So your USBC card could potentially cost you as much as $21 this coming season depending on how much your local asks you for. I'd pretty well count on paying the full $11 for the national and state. The worst thing about all this to me is after looking over the financial report I've concluded that the reason the powers that be are in the hole is because they spend too much money telling you how great they are.
There's no good way to insert the books here since they were done in a graphic format inside the relevant PDF file. However here is a link to the download you need. You will find the relevant numbers on page 10 and 11 of the "proposal" section.
http://www.bowlingmembership.com/PDF/Section%201_Proposal.pdfABC claims to have suffered a net cash flow loss of ($556,338) on income of $27,383,531 (roughly half the income coming from league dues and the other half from tournaments) and expenses of 28,288,245.
The largest expenses were $12.4 million on tournaments and another $3.4 mill on awards. Just a little bit more restraint in the PR department would have saved enough for the organization to break even -- ABC spent $2.6 million on "Publications, PR, Marketing and Industry Partnership".
Of course half of the ABC's "loss" is in the form of $280,046 worth of "depreciation" - a paper loss that may or may not have any bearing on the real world.
The WIBC claims income of $14,660,362. Roughly $9.6 million comes from membership fees with another $4.6 million from tournaments. Their largest single expense is $4.4 million on tournaments. WIBC expenses total $16,752,008 for a net loss of $1,988,395.
Despite having a smaller membership, the WIBC spent more than twice as much money on their annual meeting as ABC did. $748,327 vs. the ABC's $312,908 and a whopping $2,794,071 on "Publications, PR, Marketing and Industry Partnership". Hardly responsible conduct for an organization that is bleeding money. ABC almost looks like a model of fiscal restraint by way of comparison.
YABA had total income of $4,472,536. $3.7 million coming from membership fees. Total expenses were $4,647,394 for a net loss of $174,858. Again getting the PR spending under control would have solved the financial problem. YABA was the only governing body to spend more money on PR than tournaments - $938,404 went to the infamous "Publications, PR, Marketing and Industry Partnership" category.
On the plus side the USBC does at least anticipate meaningful savings after the transition expenses are paid... Quoting from the report....
"Projections made in this proposal indicate we will be in a better financial position merging than remaining separate.
These projections include:
Ÿ The combined 2003-04 organizational budgets reflect a $2,698,731 deficit cash flow.
Ÿ The proposed USBC budget results in a $289,230 positive cash flow.
Ÿ Transition costs over the three-year period total $5,567,000.
Ÿ The savings generated through the merger in those three years will be $9,199,000. This means transition costs could be recouped within two years."
Edited on 5/7/2004 1:08 PM
Edited on 5/7/2004 1:16 PM
