UNDERSTANDING ODDS, AUDITS, INCENTIVES, GRAFT, AND THE BRILLIANT USTA

By Javier Palenque

ODDS: the ratio between the amounts staked by the parties to a bet, based on the expected probability either way. Ex. The probability of rain the first week of September during the semis or finals has extremely low odds.

AUDITS: an official inspection of an individual’s or organization’s accounts, typically by an independent body. For example, The USTA CEO should call for an immediate audit of all capital expenditures in the last 12 years.

INCENTIVES: a thing that motivates or encourages one to do something. The CEO needs to be given an incentive, loss of his job, to audit and investigate the past business dealings of his bosses.

GRAFT: gains secured by corruption. “The Attorney General’s report says the problem of corruption goes beyond bribes and graft in nonprofits.

BRILLIANT: very good, excellent, marvelous, superior to average. Ex. The USTA executives have grown the sport by leaps and bounds through their brilliance and wise allocation of funds, that is why they hide participation numbers.

USTA: The world’s best-funded sport not for profit with the least amount of kids and oldest adults. In America the USTA uses the not-for-profit status to benefit itself, it is not a wonderful organization for the country, the sport, and all kids who love tennis.

When the board of directors approves spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a roof, refurbishing the BJK center, building Lake Nona, etc., there is a need for transparency, independent audits, and graft alarms should be going off. When there is so much money at stake and no ownership at all. That is an incentive for things to start smelling bad. So, Mr. CEO, the proper thing to do is to call for an audit and BDO cannot be part of it. Are you going to do this? or are you going to remain quiet and look the other way? Now that the financials look dire and the possibility of honoring the notes seems difficult at best?

Why am I asking for an audit now, you may think? Well, the reason is very simple, under your 12 years as the highest-paid employee even without being CEO, the debt level has reached a level so high that it seems to me that the USTA cannot pay its notes in the years to come. The proper thing as a responsible CEO is to call for an audit and if you find or smell something like three-day…