Today Cultimate announced that they are prepared to offer a total of $7000 to the two best college ultimate teams in their respective gender divisions over the course of their four-tournament spring series. On top of that, they're donating $1000 to the school whose alumni team wins the Open Alum division of Club Trouble in Vegas. Their Collegiate Championships Series includes Warm Up: A Florida Affair (Jan 19-20), Trouble in Vegas (Feb 8-10), Stanford Invite (March 8-9), and Centex (March 22-23).
So far, Florida, Oregon, and Wisconsin's mens teams have committed to attending all three of the major events (TiV, SI, Centex), along with the Washington womens team. Conceivably, most elite teams are going to want to follow suit, strengthening the reputation of these three already high-level tournaments. Stanford will not be joining in, at least on the mens side - the schedule this year does not allow for back to back three-day tournaments in Vegas and Hawaii.
But what does this mean for tournaments that hope to host the local elite teams? While it's unlikely that the Santa Barbara Invite will be affected by Warm Up this year, tournaments like Queens City Tune Up, Terminus, Easterns, and Pres Day that have typically hosted teams like Wisconsin, UNC, Georgia, UCSD, Colorado and others may be faced with a field more representative of Regional than National rivalries. And will newer tournaments like Mike Gerics' Spring Collegiates be able to attract the strong field that they're hoping for?
As long as Vegas continues to host 64 mens teams, there will be an outlet for younger or up-and-coming teams to test their mettle against the strongest teams in the country. But when Centex boasts a stronger field than Nationals and Stanford Invite only has one spot for a qualifying team, it may end up that local teams don't see the strongest teams in the area until Sectionals and Regionals.
The Collegiate Championships Series will not spell the end for UPA College Nationals. As gratifying as it is to be recognized as the best team over the months of the regular season, especially with a $5000 or $2000 prize, the best teams will still aim to peak at Nationals. Had the 2003 Stanford team won a Collegiate Championship Series, I think that every member of the team would have traded it in for a National Championship. The fact that every single college team in the country is competing against each other for one single championship is something special. College Nationals will not turn into a red-headed stepchild "Canadian Nationals" that teams only care about when a Worlds berth is on the line.
The infusion of money into the college game initially comes as a shock, considering how much the NCAA regulates money and amateur status in every varsity sport. It's not inconceivable that this college season is a test run for a larger bid at an elite club competition circuit during the summer and fall. The Texas Livelogic Shootout has been held for the past few years, with several thousand dollars up for grabs to the winning team. But it's mostly local Texas teams - including a splitsquad Doublewide - and Johnny Bravo that play in that tournament. It's not the money that makes the CCS exciting, although it doesn't hurt. It's the prospect of increased intense elite competition. After all, Stanford Invite already has a stronger field than last year - with Wisconsin and Florida committing to attend, the tournament has locked up 3 of last year's semifinalists.
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2 comments:
I predict that this will interest the 15 teams invited to the Stanford Invite, and exactly 0 other teams.
We're applying for TiV. Here in the Metro East, though, I don't think the "elite" tournaments are that impactful--we've already played Brown and Delaware, and will likely play Pitt by the end of the regular spring season. The best teams aren't really out of reach here, and I imagine that even second-tier teams on the west coast are not terribly concerned with not getting to see the elites prior to the Series. There are enough tournaments that these invite-only affairs can only really do good for the teams attending, and probably do not harm the teams that don't get in. In my experience, tournaments are much more useful when they give you a lot of close games. Sure, it's a nice idea to have a traditional season, where you get to play each team in your region at least once, but that just isn't part of our sports structure or culture.
It is frustrating, however, to not be accepted into any of the tournaments on a particular weekend--it hurts your team's development. But the CCS shouldn't make that any worse.
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