Membership

[state of mind]

So, work is slow today and I put together a quick comparison of memberships. This is stemming from the discussion over on the National Team section - tail-end of the "Athlete Agreement" thread where we wandered off onto the topic of requiring membership for the junior's regional qualifiers.

We repeatedly see people saying things about "I don't see what I get for my membership" and I got to wondering how high our dues are relative to comps, and what we get relative to them. Here's the first bit of comparison; more will show up as long as my director doesn't assign stuff to me

And my apologies - if there's a table format here I can't find it. So lists. USRA, USS = USA Swimming, ARA = British Amateur Rowing Assn, RCA = Rowing Canada

COST
USRA: $65 (US)
USS: $54 (US)
ARA: 44pd
RCA: $42 (CAN)

PUBLICATIONS - Yes to all, pretty similar

REQUIRED TO COMPETE
USRA: USRowing-owned regattas only
USS: ALL USS sanctioned meets
ARA: ALL (registered)
RCA: ??

REQUIRED FOR COMPETITION COVERAGE
USRA: No
USS: Yes
ARA: Yes
RCA: ??
Note that this is trivially true for USS and ARA since you can't compete at all in events they register if you aren't a member.

LIABILITY AND ACCIDENT COVERAGE - Yes to all

ONLINE RESOURCES, PURCHASING DISCOUNTS - Yes to all

So, pretty similar except - leaving aside RCA since I can't tell what they require, we are the ONLY one of these NGBs that extends the benefits of our organization, insurance, referees, infrastructure, etc. to non-members. To list just a few examples: Crew Classic, Stotesbury Cup, Head of the Charles, Head of the Schuylkill, SIRA are all registered with USRowing and to the best of my knowledge do NOT require individual memberships.

One other note - they all have varied fee levels; I've given the highest annual fee, which is typically for senior/elite athletes. Juniors pay about 25% less. What is notable, though, is that the other NGBs don't charge (or only charge minimally) for non-racing members, while USRowing charges full fees for volunteers.

[bendtheoar]

A couple of thoughts here regarding the issue of competing at a USRowing registered as opposed to a USRowing run regatta.

The following are points that apply to regattas that are not RUN by USRowing but are only registered with USRowing. First, it is my understanding that if you want to have be a USRowing regatta and be covered by the USRowing regatta insurance, you as in the regatta have to pay an insurance premium over and above any USRowing membership fees you may have already paid by either the LOC organization as well as all the organizations competing at said regattas who are USRowing organizational members. The regatta organizers no doubt pass the cost of that premium along to the participants of the regatta so a portion of the regatta fees per person are going to USRowing through the regatta LOC. Second, The regatta, employs, and I use that term loosely given the low "wages" paid, race officials who have been trained and/or certified pursuant to the USRowing referee certification program. However, the relationship between the regatta and the officials is not tied to USRowing in any way in terms of control or direction. Therefore the expense of employing and housing those officials falls entirely on the LOC, and quite frankly, even the efforts of recruiting and training those officials is often more a result of LOC efforts than any effort by USRowing. Again those expenses are borne by the LOC and presumably passed on to the participants in their fees. Third, all other expenses incurred by the LOC from medals and trophies to security, transportation, police, launches, EMT's, to port-a-potties are the sole responsibility of the LOC which presumably passes all those costs on to the regatta participants. None of those costs are borne by USRowing, nor has USRowing done anything to justify "charging" the individual participants of the regatta a fee. If the LOC decides to charge the participants an individual fee to participate in their regatta they would certainly be entitled to do so as they have a quid pro quo relationship with those participants. USRowing, which does not provide anything directly to the participants has no leg to stand on in asking or demanding payment by individuals to who it is giving nothing in return. Such contracts would be invalid as lacking in consideration. If USRowing were to attempt to force the issue by banning the referees it has certified from working at regattas that do not require individual memberships they would essentially be restraining the rights of individuals to contract as they choose to. USRowing does not own the referees. USRowing does not contract out their services. USRowing simply certifies the fitness to act as referees in much the same manner as it does coaches through it's coaching education program. Simply because a coach is certified to a certain level by USRowing does not implicitly allow USRowing to then dictate where that coach can or cannot work.

There is a totally different situation when it comes to regattas which are not just registered with USRowing but are run by the organization. In that instance all expenses listed above in terms of the running of the regatta are borne by USRowing. Even is there is an LOC which has contracted with USRowing, the expenses including insurance, etc. are borne by USRowing and as such there is a rational connection between the individual participants and USRowing which can provide the basis and justification for requiring individual membership in the organization in order to participate in the regatta. It is simply the organization's decision of how to distribute the fees and/or use the regatta as a means of covering some of the organizational annual costs that go into running those regattas. As soon as USRowing agrees to cover all the expenses for the LOC's in USRowing "registered" regattas, they will have a more defensible purported justification for demanding that individuals competing at said regatta become individual members of USRowing to help cover their costs. At least then the individual members so charged will be receiving something more than a membership card from USRowing in return for their money.

Having said all that, I will also point out that I believe a robust NGB for the sport is essential and desirable. I strongly believe that membership in USRowing by rowers at all levels is beneficial and can help our sport. While it is easy to lambaste USRowing, it is vastly more difficult to come up with solutions that will serve all the athletes of the sport at all levels. The way for USRowing to increase its membership base is not to shove membership requirements down the throats of individuals who are part of the growth of the sport. It is not to bully regatta directors into requiring individual memberships of their participants in order to retain the services of referees and/or retain bids to USRowing regattas such as the Youth Nationals. Such tactics are easily seen as clear and unadulterated efforts to grab a big amount of money without having to do anything for it. All those bully tactics will only serve to drive people away from the organization with a bad taste in their mouths and instead of promoting the growth of the sport will serve to create conflict which will drive away referees, coaches, regatta organizers and volunteers as well as probably remove more money from the treasury of USRowing as it goes on to more litigation in defense of indefensible positions. I have defended USRowing for years in terms of the efforts of its hard working staff to do things for the participants, but the one thing which I continue to be amazed at is the narrow individual focus of so many people in the organization who only look at USRowing as a means to advance their own narrow agenda in the sport when the NGB of rowing should be looking at the bigger picture and providing the means for every participant and competitor in the sport to benefit from it's existence. At some point USRowing has to start acting like a group of adults and not a bunch of undisciplined children who are trying to bully everyone into giving them all the toys without having figured out a way to get them in the first place.

USRowing is in need of funds. The economy is not good. But it seems that instead of sitting around trying to figure out how to bleed more money out of the individuals involved in the sport from high school kids to national team candidates and team members, the leadership of the sport's National Governing Body should spend some time looking at ways to make their experience in the sport more rewarding and successful. USRowing is like the church fund-raising group that holds bake sales and dances which only the church members go to and then tell the congregation how their fund-raising efforts have done so much to relieve the economic demands the church places on its members. Eventually the members get sick and tired of paying to buy their own cakes and dancing to music played by their own kids.

Not sure why I started this post, and as sometimes happens it has gotten much longer than was intended. I have been a member of USRowing since my original membership number had only four digits. The organization could do so much for the sport, but the reality of the present day situation is that all the growth of the sport is taking place outside of the purview of USRowing. Instead of being a part of the cause of that growth it often seems like USRowing just wants to cash in on it without really providing much service in return. There is something seriously lacking when there starts to be an annual discussion of breakaway organizations to promote different levels of the sport from juniors to masters to elite level rowing centers.

[state of mind]

Current quotes:

Organizational memberships:
$1150: 0-20 active rowers
$1350: 21-75
$1600: 76-150
$1800: 151-300
$2100: >300

$950: if all active rowers are current members of USRowing.
$350 if not using USRowing insurance.

So basically a club pays $350 for membership, allowing competition in USRowing-registered events, giving some $$ to the NGB for admin, lights, whatever. The insurance coverage is for all rowing-related activities EXCEPT competitions. So training, travel, etc.

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Regatta registration (which provides liability & excess medical coverage):

Indoor regatta: $200
1-500 : $350
501-1000 : $750
1001-1500 : $1250
>1500 : $1500

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I have no idea what the actual premiums are to the underwriter vs. what USRowing keeps in admin costs. But these seem to be pretty good premiums so I'm guessing most goes to the underwriter. Which means USRowing gets $350 per club per year in fees. Period. Also, realize that in at least some of the high school areas the high schools have done an end-run around this fee by creating an overall membership body, so instead of 30 high schools paying memberships, one membership is paid for all of them. Probably necessitated by the rules of their high school athletics administrations, but still.