Some days ago Paul Hackett announced that the 2014 Warren Buffett Bridge Cup had been cancelled. He said: “On April 12 I received an email from Jill Levin stating that some members of the USBF were not approving of the team proposed and had decided that they would not provide the airfares for their players.”.
The selected team consisted of: Jeff Meckstroth & Eric Rodwell, Bobby Levin & Steve Weinstein, Eric Greco & Geoff Hampson, Kevin Bathurst & Justin Lall, Joel Wooldridge & John Hurd, Jenny Wolpert & Jill Meyers.
The Buffett Cup Committee was composed of Bob Hamman, Jill Levin and Warren Spector.
The USBF President Howard Weinstein has today published a statement about the role of USBF in the 2014 Buffett Cup.
Mr Weinstein explains: “On March 13th the Board agreed to fund these expenses only if we had material input on team selection”.
As the team was chosen by Buffett Cup Committee with no Board input, on April 10th the Board repealead its March 13, 2014 resolution regarding funding for the 2014 Buffett Cup team.
There are sevent members on the USBF board: Howard Weinstein, Sue Picus, Bob Katz, Marty Fleischer, Sylvia Moss, Cheri Bjerkin and Jonathan Weinstein On April, three of them supported the funding of the team. The other four members opposed because they objected the selection process.
Therefore, the new Resolution (April 10, 2014), by which the USBF Board repealed the founding already established on March 13, passed 4-3.
Board Resolution Without Meeting, April 10, 2014
Passed by a 4-3 Electronic VoteBy resolution dated March 13, 2014, the Board voted to support the 2014 Buffett Cup by paying business class airfare for the U.S. players competing in that event and their NPC (subject to a cap of $75,000). That decision was predicated upon our expectation that our Board would both have final approval of the team and be materially involved with the process for selecting the team. Subsequently, however, whether due to a miscommunication or otherwise, the team was selected without any involvement from the Board members we designated to work on this project, and we were emphatically told that we cannot alter its composition. As a result, we do not approve funding for the team as selected; i.e., a team chosen through the closed process that was used here. The Board hereby repeals its March 13, 2014 resolution regarding funding for the 2014 Buffett Cup team.
We want to make clear that we have no reservations about the skills of the players who apparently intend to represent the U.S. in the upcoming competition. To the contrary, we have the highest regard for those players, many of whom have represented the U.S. in world championships. Today’s decision rests solely upon our disapproval of the process used to select that team, which resulted in our Board being asked to rubber stamp a fait accompli without having meaningful input.
Source: USBF »
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Read statement from Allavena and Hackett about the Buffett Cup »