[FrancesHinden]

There was an article in yesterday's Philadelphia Enquirer about bridge. Among other things, it claimed that new members in the ACBL were up 400% on 2008.

I recognised quite a few inaccuracies elsewhere in the article, so

(i) is this true?
(ii) if so, is it 1 new member or 5 new members? (or 4 new members depending how you read that sentence)?
(iii) or is it actually good news for bridge, as portrayed in the article?

[cherdanno]

Let me guess: the article did not mention how many of the new members were new retirees?

[Phil]

cherdanno, on Oct 1 2010, 08:32 AM, said:

Let me guess: the article did not mention how many of the new members were new retirees?

It probably does represent new retirees, but so what?

When young bridge players start in college, most of them will leave bridge as they get older for family or work commitments. There is the die-hard group that will stay in bridge but this an exception. A few start playing because they want something to do with their spouse.

Retired people represent a growth area because they have a lot of time, disposable income and will support the league.

[hrothgar]

cherdanno, on Oct 1 2010, 04:32 PM, said:

Let me guess: the article did not mention how many of the new members were new retirees?

Any time I see a figure jump by 400%, I tend to assume that we're talking about very small numbers of (whatever).

I'd also be interested in three other pieces of information

1. What is the definition of a "new member" and has it changed recently?
2. What was the absolute # of new members in each of the past 5 years?
3. What happened to the total number of members?

[karlson]

I think the saddest thing on so many levels would be if this increase was caused by a failure of the ACBL to remove the deceased from its membership list.

[cherdanno]

Phil, on Oct 1 2010, 08:41 AM, said:

cherdanno, on Oct 1 2010, 08:32 AM, said:

Let me guess: the article did not mention how many of the new members were new retirees?

It probably does represent new retirees, but so what?

When young bridge players start in college, most of them will leave bridge as they get older for family or work commitments. There is the die-hard group that will stay in bridge but this an exception. A few start playing because they want something to do with their spouse.

Retired people represent a growth area because they have a lot of time, disposable income and will support the league.

There is nothing wrong with attracting new retirees, among other things it makes the typical bridge club younger.

But the figure Frances' quotes suggest, if taken out of context, that organized bridge is in good shape for the next 30 years.

[jillybean]

I wonder if the jump in "new members" has anything to do with the new Monster Point policy where it takes more MP's to become a LM if you weren't a paid up member by a certain date.

[bid_em_up]

jillybean, on Oct 1 2010, 10:30 AM, said:

I wonder if the jump in  "new members" has anything to do with the new Monster Point policy where it takes more MP's to become a LM if you weren't a paid up member by a certain date.

Doubtful, since I don't think that this had even been announced in 2008 (the year the numbers are given for).

Edit: having gone and read the article now, I suppose its possible. The article actually states:

"The American Contract Bridge League - contract bridge is just another name for the game - saw a 400 percent increase in membership last year compared with 2008."

So the increase in membership in 2009 (over 2008) could be partially due to this.

I originally interpreted this as being up in 2008 (over 2007).

My bad.

[bid_em_up]

karlson, on Oct 1 2010, 10:21 AM, said:

I think the saddest thing on so many levels would be if this increase was caused by a failure of the ACBL to remove the deceased from its membership list.

I'd be amazed if deceased people could become new members.

[aguahombre]

bid_em_up, on Oct 1 2010, 09:09 AM, said:

karlson, on Oct 1 2010, 10:21 AM, said:

I think the saddest thing on so many levels would be if this increase was caused by a failure of the ACBL to remove the deceased from its membership list.

I'd be amazed if deceased people could become new members.

True. It isn't as easy as becoming a new voter.

[G_R__E_G]

So the acticle says a 400% increase in membership but they probably mean a 400% increase in their membership increase. So the membership is currently at 165K. If it went from 159K to 160K in 2008 then went from 160K to 165K in 2009 that would be a 400% inrease. Of course it also could have gone from 164400 to 164500 to 165000 and that would also be a 400% increase.

[Echognome]

As I don't have the article in front of me, I'm taking the quote below as fact.

"The American Contract Bridge League - contract bridge is just another name for the game - saw a 400 percent increase in membership last year compared with 2008."

If we consider the following example of membership numbers by year:

2007 1000
2008 1010 (1% increase)
2009 1051 (~4% increase)

Then we have a 400 percent increase in membership last year compared with 2008.

If the increase in membership in 2008 was, say, 0.1 percent, then we would only need a 0.4 percent increase over 2008 numbers for a 400% increase compared with 2008.

This is just a long-winded way of saying "Agree with Richard and G R E G".

[mike777]

"Last year, we signed up an impressive 15,000 new members and ended 2009 with a net gain of 6,000 members."

Jay Baum CEO ACBL
March 2010

---------------


573,000 tables of play online at three sites.

10,539 players won ACBL masterpoints online

BBO averaged 36,000 tables per month

[jdonn]

Well the US population is both growing and aging...

[Fluffy]

Deceased people have been charged for their membership in Spain, and I bet it still happens.

[aguahombre]

hope it was a reduced rate.

[mike777]

aguahombre, on Oct 1 2010, 10:55 PM, said:

hope it was a reduced rate.

reduce rate...geez if we can overcharge do now!


they play with God/Bellladona


we play with mere mortals!

[jmc]

Nah, they should charge 'em more as the postage to deliver the magazine is really expensive.

[xcurt]

Speaking of the ACBL and membership, I just got the most recent attempt at a bridge magazine, which has the worldwide bridge contest winners by district. So in districts where a winner is not an ACBL member, they printed something like:

District Zero -- Joe Member -- non-member 71%

I think not printing the name is really tasteless and mean-spirited. It's probably also not something that will encourage those people (who are probably reasonable bridge players) to re-up their memberships.

[JoAnneM]

It is very difficult to get a decent interview about bridge in a newspaper. They send out a totally clueless person who takes some notes and who then goes back to the office and writes up things he thinks he remembers or wrote down wrong, or stuff that someone's grandmother told him and she was clueless too.

Anyway, that is what happens when we have our tournaments, and we can't write the article for them because they think we can't write.