Minnesota BCA Votes to Switch to Minnesota ACS
 
In actions that may set the precedent for the direction of other BCA state associations over the next few months, the membership board of the Minnesota BCA Pocket Billiard Association convened in Minneapolis, MN, today and voted by a large margin to switch its affiliation to the new national non-profit organization, American CueSports Alliance.   The association will switch its name to Minnesota ACS Pocket Billiard Association o­n June 1, 2004.
 
Newly re-elected MN ACS President Dean Bradley voiced his optimism in stating, “League operators and players with the former non-profit BCA national league system can take heart that the structure, state, and national championships with which we have all become accustomed in the past will continue in the future, with o­ne major advantage—our national organization will now be governed by a board of its sport’s peers rather than a non-sports board of directors, as it was under the BCA in the past.  In the end, it did not make a lot of sense for our non-profit state association to affiliate to a for-profit structure.  The BCA national system in the past was non-profit, and we felt that continuing that tradition was a compelling factor in the decision.  Minnesota has sounded the call today for all independent league operators and their players to take over the governance of their national league system.  We have made a significant first step in this direction, and we implore the independent league operators in other BCA state associations, leagues in states without league associations, Canadian provinces and foreign countries to join us in the movement to wrest control and direction of our sport away from a trade organization or a for-profit company.”  Bradley added, “Affiliating to the United States Olympic Committee will still be a reality if we take the responsible steps to work with the other non-profit cue sports bodies in the United States to harmonize the direction of the sport’s future.”
 
The Minnesota ACS will continue to produce statewide singles and team championships for those leagues within Minnesota that sanction with the ACS in the 2004/2005 league year, beginning June 1, 2004, the official start-up date of the ACS national offices in Colorado Springs, CO.  The American CueSports Alliance was formed o­n March 29, 2004, in Chicago, IL, with a non-profit structure to mirror the former BCA league and player programs and a mission “To heighten the interest and awareness of cue sports through the support and sanctioning of organized competition throughout the United States and North America.”

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