The San Diego Classic began as a classic dogfight in the players meeting. Before it was over new board members John Rousseau and Tamre Rogers were asked to leave the room so that the players could feel free to talk about their leadership and the progress or lack thereof of the WPBA that is struggling to get out of their current situation of dwindling sponsorship and disappearing tour stops.
The players meeting had many highlights. When Rousseau indicated that he felt the WPBA had been mistreated by Brunswick, Ewa Laurance objected, and was immediately backed up by Vivian Villarreal, reminding the room of the many years and the millions of dollars in sponsorship money supplied by Brunswick. This developed into an argument that had even Rousseau's staunchest supporters requesting that an apology be offered to Laurance and to Brunswick. None was forthcoming.
At one point, the criticism of Rousseau became intense and Jeanette Lee spoke up and said she would speak for Rousseau and that “we have been very busy preparing new player contracts”. This was met with questions from several players about why a player who is not on the board would be involved with board matters. It was also announced that Jeanette is pregnant and will be leaving the tour to await the birth after the US Open. As for the new contracts, we have been told that they are now for a two-year term.
Kim White and several other players requested to see minutes from meetings thus far in 2010, and also inquired about who is the secretary, treasurer, etc. and was told the only position that had been filled at this time, was the President's position. There were also several concerns regarding other By-Laws being ignored and the fact that an unprecedented four board members have resigned.
The comment was made that Anne Craig had resigned in a dispute over her pay. But when Craig was brought into the room she said that the reason she left had nothing to do with money, rather she felt that the wide gap in business philosophies with the new members of the board was too great and she felt it better if she simply stepped down.
AZBilliards has been on the phone with many sources, all of whom are afraid to go on the record due to insinuations they say have been made by their leadership about how they would not tolerate negative public comments about Mr. Rousseau's handling of WPBA business. There is a cloak of silence now that has been draped around the organization and no critical comments may emerge without being seen as rebellious, no matter how truthful the comments.
Another meeting has been called for Saturday morning. Some players are pushing for a vote there to determine whether or not Rousseau remains as President. Several have told us that he would be better served as a Marketing Director, as that is his forte, and to have someone else as the Presidential front man, someone who carries less of an edge in their communication skils.
There have however, been some promising assurances made. According to Mr. Rousseau, Goldman-Sachs is said to have four million dollars ready to invest in the WPBA. But no timeline for said investment has been forthcoming. And there are assurances that more tour stops are under plan but no specifics have been mentioned. At this point, the seven-member Board of Directors is down to four persons due to the aforementioned resignations and these positions need to be filled. Whoever comes on the board now needs to come with solutions. Among other pressing issues, how does the WPBA fill the television time they need to fill with their current schedule? Not only in the US, but abroad as well? And how did we go from six events in 2009 to only two in 2010? Are there more events being prepared? With Board members unable to communicate to the media unscreened it is difficult to find the answers to any of these questions.
