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Feature No. 9 | Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

BREAKING NEWS: Cultimate Developing "Conference 1" As New College Championship

Cultimate will be sending initial offers to top College Open teams to join a new championship conference this week. If successful, Conference 1 will feature 25 of the country's top teams playing in season-long competition, culminating in a National Championship tournament for the top 14 teams to be held in Devens, Massachusetts on May 30th and June 1st.

Teams agreeing to play in Conference 1 will compete in five regionally centered tournaments throughout the year, and will not play against any teams outside of Conference 1. Teams will have uniforms subsidized (through league sponsor Five Ultimate) and will pay no tournament entry fees.

Cultimate, run out of Seattle, Washington and headed by Cyle Van Auken and founder Matt "Skip" Sewell, has displayed a talent for effective tournament organization. In 2008 Cultimate attempted to create a meaningful series of pre-season tournaments—including Trouble in Vegas, the Stanford Invite, and Centex—with the prize-based National Collegiate Ultimate Series.

For more information on Conference 1, visit Cultimate's official site. Teams listed will be receiving offers by Wednesday, October 15th, but have not necessarily agreed to participate. The universities of Florida and Texas have reportedly agreed to join, though at the time of this writing Texas' involvement has not been independently confirmed.

Cultimate has asked that we take down today's press release in lieu of a joint statement they will be making with the UPA, which is forthcoming shortly. We will have that statement for our readers here on The Huddle as soon as it is available.


UPDATE: The UPA and Cultimate have issued their statement.


More articles and information are to come later in the week as this story develops.