NRA *may be* ceding control of National Matches to CMP
Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 6:07 pm
This was posted in the Bullseye-L forum:
Dear Competitors,
I have some information that I'm able to share with you regarding NRA Competitions, and the National Pistol Championships at Camp Perry.
Per Dennis Willing--NRA Director of Competitions, the NRA has penned an agreement for Pistol, Smallbore, and High Power to return to Camp Perry for 2018, 2019, and 2020 with the NRA matches to be controlled, operated and administered by the CMP and CMP personnel. The deal is so certain that calendars are apparently almost ready for publication.
One of the top complaints about this year's national matches was the inability of NRA and CMP to work together. It appears they are now more together than ever.
At this point, the Pistol matches will be held on the traditional week with the traditional schedule. The smallbore matches will start on June 22nd, and High Power will shoot after the Pistol matches. The high-power competitors will be shooting 3 days of 800 matches instead of 4 days of 600 matches in the new scenario. This is causing much consternation among HP competitors.
A couple days after confirming this agreement, Dennis submitted his resignation and will be retiring from the NRA on April 11th, 2017.
This concludes all of my confirmed information; what follows is conjecture:
Based on the tone of the communication I had with Dennis, he had many disagreements with the NRA and CMP officials about this agreement. He was pleased that he was able to restore the pistol matches to its traditional schedule.
I do not know who had the authority to negotiate such a deal with CMP. Intel from the rifle shooting community points to Allan Cors-the President of the NRA, long time competitor from 1966-2007, multiple P100 winner, Elihu Root medal winner, creator of ILA, and CMP board member.
If the intel is true, then this deal was struck at the highest levels of both organizations.
Other rumors include one that CMP paid a significant amount of up-front cash to NRA in exchange for the match entry fees paid by competitors during the 3 year contract. It's my hope that by giving the CMP the financial incentive to recoup their investment, that they will continue to make facility improvements and that they will operate the matches in a proficient manner.
It will be wise of the CMP to seek out some of the NRA officials who have served us well at the Championships like some of the Tower Talkers (you know which ones) and Referees. CMP doesn't have much history running 90 shot pistol matches, and they shouldn't try doing it with untested officials.
At this point it appears that electronic targets for the National Matches--pistol or rifle--are delayed. It sounds like rifle wont be looking at them until 2019 at the earliest.
It also doesn't look like CMP will be competing with NRA in pistol matches by creating a competing classification system. This should preserve the NRA operation of our local 1800 or 2700 pistol matches. As long as NRA remains responsive to match directors and competitors, they will remain relevant as the sanctioning body of our sport.
With Dennis Willing's retirement, there is a question about who will fill the role of NRA Director of Competitions. I would like to publicly express my interest in filling that role. I believe that my work in government, budgeting, and problem solving equips me to offer effective leadership as Director of Competitions. I have some new ideas that can help raise new revenue for the Competitions division--revenue that will help us mentor our existing competitors and outreach to future competitors. Revenue that will allow NRA to make it easier for match directors to conduct better matches near all of us. If you share my passion to grow NRA shooting sports in a new, innovative way, please call the NRA Board of Directors that you know and recommend me as the successor to Dennis Willing as NRA Director of Competitions.
Let me know if I can answer any questions. From the outside in, I might not have all of the facts or answers, but I will do what I can to answer you.
Good shooting,
-Rob Kovach
608-445-6816
avatar
Rob Kovach
Admin
-------------------------------------
There may be more to this than what Rob is reporting which I am sure will be released in the coming days and weeks. My source tells me that Dennis was more or less fired as well as other information which I cannot share at this time but I am sure will be confirmed as more information from the NRA and CMP are released.
The proposed 2018 dates for smallbore coincides with the USAS Nationals which is not going to go over well with the smallbore community. Hopefully these dates can be re-arranged.
Dear Competitors,
I have some information that I'm able to share with you regarding NRA Competitions, and the National Pistol Championships at Camp Perry.
Per Dennis Willing--NRA Director of Competitions, the NRA has penned an agreement for Pistol, Smallbore, and High Power to return to Camp Perry for 2018, 2019, and 2020 with the NRA matches to be controlled, operated and administered by the CMP and CMP personnel. The deal is so certain that calendars are apparently almost ready for publication.
One of the top complaints about this year's national matches was the inability of NRA and CMP to work together. It appears they are now more together than ever.
At this point, the Pistol matches will be held on the traditional week with the traditional schedule. The smallbore matches will start on June 22nd, and High Power will shoot after the Pistol matches. The high-power competitors will be shooting 3 days of 800 matches instead of 4 days of 600 matches in the new scenario. This is causing much consternation among HP competitors.
A couple days after confirming this agreement, Dennis submitted his resignation and will be retiring from the NRA on April 11th, 2017.
This concludes all of my confirmed information; what follows is conjecture:
Based on the tone of the communication I had with Dennis, he had many disagreements with the NRA and CMP officials about this agreement. He was pleased that he was able to restore the pistol matches to its traditional schedule.
I do not know who had the authority to negotiate such a deal with CMP. Intel from the rifle shooting community points to Allan Cors-the President of the NRA, long time competitor from 1966-2007, multiple P100 winner, Elihu Root medal winner, creator of ILA, and CMP board member.
If the intel is true, then this deal was struck at the highest levels of both organizations.
Other rumors include one that CMP paid a significant amount of up-front cash to NRA in exchange for the match entry fees paid by competitors during the 3 year contract. It's my hope that by giving the CMP the financial incentive to recoup their investment, that they will continue to make facility improvements and that they will operate the matches in a proficient manner.
It will be wise of the CMP to seek out some of the NRA officials who have served us well at the Championships like some of the Tower Talkers (you know which ones) and Referees. CMP doesn't have much history running 90 shot pistol matches, and they shouldn't try doing it with untested officials.
At this point it appears that electronic targets for the National Matches--pistol or rifle--are delayed. It sounds like rifle wont be looking at them until 2019 at the earliest.
It also doesn't look like CMP will be competing with NRA in pistol matches by creating a competing classification system. This should preserve the NRA operation of our local 1800 or 2700 pistol matches. As long as NRA remains responsive to match directors and competitors, they will remain relevant as the sanctioning body of our sport.
With Dennis Willing's retirement, there is a question about who will fill the role of NRA Director of Competitions. I would like to publicly express my interest in filling that role. I believe that my work in government, budgeting, and problem solving equips me to offer effective leadership as Director of Competitions. I have some new ideas that can help raise new revenue for the Competitions division--revenue that will help us mentor our existing competitors and outreach to future competitors. Revenue that will allow NRA to make it easier for match directors to conduct better matches near all of us. If you share my passion to grow NRA shooting sports in a new, innovative way, please call the NRA Board of Directors that you know and recommend me as the successor to Dennis Willing as NRA Director of Competitions.
Let me know if I can answer any questions. From the outside in, I might not have all of the facts or answers, but I will do what I can to answer you.
Good shooting,
-Rob Kovach
608-445-6816
avatar
Rob Kovach
Admin
-------------------------------------
There may be more to this than what Rob is reporting which I am sure will be released in the coming days and weeks. My source tells me that Dennis was more or less fired as well as other information which I cannot share at this time but I am sure will be confirmed as more information from the NRA and CMP are released.
The proposed 2018 dates for smallbore coincides with the USAS Nationals which is not going to go over well with the smallbore community. Hopefully these dates can be re-arranged.