All-Star Varsity Bought American Cheerleader Magazine?

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How can they do this? Please explain.

USASF = the rulemaking body. They make rules regarding other things all the time. Heck, if they wanted to make a rule saying minis could go to Worlds they could do it. The majority of the USASF board is from Varsity-backed people. If Varsity says jump, USASF pulls out a trampoline and asks "how high?" This is absolutely not outside of the realm of possibility.
 
USASF = the rulemaking body. They make rules regarding other things all the time. Heck, if they wanted to make a rule saying minis could go to Worlds they could do it. The majority of the USASF board is from Varsity-backed people. If Varsity says jump, USASF pulls out a trampoline and asks "how high?" This is absolutely not outside of the realm of possibility.

I understand they make our rules, however; to say that the USASF could or would make a rule to blatantly benefit one company is a bit of a farce. I get that the board is made up of many Varsity Brand companies, but maybe we should all look into how the USASF makes its rules.
 
I understand they make our rules, however; to say that the USASF could or would make a rule to blatantly benefit one company is a bit of a farce.

It's completely plausible. USASF "rents" office space from Varsity, in their HQ. Most of the USASF Board members are employed by Varsity. Varsity employees helped set up the USASF. The two are separate in name only.
 
Plausible maybe. But do we have any proof that there has been any of these rules in the past? Maybe something went down before I join the FB so I don't have any knowledge of it. If there is no proof then even having a free office to operate out of at Varsity HQ should not make us speculate that USASF is a puppet that Varsity uses to take over our sport. I'm not sure if we are hijacking this thread. If we are then we can start a new thread.
 
From the past rules process, weren't new rules put to a vote, but then a final rules committee got to make the final judgement. I think it would be easy for the USASF to have someone sponsor a uniform rule and regardless of the vote, pass it.

I think Jam Brands is positioning itself nicely to take More and more business from Varsity. They just need to keep putting out a good or better product and people will start migrating. We have discussed on these boards at length what people would love to happen with the industry (e.g. scoring transparency, etc.). Jamfest could start implementing and advertising some of those wish list items.
 
If there is no proof then even having a free office to operate out of at Varsity HQ should not make us speculate that USASF is a puppet that Varsity uses to take over our sport.

That's just it though. USASF is funded by Varsity, and the majority of the board members are employed by Varsity. They are one and the same. The USASF acts in Varsity's interests...and now that Varsity has purchased American Cheerleader magazine, they now have a communication tool.
 
From the past rules process, weren't new rules put to a vote, but then a final rules committee got to make the final judgement. I think it would be easy for the USASF to have someone sponsor a uniform rule and regardless of the vote, pass it.

I think Jam Brands is positioning itself nicely to take More and more business from Varsity. They just need to keep putting out a good or better product and people will start migrating. We have discussed on these boards at length what people would love to happen with the industry (e.g. scoring transparency, etc.). Jamfest could start implementing and advertising some of those wish list items.

In order for it to make it to the board of directors it would have to pass the NAB then to the Board of Directors for final review. So if a rule about uniforms passed the NAB it probably is the best for the whole cheer community not just Varsity.

National Advisory Board – The National Advisory Board has 25 members who are all elected for 2 year terms by the membership. Ten are coaches, 10 are competition event producer representatives, and 5 are representatives of affiliate members. The role of the National Advisory Board is to set the agenda for the USASF as it addresses the future in a manner that will democratically represent the entire membership of the USASF. (Did everyone Vote????)

BTW I am not interested in JamBrands or WSA or Spirit Celebration gaining ground on Varsity. I hope to see that happen. I really wish people would stop selling themselves to Varsity, ie AC Magazine. Can't people see that Varsity only cares about one thing, making Varsity stronger. I think we can say that about some gyms around the nation as well. All that aside, I am just concerned with the argument that our governing body can make rules without us knowing that directly benefit Varsity Brands. I believe that is untrue.
 
I got sidetracked! Here's the thing...Varsity can influence rules about uniforms. They have a heavy influence in the USASF, and it's pretty common knowledge. Well, they can have USASF start a rule that bans crops for everyone but L5, or everyone but Senior and Open teams. Why would that be an advantage to them? Because full uniforms cost more money because they use more fabric, and think of ALL those gyms that have everyone in a crop, and they'd have to replace all those uniform tops...what are your choices? Varsity or GK or a smaller company like GTM or one of those, that you can't real customize. What's cheaper for the gym, to just get a new top that matches their existing bottoms that they ordered from Varsity, or design a whole new uniform from another company? It's a win for Varsity.

They definitely could do this and I wouldn't be surprised if they did. This is when people are going to step in and say enough is enough and I don't want it to get that far. I already got a feeling that Varsity was behind that USASF letter after the Majors was revealed and I don't like it. It proves my point that instead of waiting 2-3 years for a big company like Jamfest to battle it out with them, that someone needs to it now. I doubt after buying up this magazine that the people at Varsity are going to say "Oh alright, we got all that we want. Lets not take over or gain any more influence in the cheer world for a few years" it would be naive to think that way.
 
Varsity just bought that uniform company too... Their creating a monopoly
 
newcheerdad and MissBee you both point out the reality of what can happen if a company has enough influence in the governing body that they can indirectly affect the rules process and how close this gets to an anti-trust situation.

As far as creating rules goes, in his own testimony at the Quinnipiac case Jeff Webb stated that they included "use of props" in the college scoresheet so that it would encourage and promote Varsity porducts such as megaphones, pom-poms, signs, etc. We all know NCA has emphasized the "decency" concept this year so the full-top or some similar uniform emphasis would not be far fetched. Keep in mind the USASF does not have to make this rule for an EP to create and enforce it.

The problem I have with how much influence Varsity has had on the sport is with safety rules and inforcement. I acknopwedge how far the sport has progressed thanks to Varsity innovation, but again Jeff Webb himelf has testified that he does not favor Cheerleading being classified as a sport because the changes due to that designation would imply restrictions to his camps and could hurt business.

So right now we accept a sport that ignores some of the basic safety precautions that would be required of any other activity that involves influence over our children: mandatory background checkss and drug testing of ANYONE who has contact with our children. Along with that should be enforcement of restricted access from individuals who do not meet set criteria.

The USASF follows the best rules making process of any other cheer governing body yet behind every safety decision is the question of how it would affect the industry. In a governing body interested first in the safety of it's athletes, the safety rules would come first and the industry would be asked to adapt. That's what other youth sports do.

To the world outside of cheer, there is the illusion that USA Cheer is a governing body of cheerleading. Again, Jeff Webb tesitified that he created USA Cheer so that Varsity would have influence in college if it was ever considered a full sport. Today, they state they are the "governing body of college cheerleading" although they have yet to gain serious ground in that area.

Along these lines, USA Cheer created a group that includes NACCC, NFHS, AACCA, and USASF. NFHS has not made any true strides in school cheer safety other than the "Spirit Guide" they produce which was created by volunteers. Still no effort to get credit as a school sport. There are examples of the NACCC and AACCA showing effort toward rules and safety but I can cite where they know they could do more, but don't take the steps in the interest of the industry.

Sorry for the long post, but this is a sore subject in my book. As I said before I give Varsity credit for progressing the sport porbably more than any other company has, and for making money while doing it. What I don't like is how the company has helped create an industry that rules a sport, and unfortunatley sacrifices the safety of our kids in the process.
 
this is so sad, AC has the sweetest staff and its awful to see this happen to them :(
 
newcheerdad and MissBee you both point out the reality of what can happen if a company has enough influence in the governing body that they can indirectly affect the rules process and how close this gets to an anti-trust situation.

As far as creating rules goes, in his own testimony at the Quinnipiac case Jeff Webb stated that they included "use of props" in the college scoresheet so that it would encourage and promote Varsity porducts such as megaphones, pom-poms, signs, etc. We all know NCA has emphasized the "decency" concept this year so the full-top or some similar uniform emphasis would not be far fetched. Keep in mind the USASF does not have to make this rule for an EP to create and enforce it.

The problem I have with how much influence Varsity has had on the sport is with safety rules and inforcement. I acknopwedge how far the sport has progressed thanks to Varsity innovation, but again Jeff Webb himelf has testified that he does not favor Cheerleading being classified as a sport because the changes due to that designation would imply restrictions to his camps and could hurt business.

So right now we accept a sport that ignores some of the basic safety precautions that would be required of any other activity that involves influence over our children: mandatory background checkss and drug testing of ANYONE who has contact with our children. Along with that should be enforcement of restricted access from individuals who do not meet set criteria.

The USASF follows the best rules making process of any other cheer governing body yet behind every safety decision is the question of how it would affect the industry. In a governing body interested first in the safety of it's athletes, the safety rules would come first and the industry would be asked to adapt. That's what other youth sports do.

To the world outside of cheer, there is the illusion that USA Cheer is a governing body of cheerleading. Again, Jeff Webb tesitified that he created USA Cheer so that Varsity would have influence in college if it was ever considered a full sport. Today, they state they are the "governing body of college cheerleading" although they have yet to gain serious ground in that area.

Along these lines, USA Cheer created a group that includes NACCC, NFHS, AACCA, and USASF. NFHS has not made any true strides in school cheer safety other than the "Spirit Guide" they produce which was created by volunteers. Still no effort to get credit as a school sport. There are examples of the NACCC and AACCA showing effort toward rules and safety but I can cite where they know they could do more, but don't take the steps in the interest of the industry.

Sorry for the long post, but this is a sore subject in my book. As I said before I give Varsity credit for progressing the sport porbably more than any other company has, and for making money while doing it. What I don't like is how the company has helped create an industry that rules a sport, and unfortunatley sacrifices the safety of our kids in the process.

This a million times! I say we get a group of us together and start a coup. It'll be like Russia 1991.
 
From the past rules process, weren't new rules put to a vote, but then a final rules committee got to make the final judgement. I think it would be easy for the USASF to have someone sponsor a uniform rule and regardless of the vote, pass it.

I think Jam Brands is positioning itself nicely to take More and more business from Varsity. They just need to keep putting out a good or better product and people will start migrating. We have discussed on these boards at length what people would love to happen with the industry (e.g. scoring transparency, etc.). Jamfest could start implementing and advertising some of those wish list items.

You know what I love about Jam Brands? They have a universal score sheet. And they break down their score sheets into these really easy-to-understand scoring grids. And their Jam Score employees are amazingly helpful. I'm Jam Brands all the way. (And no, I'm not a Jam Brands employee.)
 

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