GNCC and USA Curling in one word: Accountability
This post is a quick intro to or substitute for the long blog posts I’ve written, all based on countless hours (I’m figuring 100, easily) spent poring over 990 forms and board minutes, exchanging emails, doing a survey of clubs, etc.
USA Curling is responsible for developing the sport in the United States. Federal law and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) bylaws and policies spell out certain responsibilities.
In 2014, the powers that be told USA Curling to make its national teams better. USCA responded with several changes that pleased the USOPC but weren’t necessarily popular with curling clubs, the vast majority of whom include USCA membership dues as part of each curler’s club registration.
Meanwhile, the Grand National Curling Club (GNCC) grew rapidly. It was the USCA regional association for the East Coast, including the Southeast, a huge growth area. It decided it wasn’t happy with USCA services, and so they started many of their own. It’s still all-volunteer, but it charges much more than other regions charge: $15/member. Other regions are paying as little as $3/member. If you have a club of 300 full members, that’s a $4,500 bill compared with $900 for a comparable club elsewhere.
Many people argue that we get what we pay for. The GNCC has awesome spiels, I hear, though it’s tough to parse out how much of our fees go to underwriting them when some costs are defrayed by entry fees as well. The GNCC has peer-to-peer mentoring for new clubs. It has its own insurance program, and it lends stones and money to clubs. USCA does the same things as well, sometimes at an intentional financial loss, but the GNCC’s insurance program is empirically better. (Whether it’s so much better than we should all be paying $6/member more for an optional service in addition to our mandatory membership fee of $15/member, I’ll leave to people who’ve run actuarial tables.)
Enter Jeff Plush, whom I recalled from my women’s soccer coverage as an ineffective commissioner with the National Women’s Soccer League. He was hired as USA Curling’s CEO, and he was a disaster, dictating terms to the GNCC (best/worst example: insisting that clubs must pay for USCA’s insurance).
The GNCC responded by digging in its heels. The flashpoint: The GNCC decided it didn’t have to force its members to be members of USA Curling as well.
USA Curling insisted that its regional association must function as a regional association. Most of the rest of the country agreed, and the GNCC was kicked out.
Plush has since resigned, followed by board chair Lynn LaRocca and other board members, for unrelated reasons. Interim CEO Dean Gemmell, who has firm GNCC roots, has embarked on reform efforts.
Some clubs decided that wasn’t enough, and they resigned from USA Curling. Surprisingly, though a lot of clubs left, Gemmell reported recently that membership was near its pre-pandemic high.
But USA Curling needs to be held accountable because it’s essential. We need a strong National Governing Body, as explained in another epic blog post. If they can’t do it, we need to push for decertification and a new NGB.
And the GNCC has to be held accountable as well. Going back to being a regional association is unlikely. Covering the entire East Coast with one region was already awkward and inefficient. And for years, they’ve taken their $15/member fees and built up a large pile of assets. Their programs are beloved, but it’s worth asking why members underwrite some costs of bonspiels in which they won’t play that don’t lead to national championships. And those programs don’t cost much, being driven by volunteers.
For years, no one questioned why we were spending this money. I certainly didn’t. This controversy should make us take a closer look. In my conversations with GNCC leaders, they see little reason to change a thing. One example: Some GNCC leaders have been pushing for individual memberships in USA Curling, but they don’t want to do that in the GNCC.
I’m an idealist. I think solutions exist. We just have to see where we are and where we can go.
The detailed posts:
- The last word (from me, anyway) on Plush’s response to sexual misconduct allegations in the NWSL and how USA Curling responded
- The importance of a strong NGB and all the responsibilities it has
- GNCC and USA Curling finances
- GNCC and USA Curling history
- GNCC and USA Curling future
