The most exciting offseason in recent history comes to a close as teams gear up for 2025.
April 9, 2025 by Alex Rubin in News
UFA teams across the continent spent the last few months re-signing key players, holding open tryouts, and finalizing their rosters. The defending champions reloaded. The teams who feel they missed out on a winnable championship retooled ahead of a new year. We’ll have a full season preview closer to the start of the season as the battle to get to Madison for Championship Weekend begins. As we move from the offseason to the preseason, here’s a rundown of the biggest news you might have missed this offseason.
League News
Viva Las Vegas
In December, the league announced that the Vegas Bighorns would join the league, effectively replacing the shuttered Dallas Legion franchise. Some quick background: The Bighorns are owned by James Shorey, who wasn’t ever considering bringing a team to Vegas until he needed a topic for a feasibility project as part of his MBA coursework. “My project was the business viability of bringing an [UFA] franchise to Vegas,” Shorey said. “It’s been in my brain for years, but I’d say it wasn’t until August when I was talking to one of my MBA friends from UNLV–we both like frisbee–and I was like, ‘I want to make a bid here. Let’s talk about what to do.’”
The pair reached out to then-UFA Commissioner Steve Hall, and subsequent conversations with new Commissioner Tim DeByl led to the surprise announcement of the expansion team. Since then, the Bighorns have built the beginnings of a competitive team. Head coach Matt Bode played for five UFA teams over six seasons and brings a wealth of experience in the league to a team that needs as much as it can get. Assistant coach Dan Silverstein brings years of experience as the leader of the Oakland Spiders along with his creative, strategic knack for Xs and Os. UFA veterans like Stephen Poulos, Ryan Hiser, and Jaime Perez dot the roster, and Joel Clutton adds a dose of star power. Putting a team in an ultimate (and literal) desert is a gamble for the league, but the Bighorns are not going to get a seat at the table just to fold.
Divisional Realignment
With Las Vegas now in the mix, the league faced a surplus of teams who play in the pacific time zone. Rather than put together a mega-west division, akin to 2021’s east coast experiment, the UFA moved Los Angeles and San Diego to the south division to compete with Atlanta, Carolina, Houston, and Austin. The Central and East divisions remained the same, leaving each division with an equal six teams, but an unequal travel schedule. The total realignment necessitates a few cross-country trips (especially in the South) but improves the overall competitive balance of the league and gives everyone a more equal shot at making the playoffs. In some cases, South Division teams will actually travel less overall, as the southeast and southwest teams will either travel to Texas or cross-country once a season to play a doubleheader. The Texas teams will head to both coasts.
New Sponsors
Earlier this week, the UFA announced two new sponsors. Pabst Light will be the official beer of the UFA. The Pabst Light logo will be featured on the sleeve of every team’s jersey and on the official 2025 Professional Ultimate Frisbee. Pabst Light will also be the presenting sponsor of the “Friday Night Frisbee” series.
The league also signed an official partnership with the cannabis company Trulieve. Trulieve operates cannabis dispensaries in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. According to the league’s press release, “The Trulieve brand will be showcased throughout the UFA season, including exclusive digital content, off-field player profiles, and in-venue education in select cities.”
This is not the league’s first foray into the cannabis industry. In 2022, the Colorado Summit signed a sponsorship deal with local cannabis company Star Buds.
Friday Night Frisbee
The UFA is returning a fan favorite this season: Friday Night Frisbee. Fans can watch every game on watchufa.tv, but one game during each week of the regular season will be broadcast for free on the UFA’s YouTube channel. Last season, the league shared a limited number of games for free as part of the Super Series: it is encouraging that fans can now count on a marquee free game every week. Evan Lepler will once again be the lead play-by-play broadcaster for every FNF game.
Curious to see what the expansion Bighorns look like? You’ll get a chance to watch them during the first FNF on April 25 when they take on the New York Empire.
Player Movement
Every team brings in new players each year, and every fan base has a reason to be excited about the upcoming season. There isn’t room here to highlight all of the offseason developments (stay tuned for my upcoming preview!), but here are a few of the most notable free agency moves around the league:
Hustle Happenings
Hustle HappeningsDallas’s contraction left one big free agent available: goal merchant Alec Wilson Holliday. AWH led the league with 60 goals last season despite playing for a team that largely struggled offensively. Wilson Holliday worked with former Empire coach and now consultant/player agent Charlie Hoppes to sign with Atlanta. Not content with adding just one goal scorer, the Hustle also brought in the league record holder in goals scored (607 since 2012!) by signing Cam Brock away from Indianapolis. Atlanta’s offense will look different with these two in the mix; though the team will need to counteract the loss of Bobby Ley, the Hustle shouldn’t be any less potent.
San Diego’s Southern Shakeup
With their move to the South Division, the Growlers have a chance to reset their expectations in a new setting. Though they’ll need to contend with some long road trips, the Growlers are adding talent this season and can legitimately challenge Carolina and Austin for a playoff spot. Khalif El-Salaam is back with the Growlers (he played with the team in 2021 and has since been on Atlanta’s and Seattle’s roster). KJ Koo, Jesse Cohen, Marcel Osborne, Kobi McCracken, Daniel Brunker, and Will Turner all decided to play for the Growlers after spending some time with LA, once again shifting the pendulum of power in SoCal. With Travis Dunn leading the way, San Diego will be competitive in all of their games this season and should be right back in the playoff picture even in their new division.
Back to the Summit?
Given that he goes to college at Colorado and plays for local club team Denver Johnny Bravo, Tobias Brooks signing with the Summit was no surprise. Still, it is a big shakeup given his prominent role on Carolina last season. Brooks figures to slot in as another powerful thrower and quick decision maker on the O-line, replacing Jonathan Nethercutt, who is taking this season off.
Colorado also brings in a few more talented pieces who could slot in on offense or defense in Keenan Laurence (formerly of Oakland) and Zach Slayton (formerly of Austin). Looking to return to Championship Weekend after two seasons away, the Summit have a roster that, on paper at least, can compete with the best in the league.
Empire Reload
Speaking of talented rosters on paper, the Empire bring back their stack of stars with Marques Brownlee, Jack Williams, Ben Jagt, Liam Haberfield, Axel Agami Contreras, Antoine Davis, and John Randolph all back in the fold. In addition to excellent role players, the Empire are once again loading up with new talent, adding in former Aviators Calvin Brown and Everest Shapiro, 2019 All-Star Game MVP Max Sheppard, Gavin May (formerly of Oakland), and college standout Ethan Lieman. It may take some time for all of these players to get comfortable in their new roles, but there is no doubt that the Empire have everything they need to win a fourth championship. However, they also play in the league’s toughest division with Boston, DC, and Toronto all displaying playoff-caliber rosters.
Rush Reboot™
Wait–did that say Toronto? The Rush were among the bottom feeders in the league last season, but they are aiming to get back to the heights of their early-AUDL glory days. The Rush signed a slew of talented European players: Arvids Karklins, Toms Ābeltiņš, and Tom Blasman of Belgian club team Mooncatchers; Connor McHale from Clapham; and Simone Gasperini of BFD La Fotta. The European imports also enticed a number of returning Canadian stars to rejoin the team after at least a season away; Mark Lloyd, Ty Barbieri, Mike Mackenzie, James Lewis, and Wilkie Lewis will all return to the Rush after prioritizing other things in 2024. Overall, Toronto brought in upwards of 10 significant difference makers to augment the players continuing on from 2024. It looks like we’re going to have a four way race for three playoff spots in the East with New York, DC, and Boston all right in the mix.
Fly The Single U
When the Chicago Cubs win a game, they fly a “W” flag outside Wrigley Field. The Union might want to invest in a flag of their own, as the team is staring down a schedule that should include a lot of wins with the new talent the team brought in. Back-to-back Ultiworld European Men’s Player of the Year Daan De Marrée and club teammate Sofiene Bontemps are joining the windy city squad who also bring back talented players who took some time away, including Paul Arters and Nate Goff. Chicago is centralizing the central division’s talent, stealing Xavier Payne and William Wettengel from the AlleyCats and Victor Luo from Madison. Even longtime Union star Pawel Janas couldn’t stay away, re-joining the team despite his previous signed commitment to Los Angeles.
All of the above players save for Bontemps played for club team Chicago Machine last season.
Alongside talented breakout players from last season like Jake Rubin-Miller, Nate Astrom, and Wilson Matthews, the Union have the chops to dethrone the defending champion Wind Chill and return to Championship Weekend for the first time since 2022. More importantly, they’re bringing together a team that is truly chasing UFA success.
Champions Continue to Challenge
The Minnesota Wind Chill won the 2024 championship. Once the confetti finished falling, the team got right to work on trying to win another. Minnesota signed Justin Burnett (from Atlanta) and James Pollard (from Philadelphia) and brings back the bulk of their championship core, including free agent Matt Rehder.
Chicago is certainly mounting a strong challenge, but Minnesota is not ready to hand back the Central Division crown. The battle between these two teams is going to be exciting and could end up determining who wins the league, since only one can represent the division at Championship Weekend.
