Some significant changes in the competition structure, too.
February 1, 2024 by Jenna Weiner in News with 0 comments
Ahead of its fourth full season, the Premier Ultimate League has announced its 2024 schedule. As has been the case the last two seasons, the PUL will have a 10-week regular season with the first round of action starting the weekend of April 6-7 and the regular season concluding the weekend of June 8-9.
While the lineup of teams is nearly identical from a year ago, with only the Columbus Pride not playing this season, the arrangement of the league’s divisions is notably different than in 2023. Instead of the three-division format the PUL has used the past two seasons, the eleven teams will be split into two divisions: North and South.
Starting with the five-team South Division, the reigning champs Raleigh Radiance lead the way, joined by Atlanta Soul, Austin Torch, DC Shadow, and Nashville Nightshade. That leaves 2023 Championship Weekend attendees Minnesota Strike and New York Gridlock to head up the six-team North Division, with Indy Red, the Milwaukee Monarchs, Philadelphia Surge, and Portland Rising rounding out the crew.
Each team will play six games for a total of 33 regular season games, with every team playing each of their divisional opponents at least once along with at least one cross-division game. At the end of the regular season, the top two teams from each division will advance to a yet-to-be-formally-announced Championship Weekend.
Some notable schedule highlights:
- Just over half the league will get things started on opening weekend, with the game of the week a rematch of last year’s scintillating semifinal between Raleigh and DC, who now face off as divisional rivals.
- Three more teams make their 2024 debuts in Week 2, as Milwaukee goes on the road for a daunting double-header against new division-mates New York and Philadelphia.
- For the first time in team history, Portland will not open its season by playing away at Austin, instead hosting New York in the only Week 3 matchup.
- By Week 4, all teams will have played at least one game as Minnesota gets into the action, welcoming Portland to the Land of 1000 Lakes.
- The 2024 midseason schedule is packed with games around a league-wide Week 6 bye. With five games in Week 5 and six in Week 7, the divisional standings picture will start to come into clear focus as the league enters its final stretch.
- After a one-game Week 8, the penultimate weekend of regular season play sees a pair of North Division road trip back-to-backs, with Minnesota traveling east to Philadelphia and New York while Portland treks west to take on Milwaukee and Indy.
- Ten of the league’s eleven teams are in action on the final weekend of the regular season, with two games in each division potential Championship Weekend deciders.
- With only five teams in the South Division this season, there are two pairs of home-away fixtures, leading to an Atlanta-Austin double-up along with a set of showdowns between Raleigh and DC.
- Relatedly, that leaves Nashville as the only team with two cross-division games, as they travel to Indy to start their season in Week 1 and end it by welcoming New York to Music City in Week 10.
