USA Rugby's New Plan For Everything
USA Rugby's New Plan For Everything
USA Rugby's Board of Directors has issued a statement to be published today that will outline its response to the current financial crisis.
The statement can be seen here>>
USA Rugby's statement acknowledges some pretty harsh truths, and for that the Board and National Office Leadership should be commended. Saying : "we agree that the National Office under its current form is not in a position to effectively service the diverse needs and wants of all stakeholders, from youth rugby through to senior national teams" can't have been easy. It basically says USA Rugby has failed as an organization.
But never fear, USA Rugby has the answer, too. The answer was coming anyway, you see. They had a ten-year strategic plan already in place and they just need to speed up the timeline.
USA Rugby is springing into action, and in fact had planned to all along. It wasn't that they were asleep at the wheel after losing $4 million in 2018 (which is 12 months ago). As the statement says: "The current financial situation has been a catalyst to this expedited action."
Don't worry, USA Rugby is on it. They have formed a task force.
This will be a task force of 12 people:
Ross Young (current USA Rugby CEO), Jon Bobbett (heads up USA Rugby Partners and is the guy representing those that donate large amounts to USA Rugby), Eric Gleason (current USA Rugby CFO), Jim Brown (current USA Rugby Boardmember who worked on the FIFA World Cup), a Financial Advisor to be named, and a Legal advisor to be named.
Also in that list of 12 will be an advisory panel of representatives from: Youth (which covers hgh school and youth), College, Club, International Athletes, High Performance, and Referees.
Dues Will Go Up
There at the bottom of the statement, after they talk about giving constituents more responsibility and empowering existing community rugby organizations, they say this:
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July 31, 2019 (sic) – USA Rugby and local member organization implement go-forward dues structure following outcome of new organizational structure.
(They meant 2020)
This means you dues will go up.
Is It Too Late?
Are organizations looking to divorce from USA Rugby and manage their own dues, referees, and liability insurance? Will last-minute changes at USA Rugby stop that?
Let Us Know
What do you know that we don't? What do you see in the task force, the response from USA Rugby, or what you're hearing on the ground that people need to know?