this resolution requires a vote of the board of directors unless Weiss, its author, withdraws or tables the motion.
I have not read the By-Laws, but under RRO, wouldn’t it require a Second before it could even be considered?
“I have not read the By-Laws, but under RRO, wouldn’t it require a Second before it could even be considered?”
the second’s already in place. however, i don’t think it requires a second to be put on the agenda, just to be subject to a vote. it’s on the agenda, it will be discussed, on March 20, the second day of the board meeting. this is not a weiss flyer. based on my discussions with them, several board members are ready to bolt, absent anyone changing their minds or their finding out something they don’t currently know, and are ready to do so right now if the USOC’s posture remains as it is.
I see USAT’s point - what do we get from USOC? Not a damn thing I can see. Maybe 300 some odd folks will not agree…
Wonderful. If we ever see the minutes of this meeting, we’ll know who stands where on the issue. Well done.
Oh, I think the word is “principals”, not “principles”, when referring to people. Hope that typos don’t kill a proposal according to RRO…
Way to go. Now we’ll see what the USOC is really made of.
So if the board votes to split, in all likelihood all the hub hub about Nationals won’t reallyu matter, because none of those athletes would probably be allowed to race in Honolulu at World’s, right?
Is there a relationship between World Cup and the USOC?
Hooray for USAT! I’m glad they had the balls to do this. I think this is SO the right move. Sorry elites, we appreciate your endeavors and olympic dreams, but it is time for us to focus on ourselves for a while.
My understanding is that ITU only recognizes USAT’s legitimacy because the USOC has assigned USAT as the national governing body. If the USAT loses/gives up NGB status, then the USAT championships would be meaningless as far as the ITU is concerned…
“because none of those athletes would probably be allowed to race in Honolulu at World’s, right?”
which worlds in honolulu is that?
Slowman
Is is really as simple as voting to approve then moving off to the sunset? Does USOC have any rights to our assets? Is the assumption that USOC and the elites would then be on their own to set up and fund an NGB just for them?
Are there other examples of such a model? Maybe something like softball that is played as recreation by the masses and an elite levels in the Olympics.
USAT can’t even pick a date and stage their own national championship races properly. They should worry about that instead of your dream “we’ll put on our own world championships”.
Dan,
If USAT severs it ties with the USOC, then does it also sever ties from the ITU ? Without a triathlon fed based in the largest tri market in the world, as one of its members, is the ITU not in some “trouble” with the IOC or am I reading too much into this ?
Dev
“Does USOC have any rights to our assets?”
no, they don’t. and even tho they said that they do, they don’t, and i spoke to the person above the person who threatened this act and he admitted to me that they have no such right.
however, they do have a right to anything they’ve paid us for the 2005 year, and they haven’t paid us anything yet. so we can walk out the door and that’s it.
if we pull out, the USOC has a responsibility for these olympic style triathletes, for their style of sport, and they’ll have to figure out what it is they want to do.
here’s what fucks it up for the USOC. we don’t need them. this is rare among the 46 federations under their umbrella. but there are a LOT of federations, i am betting, that are tired of getting pushed around by the USOC. i’ve spoken to folks in several of these federations, and none of them are fans of the USOC. so, perhaps we’re the first to bolt, and the other NFs are certainly going to watch this very closely.
the USOC needs to recognize that they’re in a partnership, not a master/slave relationship. they say they understand this, but they don’t. it’s always a power play. it’s always a set of dictates, not negotiations. the negotiations are simply their way of finding palatable ways to tell us what they’re telling us. no wiggle room here.
so, unless they begin to understand that they have to deal with a member-owned, member-run federation, as EQUAL partners, then they just inherited the entire funding burden for an entire (olympic style) sport. they’ll have to explain to the congress that allows them their monopoly why this is so. should the USOC simply abandon triathlon, then perhaps congress will make triathlon an exception, and say that “if the USOC orphans a sport then it de facto loses the monopoly and another governing body can come in and take over the ownership of that NGB franchise.”
in that case, then we don’t need the USOC at all, and we can take care of our own, and the USOC can no longer say to its sponsors that it husbands all olympic sport in america. right now, the USOC owns the “franchise”, that is, the right to declare an organization an Olympic NGB. but, if they let a sport lie fallow, perhaps they might lose that franchise. so, they risk losing that privilage if they don’t fund triathlon, and the way to abate that risk is to fund it. now, we’ll help fund it. but we won’t be dicated to. there is NO way the USOC can find a better, richer, partner than USAT. so the best way to skate out of this problem is for the USOC to change its tune.
however, there are certain people, well, one specific person, whose behavior is governed more by emotion than rationale, and i’m afraid this person is going to have to be in on these meetings with us. this one person at the USOC is going to be the stumbling block. we’ll see if he’s really willing to bring his own federation to its knees by sticking to his guns.
My guess is that if USAT splits with USOC, then USOC will simply assist in creating a new governing body for triathlon which would be affiliated with the ITU.
“They should worry about that instead of your dream “we’ll put on our own world championships”.”
the reason we can’t pick a date is that we’ve been operating under a bad paradigm for choosing nats. that’s over after 2005. from now on we’ll pick one site, one permanent site, for nationals and that’s it, and we’re seearching for that site right now. the only reason i and others aren’t flying around on planes right now looking at sites is that many of them are still covered over by winter.
likewise, we ought to pick a permanent worlds site and that’s that. invite the world. or, be designated by the ITU the official NGB for AGers in the US if we do in fact leave the USOC. then we’re all buddies.
personally, i’m tired of getting buttfucked by the ITU and the USOC and i’d like to do some fucking back. or, some getting along. but it takes more than one side to get along. you guys don’t realize the degree to which USAT swings a very, very big member in triathlon worldwide—which is important in a member-driven organization 
should USAT drive its member hard up the posterior cavity of those entities that have been smacking us over the head for lo these many years, there’s going to be a rumble.
there is one thing that triathlon in america has not had in a very, very long time: an issue where all sides are arrayed together as one. when jack, and i, and lew kidder, and many of the pros represented by an agent like murphy reinschrieber, and all the big race directors, when we’re all on the same page, there is no organization, not the USOC, not the ITU, that is going to be able to just ignore this, or treat it lightly. the ITU absolutely risks triathlon in the games if USAT makes enough noise to enough people. imagine triathlon in the games without americans in it, or with americans that are sub-par because the USOC screwed this thing up. the USOC absolutely risks its relationships with its other NFs, and imperils its own stature, if it lets this thing escalate.
…I take it this hypothetical new federation would then have zero members ? Or perahps 50 elite atheletes ?
“is the ITU not in some “trouble” with the IOC”
if we pull out, it’s shockwaves.
Thanks, this is what I thought. It would be like USTFA pulling out IAAF !