April 15, 2026
Call to order – Al – 8:00 PM CST
Roll Call – Michael
- Meeting Attendance_041526.pdf and Conflict of Interest statements
- Reminder on time management
- Periodic announcement of running time
- Off topic items tabled to end of call
Approval of past SCC minutes – Michael
- Last Meeting Minutes – SCC 26 3 18 Agenda and Minutes
- Motion: _Mid West____. Second: __Carolinas___. Approved?
Chairs’/Officers’ Reports
Secretary – Michael
-
- Tracking action Items here Action Item Tracker and website here Website Tracker
- Completed items are there. Just filtered out
- USACR Event setup in RX and Promotion
- Tracking action Items here Action Item Tracker and website here Website Tracker
- A number of tournaments are in process
- Club Competition Recaps
Admin – Nicole
- NDA signing status?
- NDA Tracker
- No new
- Refund processing
- 27
- Refund policy USA Club Rugby Refund Policy
- Web Contact form responses
- 5
- Outstanding Club Pays Invoices
- USAR/RX has provided a partial solution to allow GUs better control
- GU configuration of Club or Player Pays Registration
- Note: Club Pays Invoice Policy
- USAR/RX has provided a partial solution to allow GUs better control
- Rugby Xplorer reports may be slower than normal with traffic/higher use
USAR Liaison – Elaine
- March 2026 SCC.png
- Seeing good numbers here
- Stripe account activation/reactivation (payment service)
- Need to login at regular intervals, RX is troubleshooting and have sent email notifications
- Working with clubs as needed where fees are not transferring
- New Membership hires are acclimating well
15’s Comp – David McPhail
- Action Item from SCC 26 03 18: 15s to add addendum of national vs. regional designation guidance into the promotion policy document
- In process. All Stars and Nationals focus of last call, committee members OOO
- Issue with gaps at SR.
- Club was possibly not traveling that could have created a bye for one team, club is now travelling and will be present
- Can GUs have teams that can mobilize quickly to fill-in at events
7’s Comp – David Fee
- All Regions/Union President’s help in getting all 7s Qualifiers Established – 2026 7s Qualifying Tournaments Form
- Trying to get all Unions to participate by same rules for 7s Qualification
- Recommendations have been sent out
- Potential Reduction of Women’s National Championship due to WER
- Exploring different formats if needed
- Declaration form with intent to compete will be out early May
- Dotting I’s, crossing T’s on contract
Eligibility – Tam
- RX making updates to Eligibility reports, International clearances, and outgoing/incoming touring side approvals, more info available in domestic clearances
- Celebrating Tam and the 35th Anniversary of the 1991 USA Women’s National Team win!!
Treasurer – Tim
- 2026 03 March USA Club Rugby Assoc Statement of Financial Position.pdf
- 2026 03 March USA Club Rugby Assoc Statement of Activity.pdf
Discipline – Megan
- No Report
Governance – KJ
- No Report
DEI – Robert
- No Report
Vice Chair – Wes
- No Report
USAR Director – Rick
- USAR Director Report
- April 2 Board Meeting
- Chair’s report
- Rugby World Cup
- Discussions continue re: RWC shared governance – USAR advisory v voting rights
- Commercial contracts, management hiring approval, spending plans
- Current recruitments: Managing Dir, Dir’s of Community Integration Dir & Growth Plan Oversight
- USAR Funding on hold pending resolution
- Net Income Target – 700m
- Grow the Game funding kpi’s taking shape
- 5-7% growth per year of funding
- Women’s Varsity program threshold 2028 – see below
- Host City ‘technical visits’ finish in May – will then reach out to local unions
- CEO Report
- Updated Policies presented and approved – USOPC Compliant
- Conflict of Interest, Code of Conduct, Integrity, Finance
- Business operations manager interviews continue
- Deaf Rugby affiliation approved
- Athlete Safety (“Transgender”): approximately 75 emails, 5 grievances filed
- NCAA Emerging Sport group updated & assembled
- Updated Policies presented and approved – USOPC Compliant
- Review of Board committees ongoing –
- Governance/Nominating, Audit & Risk, Disc-Grv, DEI, Referees & Laws, Medical
- Finance/Risk – see attached PPT deck
- Overall USAR $1.3M behind budget primarily due to delay in WR funding: Revenue $2.0M lower and Expenses $707K lower than budget. Notable variances:
- HP: $1.4M negative variance
- -$1.7M lower revenue due to delayed WR funding
- +$178K savings on Travel/event costs
- +$164K lower payroll and contractors
- NO: $43K positive variance
- +$174K lower grants due to delay in WR Funding
- +$98K lower payroll and contractors due to delayed hiring
- +$64K other expense savings
- -$292K lower revenue ($337K delayed WR funding offset by $25K interest)
- HP: $1.4M negative variance
- $8.5 million cash and investments as of February 28, 2026
- $1.1 million positive cash flow YTD in 2026
- 2026 Forecast
- Projected to end the year $789K ahead of budget.
- Revenue $148K lower and expenses $936K lower than budget.
- Overall USAR $1.3M behind budget primarily due to delay in WR funding: Revenue $2.0M lower and Expenses $707K lower than budget. Notable variances:
- New USA Rugby Foundation Board being assembled – 9-11 members
- HP –Calendar Coordinated with other events assembled – see attached
USAR Referee and Laws Committee (RLC) – David Chapman
- RLC voting for the new Chair was concluded in March; the USAR BOD ratified the vote last week (April 8). The new RLC Chair is Austin Reed; Austin is on the West Coast and has been a World Rugby Television Match Official & Foul Play Review Officer, has had various roles with refs and ARs in the MLR, and is a USA Rugby Referee & Referee Coach. Transitions will begin soon.
Chair report – Al
- GUs seem to be communicating well with Athlete Safety policy
- Asked to consider dues due dates
- National Championship events are trending up
- Rugby Xplorer
- Club names at Super Regionals to reflect the club names registered in RX
- RX updates for refs in coming months
New Business
-
- Elections
- Current positions running unopposed: Secretary (Michael Norton) and Vice Chair (David Chapman)
- SCC 26 04 15 Meeting Voting_ExCo Vice Chair.pdf
- SCC 26 04 15 Meeting Voting_ExCo Secretary.pdf
- Michael and David both approved
- Current positions running unopposed: Secretary (Michael Norton) and Vice Chair (David Chapman)
- Elections
- SCC USAR Board Representative – Two nominees
-
-
- Please review the following job description fully: SCC BOARD REPRESENTATIVE JOB DESCRIPTION 2026.pdf
- The nominees are:
- Rick Humm
- Nancy Campbell
- 2026 04 Election of Board Representative – Q&A.pdf
- Process
- Candidates will appear on the SCC call one at a time.
- Each candidate will have up to 15 minutes, including their personal statement and Q&A.
- Union representatives will ask questions of each candidate.
- The same set of questions will be asked of both candidates, preferably by the same person.
- Process
- Voting Process
- Form sent to all SCC representatives by email
- Voting closes Sunday, April 19th at midnight central time
-
Adjourned
- Motion: _Capital__. Second: _Mid America_
- Meeting adjourned at _9:44_ PM CST
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