Cultimate, the premier, for-profit ultimate Frisbee organization, decided to upend the ultimate world by unveiling Conference 1. Cultimate has asked 25 teams around the nation to compete in their new league instead of the UPA series. Besides promising elite status and competition, Cultimate has also offered to subsidize all tournament fees and jerseys. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal. The only catch is that none of these teams could ever win the UPA series.
Cultimate has published very little details. They’ve posted an overview of what they want to achieve with this league and the teams they are inviting. You should visit this link for those details: http://cultimate.com/conference1/.
Of course, the ultimate community has mixed reactions. Some say Cultimate is helping the sport. Some say Cultimate is destroying the sport. There really isn’t a good way of determining what the majority of ultimate players think. The posters on RSD and the bloggers across the country don’t speak for everyone. Besides, everyone is going to have their own bias, including this blogger (Full Disclosure: Cultimate has invited
My thoughts
This can only be good for the sport. Now, I do have a few reservations about the specifics of Conference 1, but I agree with the over arching principle: increase the level of competition and the product will only get better.
Now, many who oppose Cultimate argue that their conference locks out hundreds of teams. Cultimate is actually decreasing competition by limiting the number of players. Without an objective set of standards for who can play C1 disc, I agree with the opposition. Cultimate should create a set of standards much like the NCAA has for who can play Div I sports. Anyone who meets these standards can then play C1 disc. This would ensure that C1 teams are truly elite and not just favored by some subjective reasoning of a for-profit organization. Then again, Cultimate is doing all the work and all of the financing, so who am I to tell them what to do? I also doubt that Cultimate could afford to pay the tournament fees and jerseys of 100 teams. So the question still remains, “Is Cultimate helping the sport or only itself? Can it do both?”
The UPA has made promises of a revolution since I joined three years ago, and I haven’t seen them do anything revolutionary. Cultimate is starting the revolution. Having a premier ultimate league could be the answer to the one problem that has held this sport back: legitimacy. Society at large could care less about ultimate. Creating a unified league that showcases ultimate will turn some heads. I’m not saying ultimate will start generating ticket revenues, fortune 500 sponsorships and primetime television slots. But it is a step in the right direction. A very big step.
Some other questions that I have:
Can our B-team still play in the UPA series?
Can our A-teamers still play in Club UPA tournaments in the summer and fall?
If C1 teams aren’t paying tournament fees, how is Cultimate paying for these tournaments? (You would think I wouldn’t care about the answer to this question, since I’m one of the teams getting free stuff, but it’s a question of sustainability. If Cultimate doesn’t have solid cash flows to fund this endeavor into the future, then an even heavier burden will fall on the C1 players.)
Is Cultimate planning to create a similar C1 for Club teams? (I am graduating in May after all)
If this league turns out to be quite profitable, what kind of positions and salaries are available at Cultimate? (I am graduating in May after all)
What
We had a team meeting about the invitation to join C1. The team is excited about it, but we’re waiting to hear what the other invitees say. Yes,
10 comments:
Also: how come women are excluded? It's not like Ultimate is football. I don't see it as a step in the right direction at all. It just insures that the "elite" teams stay "elite". No one else will able to challenge them, because the 25 will be playing amongst themselves - so other teams can't get better than them by playing against them at the peak of the season (end of spring). Of course, if you want to make Ultimate into a money machine like professional baseball or football or basketball this is a good strategy. But for players it will turn into just that: dredges of steroids, managerial politics and player trading. Some may see that as the goal of any sport, but I think many in the Ultimate community do not. Or at least I hope so.
PS =) Hi. I'm a Pie Queen. I stumbled onto your blog a week or two ago.
The goal of this is to grow the organization from the original 25. For right now, it sucks for just about everyone else. I don't think the intention is for it to stay this way. There are undertones of elitism, but this is probably also temporary and unintentional.
-alien
rip, that last bit about 10 teams is probably untrue. that was an example that i used in explaining it to the team. i love that you wrote a write up of this after not coming to practice or the meeting. you are amazing.
also, there's more to come for other teams, including womens teams. stay tuned.
Denis
Way to spread rumors. Also, I talked to people after the meeting to get the information that I posted. My source was Pavan.
Asya
I've been trying to get Menace to comment on this blog for over a year now. And write posts for it, or maybe start their own blog. Do the Pie Queens have a blog?
Also I agree with you on not having a women's C1, but they have to start somewhere. We are a far ways off from dredges of steroids, managerial politics and player trading. This is still college, not pro.
So with only about 25 teams in C1, how is the season schedule supposed to be organized now. Will we be traveling to tournaments and play against all those teams over and over again throughout the year or will we be playing against both C1 and UPA teams that come to the tourny?
To make ultimate seem more legitimate, I would definitely want Illinois to join even if, as it is right now, I would not be able to play as I am only a B-team member.
I have a friend who plays Ultimate at American University and I dont think he would care, as long as he still gets good competition from the other teams left in the UPA.
Original post deleted- I was able to answer one of my questions by checking out the C1 site.
-Jeff
Talk about spreading rumors Rip. I've been a loyal reader of your blog and encouraged our rookies to read it to get some insight into the game. So I don't know why you're ripping on Menace.
You should check out Joann's blog about us. It's a little dry now cause she's in China, but once she gets back I'm sure she'll be back at it and glad to write for you if you would just ask her.
Kate
You got a URL for that blog? Also, my bad. Jen never told me about a menace blog when I emailed her.
http://illinoismenace.blogspot.com/
http://illinoismenace.blogspot.com/
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