In my opinion the US open is a terrible idea during a worlds
year here's a conversation I had with USA ultimate.
Jim Heneghan · University of Limerick
USA Ultimate. by bringing members of the IOC to the US open
you'll be distracting them from Worlds. As a member nation
of WFDF USA Ultimate in theory holds that Worlds is the
premier. by hosting what USA ultimate is touting as their
flag ship tournament (due to the 40k spectators your hoping
to attract your putting more effort into this tournament
than Nationals) you'll be hosting a huge distraction from
worlds, especially as your internet streams will cause a
conflict among both the limited number of crews who stream
ultimate as well as a viewing conflict for the spectators at
home.
Instead of having the leadership of USA U (the flag ship
member of WFDF) in Japan helping promote worlds to a wider
audience and showing a united front to the IOC your
promoting your own domestic event which is claiming to be a
world club event. with all the major non-North American
talent in Sakai you'll be hosting an event that will be seen
as a challenge to the leadership of WFDF in front of the IOC
representatives.
Reply · 7 · Like · March 4 at 4:39pm
USA Ultimate
Jim Heneghan Thanks for the response.
In the latest edition of the Ultimate nation, we admitted
that the conflict with worlds is less than ideal, although
it's important to reiterate that the U.S. Open was
scheduled, and WFDF informed of the dates of the U.S. Open
long before the world championships were confirmed on the
same dates. Any international participants in either the
tournament or the convention are free to make their own
decisions as to which event to attend.
With regards to internet streams, there are dozens of
companies out there that have the resources, ability,
expertise and wherewithal to put together a quality
production. If fact, we've received several bids for the
event to date. As the NGB of Ultimate in the U.S., our
mission speaks to advancing the sport in the United States
and the existence of a major, international tournament and
annual gathering of the community will play a major role in
that mission moving forward.
Reply · Like · March 5 at 2:21pm
USA Ultimate
Geoa Geer Yes, we have had several international teams show
interest in attending for the tournament, and officials from
various organizations worldwide show interest in attending
the convention.
In 2012, the conflict with worlds will likely result in
fewer international teams attending, however the long-term
scope of the event is to serve as a major international
tournament and convention in the U.S., which will ultimately
co-exist with the world championships.
Reply · Like · March 5 at 3:51pm
Jim Heneghan
USA Ultimate, your above post is self contradictory.
Your implying that your mission is to advance ultimate in
the US and that you should your actions be detrimental to
ultimate outside of the US then though it is unfortunate it
is not your problem. However when the US Open was initially
announced it was billed as an event to foster growth of
ultimate outside of the US by providing international teams
the experience of playing against the top notch American
teams.
What your doing now is either asking players to not
participate in worlds, and forgoing the highest honor any
player in our sport can achieve i.e. playing for their
country on the world stage, or to have players go to Worlds
and have clubs who's roster's have been winnowed by national
team selection come to the US open and get beat on by North
American teams. This will make the IOC members present that
though ultimate is a great game the sport only really exists
in the US and Canada and doesn't have an international
player base to justify inclusion in the games.
As to the internet streams the biggest issue is the conflict
that it presents to the viewer. By airing your event at the
same time as worlds your asking audiences to consider your
event more entertaining than that of Worlds implying that an
event held in America for the first time is more important
to watch than the WUGC which has been our sports highest
level since 1983.
Reply · 1 · Like · March 5 at 3:58pm
USA Ultimate
That is not at all what we are implying. Also, we are NOT
asking players to not participate in worlds. USA Ultimate
launched the idea of the U.S. Open Championships and
Convention and communicated our plans and timeline directly
to WFDF months before the world championships were
scheduled. While it's disappointing that world's was
eventually scheduled in direct conflict with the U.S. Open
in 2012, the reality is that in the future there is a place
for multiple major international Ultimate tournaments on the
calendar, like any other sport.
With regards to the live stream, again your assumptions are
way off. We are not asking anyone to consider one event to
be more important than the other. We are simply investing a
tremendous amount of resources to bring high-level Ultimate
to an audience that wants to watch it. The viewer is free to
make their own decision as to what to watch, although the
events don't actually overlap very much. July 7-8 are the
last 2 days of the US Open, and the first two days of a
week-long WUGC. Plus, the timing of games in Japan and the
US should work out to prevent actual overlapping content,
and in essence provide a 10 day period where ultimate fans
can get to watch all kinds of great ultimate online.
By having this event in Colorado Springs, we have a chance
to expose people in the amateur sports business world to the
sport at a very high level, with very little effort on their
part.
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