SFC Board Mtg Minutes-March 24, 2020

Final Board Meeting Minutes March 24, 2020 – 4:30 p.m.
Call in by Phone Only

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The Draft Board Meeting Minutes are as follows:

1. Prayers/Moment of Silence

President McLoughlin brought the meeting to order at about 4:35pm and requested a moment of silence/prayer for all recently departed Syracuse Footballers and thoughts/prayers were also requested for all those SFC members having health issues. Robin Griffin who has heart problems that are now being resolved and Richard Steiner who continues undergoing chemo therapy for intestinal cancer has improved substantially. Both gentlemen thank the SFC for their thoughts and prayers as their health conditions have amended considerably. In addition, our thoughts and prayers go out to Ed Reardon “68 and Dan Yochum “72, who are both suffering from chronic health issues.

2. Approval of December 10, 2019 Meeting Minutes

The draft Board meeting minutes of the December 10, 2019 were accepted and approved by the attending Board Members. These minutes will now be distributed in their final version with any attachments in a PDF format to not only all the Board members but also to the entire SFC membership as a means to continuously inform all SFC members as to the scope of activities conducted by our organization.

3. Financial Information-Money in Savings and Checking Accounts

Jim Jerome provided the Board with the following SFC financial balances; A combined checking account and saving account balance of $67,820 for cash on hand with $ 45,270.21 in a checking account and $22,549.79 in a savings account.

4. Upcoming SFC Events

a. Spring Football Game

The annual Spring Football Game customarily held in mid-April has been canceled this year along with all other NCAA events for all spring sports and the remaining tournaments due to the corona virus pandemic.

b. Golfing with the Coaches

The annual Golfing with the Coaches event will be once again held at the Tuscarora Golf Club in Marcellus, NY. The date this year is now scheduled for Monday June 15, 2020. We should start looking for sponsors for this affair early next year. Last year’s Golf Committee did an excellent job and once again should be reassembled for this year’s event. Hopefully this event is far enough away timewise to avoid the current lockdown from the Coronavirus.

5. New SFC Website Development – Skip Dalrymple

At our last meeting Jeff Stadlemann our new website development specialist who had just embarked upon the updating of the SFC Website was present at the meeting to describe his approach to fulfilling the SFC’s social media needs under the direction of Nick Marsella. Jeff is now being assisted by additional website development experts with guidance from Skip Dalrymple and his Website Developer Andy Poystila. This fresh add-on effort is again being funded by individual SFC members so as to enable our reestablished SFC Website to be even more dramatic and impressive. Skip assured us that all our old items (pictures, obituaries, Zunic Award winners, Newsletters, etc.) from the old SFC Website will be kept and transitioned onto our new site. In addition, our combined website developers will provide easy access to other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, etc. that will further facilitate communications and the posting of news stories about current Syracuse University football events. Also, they expect that the SFC will be able to market a variety of athletic attire and other items with the Club logo on them such golf shirts, T-shirts, hats, jackets, sweat shirts, cups, mugs, magnets, etc. from the website with the SFC taking a percentage of the profits from such internet sales for the Club coffers. We can also host corporate sponsors on the new website by advertising their presence on our Website and consequently noting their contributions to our organization. Many of the first phase changes on the SFC Website should be evident now with more work continuing on the Website over the next few months. The website could also be used to enable the mentoring of younger players just getting started in their careers by more established former players. Then the long term commitment involves the maintenance and upkeep of our website. The website must be kept current and up to date on issues and activities pertinent to the Syracuse University Football Program as well as the Syracuse Football Club in order to reap all the aforementioned benefits over the long haul. The location of our new SFC Website is still; syracusefootballclub.com

6. Other Business

a. Increase Return on SFC Funds by Investments/Higher Interest Rates

With the total amount of funds now available to the SFC residing north of $65K, it was suggested that perhaps we should look for possible investment opportunities which would yield greater dividends to the Club treasury. Rich Rosen immediately volunteered at the last meeting to seek revenue investment opportunities issue and report back at the next SFC Board meeting. With the current financial markets in such a vacillation due to the onset of the Corona Virus Pandemic this item was tabled.

b. Succession Planning

The normal tenure for SFC President is two years and it has now been two years for the current president. Normally, the current Vice President becomes the President but in this case former SFC President Pat Killorin took over the reins as Vice President and hence we need some new blood to take over the leadership of the Club. Many of the Board members were informally polled as to potential nominations. One man stood out from the list of potential candidates for the next SFC President. By unanimous acclamation Jim DaRin is now the new Syracuse Football Club President. Congratulations Jim!

c. New SFC Fee Structure

Right at the end of the meeting Pat Killorin brought up a very novel idea. Since we have found that most of the younger players (those graduating in the past 20 years or so) are somewhat reticent to pay any annual dues ($50) let alone a Lifetime Membership ($750) why not drop the dues requirement completely and see if the SFC can exist on voluntary contributions, donations, annual giving programs, and endowments, etc. along with the sale of SFC merchandise and the funding from advertising on our newly revamped website. This somewhat radical suggestion was discussed briefly and has some interesting aspects that may provide impetus to attempt this course of action. However, it was decided to table this matter back in December and discuss the membership fee structure further at this SFC Board Meeting for further detailed discussion. It was noted that over 300 SFC members do pay the annual fee of $50 resulting in a net gain of over $15,000 annually to the bottom line. Jim DaRin suggested that each year’s team Captain be contacted (or someone in a leadership position for a given graduating class) and see if they could contact their classmates. Warren Harvey also mentioned the concern that contributing members of the SFC pay the same for some events as non-dues paying members and this needs to be reconciled. As other facets of this issue were also brought up it was decided to let pat Killorin and Kevin McLoughlin explore this set of issues concerning the SFC dues structure and report back.

d. Tailgates at Away and Home Games.

The opening game is against Boston College on a Friday with a Noon Kickoff September 4, 2020 (Labor Day Weekend) at the Eagles Alumni Stadium. The next game is set for Saturday with a Noon Kickoff on September 12 at Rutgers. The SFC will attempt to hold a tailgate out in the parking lot for each of these early season away games. Warren Harvey mentioned that he might be able to help coordinate the Rutgers Tailgate for the SFC. The SFC is still looking for a suitable location for every home game to hold a before and after game tailgate where SFC members can routinely meet. The closer the Tailgate location is to the Dome and the Quad the better. Kevin McLoughlin noted that he was granted a parking spot on the ESF campus last season right across from the Dome which could provide an ideal location to set up a Tailgate. He will check to see if he can get another such parking pass for this season.

e. National Veteran’s Resource Center Dedication

Cliff Ensley noted that the dedication for this new building on the SU Campus will be postponed due to the Corona Virus Pandemic. In this new facility a Hall of Fame for Orange Veteran’s will be established with Ben Schwartzwalder being one of the first inductees. More information on this will be forthcoming.

7. Next Meeting

The next meeting will occur on a date as yet to be selected sometime in late May or early June if the Golfing with the Coaches is able to proceed.

Prepared by Kevin McLoughlin