February 9, 2016 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with 68 comments
USA Ultimate sent out a survey tonight asking for feedback from players, coaches, and organizers that participated in the 2015 Triple Crown Tour and/or club season about the possibility of moving up the season by a month.
Here is the key piece of the survey:
Currently, the season is structured as follows:
Early June – Pro and Elite preliminary rosters must be set. Regular season sanctioned events begin.
June-July-Mid August – Flight-specific TCT events occur, alongside regular season sanctioned events for all flights.
Late August – Sectionals
Mid September – Regionals
Late September/Early October – NationalsUSA Ultimate is considering plans to shift the season earlier (potentially starting as early as 2017). An earlier Post Season Championship Series offers the potential to get better weather in more locations for Nationals. It also opens up potential broadcast opportunities for the Post Season by moving it out of September, which is already packed with broadcast sports (e.g. football, baseball, basketball). Both options would be in line with strategic goals to gain positive visibility for the sport, to help drive growth. A shifted season might look like the following:
Early May – Pro and Elite preliminary rosters must be set. Regular season sanctioned events begin.
May-June-Mid July – Flight-specific TCT events occur, alongside regular season sanctioned events for all flights.
Late July – Sectionals
Mid August – Regionals
Late August – Nationals
Players are asked for their opinion about whether or not to move the season up and why they would be in favor or against the change. Other considerations include the general timing for teams, and how that might change if the season were moved up.
USA Ultimate will use the data gathered from this survey to help inform their decision about a possible change to the timing of the Club season in the future. The possibility of this change has been discussed for years by USAU.
USAU’s board will have a momentous meeting later this month to discuss this and other important topics facing the organization.
