23 games will be broadcast from this year's Elite-Select Challenge!
August 13, 2025 by Josh Katz, Felicia Zheng and Alex Rubin in Video
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2025 club ultimate season is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
Welcome to the Thunderdome, aka the 2025 Elite Select Challenge, the biggest bid swaying tournament yet this year. Bubble teams from all around the nation gather this weekend in Indianapolis to duke it out over scarce strength bids to Nationals. In all, 31 top 25 teams across all three divisions in the USAU rankings will meet this weekend. Read on for details on how to watch throughout the weekend, and get caught up with our synopses of the favorites, challengers, and dark horses in each division — and then let’s meet the contenders…
We’ve got you covered for all the exciting action this weekend. Follow along on the Elite-Select Challenge Event Page for livestreams and updates throughout the weekend. It all starts Saturday, August 16th, LIVE on Ultiworld!
More Elite Coverage Than Ever Before
We’ll have three games of livestreaming every round from Elite-Select Challenge!
All broadcast games will be available on-demand for viewing immediately following the live broadcasts.
How To Watch
You will need an Ultiworld Standard or All-Access subscription or a 2025 Club Team Pack to be able to watch games from the 2025 Elite-Select Challenge.
Full Broadcast Schedule
Tournament Preview
Mixed Division
The Elite-Select Challenge is always full of strength bid implications, and the Mixed Division is no exception. Atop the field are four teams that, barring a catastrophe, will finish the regular season with a strength bid for their troubles. But after those top four seeds, there’s potential for chaos.
The Favorites
A quick note on each of the four teams that just need to play competent ultimate this weekend to cement their Nationals bids:
- #3 Austin Disco Club are the top seed following their resurgent run to the US Open final. Joey Wylie looks as dynamic as ever, and the additions of Lexi Zalk and Joel Clutton have stabilized Austin’s rotation.
- #2 Durham Toro, like last year, began their season with a great performance at PEC East. They’re surely hoping to avoid continuing a repeat of 2024, where they struggled thereafter. The addition of two Claires – Revere and Bidigare-Curtis – has already paid dividends.
- #5 Sacramento Tower were excellent at PEC West, dropping only a semifinal to Mischief on universe. Without Robyn Fennig, Tower probably have the greatest downside risk this weekend of the top four seeds, but Ryan Takayama and Tom Doi should keep things afloat.
- #12 Nashville ‘Shine have the greatest disparity between our rankings and the USAU algorithm: the win over Hybrid only goes so far in our eyes, relative to the blowout loss to Sprocket. Year 1 of the post-Shofner era still has plenty of potential.
Greater Bid Implications
In another case of déjà vu, Mid-Atlantic foes #16 Philadelphia AMP and #14 Washington DC Rally are right around the bid cutoff with three weeks left in the season. Last year, Rally couldn’t keep up in the race, but stole AMP’s bid at Regionals to end one of the division’s longest Nationals streaks. Both have a great chance to earn crucial rankings points in pool play: Rally draw Disco Club in pool play, whom they played to universe at Nationals last year, while AMP have a chance to get revenge against a ‘Shine team that blew them out at ESC.
The other second line seeds find themselves in similar positions: both #13 Huntsville Space Force and #15 Denver Mile High Trash are the clear(ish) third best teams in their regions, certainly capable of stealing a bid but definitely preferring to have their own as a fallback option. MHT are the more likely of the two to emerge from this weekend with a bid, as Denver sits about a hundred points above the cutoff and have an easier pool to manage (a powered-down Tower and two unranked teams in Seattle Lights Out and Ithaca Townies against Space Force’s pool of Toro, #17 Seattle Mixtape, and Richmond Revival).
Speaking of Mixtape, they (and the Northwest as a whole) have been the surprise disappointment of 2025. The perennial multi-bid region currently has just one team earning a bid (#7 Seattle BFG) and just three others vaguely within range (Mixtape, #19 Oregon Scorch, and Seattle Spoke), plus Lights Out making their season debut this weekend. With how strong BFG have looked this year, Mixtape almost certainly need a big weekend in Indianapolis to have a chance of extending their decade-long Nationals streak.
Men’s Division
An intriguing field of potential bid earners will take the fields in Indianapolis this weekend. The favorites to win the tournament have to be #5 Seattle Sockeye. The fish are undefeated against the field and appear poised for a breakthrough season given the young talent rising through the team and the All-Club level acquisitions of Jonny Malks and Troy Holland. Who their top competitor will be remains an open question.
#11 Atlanta Chain Lightning will get a crack at Sockeye during pool play. With many of Chain’s players coming off an impressive weekend playing in the UFA with the Championship Weekend-bound Atlanta Hustle, vibes are positive and players might be starting to reach peak performance in the peach state. #19 Philadelphia Pacmen, thought, are the official second seed at the tournament. Philadelphia is coming off an impressive showing for a first year team at Philly Invite. This tournament will also be the Philadelphia homecoming for Alex Atkins; the 2023 All-Club First Teamer immediately raises the ceiling for a team that already had a lot of buzz around the Mid-Atlantic region.
Other teams who could raise their ceiling this weekend are #8 Minneapolis Sub Zero and #13 SoCal Condors. At PEC East, Sub Zero proved they had what it takes to defeat Nationals level teams despite a season away from Nationals itself. Likewise, Condors acclimated themselves well against tough competition at PEC West despite not playing at Nationals since 2022. With both teams eying a return trip to San Diego this October, their performance this weekend will go a long way to creating an opportunity for their regions to earn an additional bid past Regionals.
With only the top two teams from each pool able to make the championship bracket, the third row of Amherst Sprout, #14 Salt Lake Shrimp, #18 Austin Doublewide, and #22 Eugene Dark Star all have to upset their way into the bracket, and each of them have the talent and know-how to do so. With Minnesota Mallard, #15 Virginia Vault, and #20 Raleigh-Durham United — picking up Tobias Brooks and Allan Laviolette for the weekend, apparently — all also vying for strength bids, the matchup between the two and three seeds in each pool will be among the most exciting and impactful games of the tournament, and perhaps of the whole regular season.
Women’s Division
Bid Hopefuls’ Last Hurrah
Amongst the bid hopefuls we’ll see this weekend, #9 Pittsburgh Parcha are clearly in the best position. They’re in the midst of a banner year with a firm grasp on a strength bid for the Mid-Atlantic. An upset over top seed Schwa is not out of the question for the shrimp-lovers and would solidify their position. So long as they continue to deliver, this weekend will be just a tune-up for regionals. For #16 San Francisco Nightlock, they have to carry the flag for the Southwest this weekend. A good weekend secures the crucial bid. A bad weekend snuffs out hope for both Nightlock and regional rivals San Diego Wildfire. #18 Chicago Nemesis are the last team in and precariously perched above the cutoff, and with #10 Toronto 6ixers (not playing ESC) in the Great Lakes now, they have to keep the strength bid. Their rating is just 10.29 points above the next team. To ensure their spot, they need to make every point count and secure strong margins of victory against other bubble teams.
The next tier down is full of teams that hold their destiny in their hands. These teams have been waiting for Elite-Select Challenge all year, knowing that this tournament is one with major implications for the bid picture. It’s going to come down to the wire and these teams are playing to keep their national hopes alive. There are four regions represented in this group: #14 Washington Grit from the Mid-Atlantic, #17 Northampton Starling from the Northeast, #20 Utah Dark Sky from the Northwest, and #19 Atlanta Ozone from the Southeast.
Grit lead the pack right now. Playing third fiddle in the Mid-Atlantic is a difficult spot to be in, and they currently sit just inches out of the bubble. As they attempt to increase their own ranking this weekend, they also need Parcha to keep their bid to avoid being in the same position come Monday. The mandate from day one for Starling has been clear: earn the bid or go home empty handed come the series. The birds have shown flashes of potential but a month away from play has not benefitted their ranking. If they can take #6 New York BENT within one (which they have done), can they do the same to the top seeds at the tournament? Or even better, convert that universe coin-toss into victories and points in the bank. Dark Sky haven’t played many games yet this season but they have wins over other bubble teams. Unfortunately they’re being pulled down by losses against Nemesis and #21 Austin Vengeance right now. Avenging those results would go a long way to putting them in bid earning range. Ozone haven’t been to nationals since 2022. Getting over the hump this year would be so meaningful for a team that was once near the top of the division. But much like a game of musical chairs, to get in, Ozone have to bump some teams out. They’ll have ample opportunity to do so in their slated meetings against bid-earning teams.
Long Shots
There’s a sharp drop off in rank between spots 22 and 23 in the projected rankings to the last group of teams playing this weekend, #24 Ann Arbor Outrage, #21 Austin Vengeance, Madison Heist, Philadelphia Flight and Seattle Underground. Teams in the 1700 range are going to struggle to notch wins convincing enough to put them in bid earning range. Perhaps the saving grace of Vengeance, Flight, and Underground will be that they haven’t hit their full 10 games yet, so their rank comes from a small sample size. Getting some more results under their belt may help them get over the weight of early season stumbles.
Choose your fighter and grab the popcorn because these teams will be playing some of the most important games of the season this weekend!
