March 19, 2013 by Charlie Eisenhood in Opinion, Podcast with 7 comments
Back on our second episode of Deep Look, Ultiworld’s weekly podcast, Wes Cronk and I talked about the prospect of USA Ultimate landing an ESPN deal. With today’s big news, it is once again relevant:
Certainly USA Ultimate just made the biggest step forward, but, as I point out above, it could be that a rising tide lifts all boats. The American Ultimate Disc League just tweeted, “Ultimate as a spectator sport is in it’s infancy. This deal advances all of our goals of creating masses of Ultimate fans. #Good.”
Certainly, though, this solidifies USA Ultimate’s position as the premier place to play top-level ultimate. Questions started to buzz in the wake of the Triple Crown Tour announcement; the full buy-in from teams and this multiyear deal with ESPN answers them definitively.
But the professional leagues could sign TV deals of their own, of course. Two weeks ago, Major League Ultimate’s owner Jeff Snader suggested that he may have a cable deal in the works as well.
