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Aug-2026
2026 Summer National Board Report
Jackie Zayac
I attended the summer ACBL Board Meetings from July 6-9, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was my first time in Minneapolis, and I thought it was a nice city with many wonderful restaurants, interesting walks, and great shopping. There were fires in Canada and Minnesota which brought smoke to the area for a few days, but the covered skyway to the convention center gave the players an alternate route to use to keep from going outside to reach the venue.
I have some good news for you. District 21 was approved to host the 2029 Spring NABC in San Francisco. I am not allowed to give out the name of the hotel until the contract is finalized, which is expected to happen sometime in September. This will be the second NABC using the new NABC events only model. I have attached some preliminary information about the new NABC model that will be used for the Spring and Fall NABCs to this email. The model will be further defined in the months ahead.
I am also attaching a copy of the 2026 Summer National Board Report. I encourage you to read it as there are numerous changes coming to the ACBL and the details are in the Summer National Board Report. Here are some of the highlights:
The ACBL is financially sound and the Finance Committee performed its review of the investment portfolio which did not need to be rebalanced.
The ACBL will finally be able to retire the AS 400 from service after August 11, 2026. Please expect some problems to occur for the next few months while the IT Department works out unanticipated bugs in the system. The IT Department will take over our new system without outside vendor support on January 1, 2027.
NLM Regionals will now pay 50% GOLD and 50% RED masterpoints.
All online players through February 2024 have been run through the EDGAR cheating detection program. Approximately 2-3% of online players were cited for cheating. Next, new online players, who began playing online after February 1, 2024, will be run through EDGAR.
Effective January 1, 2027, there will be a new masterpoints formula for tournaments. It will award more masterpoints for all levels, but mid-flight events will receive just slightly more masterpoints to equitably balance the masterpoint awards in the future.
One-day Swiss events will pay out more places with even numbers of teams. This will decrease the number of round-robins necessary in the event.
Effective January 1, 2027, Units may use ACBL certified Local Directors to run Local Sectionals and the event will pay 100% silver masterpoints.
Grassroots entry fees have accidentally been charged back to all Districts for one session instead of two sessions by ACBL. The ACBL is making the correction now for 2026 Grassroots entry fees to charge for both sessions.
A Unit Task Force is evaluating units for long term sustainability and how to support units of varying sizes and circumstances. The Unit Task Force will be contacting several units for input before making recommendations to the full Board of Directors.
There are several bylaws changes in progress relating to changes to the ACBL Board’s policy for the Executive Committee and one that will provide flexibility for holding the Annual Membership meeting.
·Montreal, Quebec will host the Spring 2030 NABC. The Fall 2030 NABC will be held in Los Angeles.