Region 3 Director Report – September 2026

The ACBL Summer Board Meetings that were held in July at the site of the Summer NABC in Minneapolis were very productive.    Under the current president, Cindy Shoemaker, all committees meet online to conduct business on Zoom prior to the NABC, which allows more efficient use of time at the face-to-face meetings.

Finance

My job on the ACBL board is to Chair the Finance Committee and I am also the Treasurer of the ACBL and I can report that the financial picture of our organization is sound.    The ACBL received a clean audit report from our outside auditing firm.  The audit is available on the ACBL website.

Membership

The not so happy story is the decline in membership of 6% since last year.

Masterpoints

A major change in the way masterpoints are computed at tournaments was approved and will be effective January 1, 2027.     Most masterpoint awards will increase and there will also be an increase in masterpoints based on the strength of the playing field.    Masterpoints in team games will increase to provide more equity with pair games.

The masterpoints awarded at I/N Regionals were increased from 33% gold to 50% gold effective July of 2026.

Tournaments

Units and Districts were given the authority to use ACBL Certified Local Sectional Directors for Local Sectionals, while also awarding players 100% Silver Masterpoints, effective January 1, 2027.

Future NABCs

The structure of the spring and fall NABCs will change to a new schedule starting in the fall of 2028.  New titanium masterpoints will be introduced for players with under 10,000 masterpoints.    A summary and FAQs on the new “Championships for All” are available here.

New future NABC sites were approved:   San Francisco for Spring of 2029, Montreal for Spring of 2030 and Los Angeles for fall of 2030.

The complete report from the meetings can be found here.   Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Joann