Where It Stands: 2014 Triple Crown Tour Pre-Season Update
Posted: February 28, 2014 02:42 PM
Boulder, Colo. (Feb. 28, 2014) – The first major Triple Crown Tour event of the 2014 season will be the U.S. Open Championships over Fourth of July weekend, but planning for the season was underway almost as soon as the 2013 National Championships concluded last October.
After a very competitive bid process, with overwhelming interest from many of the nation’s most prestigious tournaments, the major Triple Crown Tour event dates and locations were released today. Additional Select Flight competition opportunities will be announced next month. USA Ultimate will contact Pro, Elite and Select Flight teams shortly to clarify and confirm participation.
Through new and existing broadcast relationships, USA Ultimate’s media partners, ESPN and NexGen, will provide an unprecedented amount of comprehensive coverage of the 2014 Triple Crown Tour.
Full, detailed guidelines for the 2014 season will also be available on the USA Ultimate website next month. The guidelines will outline everything from rostering and uniform requirements to rankings and bid allocation procedures.
To supplement existing competition working groups, divisional councils were created last season to provide the perspectives of each competition division: men’s, women’s and mixed. Representatives from these groups now work alongside USA Ultimate staff and volunteers to share input on the selection and structure of this year’s Triple Crown Tour events and set competition requirements for the season, including schedule requirements for each flight.
"USA Ultimate's divisional councils are a great step in getting direct input from the players in shaping the growth and future of the sport," said Sockeye’s Tyler Kinley. "While much of the TCT was already set in place before my role began, having a place at the table and seeing the process and diligence that USAU goes through in its decision-making procedures has been enlightening and very helpful, and the opinions of the working group player reps are definitely impactful in terms of the changes in both the short- and long-term."
Discussions related to this year’s Nationals format are still ongoing for the competition working groups and council representatives, but several changes from last year’s National Championships have already been defined. After considerable consultation with and input from the competition working groups, along with reviewing feedback from 2013 postseason surveys, this year’s National Championships will take place at a single field site, the FC Dallas Toyota Soccer Center.
The schedule will continue to focus the latter half of the event on showcasing the semifinals and finals, with the first half focused on qualification for the semifinal round. However, this year, all four days of the event will occur at the world class FC Dallas field complex. As a result, there will be more time and space to provide additional, meaningful placement and flight qualification game opportunities for all teams. The extent to which regular-season performance may impact placement and promotion/relegation games will be determined and communicated to teams before the start of the regular season.
"Adding player-elected representatives to the working group is a positive step that has allowed USAU to get input from current players during this period of change and growth in our sport," commented working group member and former Board of Directors President Peri Kurshan. "It also brings in varying perspectives from the three divisions and highlights the fact that different divisions may have some different priorities."
A special thank you goes out to the player-elected division councils, club working group and national volunteers for the time and effort they have put into shaping the 2014 Triple Crown Tour.
- Adam Goff – National Men’s Director
- Tyler Kinley – Men’s Council Representative
- Jack Marsh – Men’s Council Representative
- Dave Klink – National Mixed Director
- Steven Sullivan – Mixed Council Representative
- An-Chi Tsou – Mixed Council Representative
- Remy Schor – National Women’s Director
- Peri Kurshan – Women’s Council Representative
- Michelle Ng – Women’s Council Representative
- Ben Slade – USA Ultimate Board of Directors Representative
- Will Deaver – USA Ultimate Headquarters Staff
- Byron Hicks – USA Ultimate Headquarters Staff
Stay tuned to usaultimate.org and follow @TripleCrownTour on Twitter for the latest updates and to find the most current information on the 2014 Triple Crown Tour season.
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