Report from Exec Meeting

Before each CCSL season, there are two major planning meetings.  The first is the meeting of the Executive Board.  The board - consisting of a Commissioner, Vice Commissioner, Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Scheduler, Registrar, and the non-voting Website administrator, Social Coordinator, Field Guru and Chair of the Disciplinary Committee (that's me) - meets for several hours to plan out league affairs.  It takes a dedicated team to get all of this done.  We have a number of new exec team members, starting with the new commissioner, who will Ricardo L, taking over for Sanjay. 

The second meeting, among team captains, follows up on the Exec Team meeting and is where the actual voting takes place to govern the league. 

The league held the Exec Team meeting last night, and I attended for the first time.  I gave a report on my disciplinary committee work.  There are some pending matters left over from the fall and the issue of how to treat future cases.  But the focus of the discussion, as always, was on the budget (how to keep costs in line) and online registration.  While this is a highly organized league, it is still very non-profit-esque.  Increasing costs are requiring the board members to think more proactively about how to increase revenues and balance the budget in order to maintain the goal of the league, which is to provide a premium soccer experience.  This isn't pick up on the mall or a drop-in league, this is supposed to be among the best experiences available to coed players.  Maybe I'll do more posts on the need to change the league's MO and business model later.  We need to make some adjustments to survive.

For now, here are some headlines that you might be interested in:

• The season will start in two short months, on March 18, 2012.  Fall season will also likely start early, Aug. 19, 2012.

• Our projected budget for 2012 again shows a deficit of several thousand dollars.  Fees are going up $100 per team again, with more changes in store later.  If we can make some more innovative changes, anything is possible, even potentially lowering team fees.

More when we get to the captains' meeting stage next month.  I know some of this is super boring to people, but for others, it's a nice glimpse into the surprising sophisticated and expensive business of providing soccer opportunities to people like us.