AN ANALYSIS of the 1998 UPA BOARD MEETING
published for an international audience on WFDF.org

The Ultimate Players Association (UPA) took two major steps forward at its annual board meeting in January of this year. Sponsorship and referees – two words not in the Ultimate lexicon – have suddenly come to the forefront of Ultimate in the United States.

Ultimate has had major sponsors before, notably Cuervo Tequila and Bic Shavers in the late 80's. But the sport repudiated the business of "selling-in", afraid the uniqueness of Ultimate would be co-opted by a corporate drive to turn Ultimate into a money-making venture.

Referees have always represented the antithesis of self-governed frisbee, perhaps the last true bastion of the idealistic hippie age in America. Besides, dedicated and knowledgeable referees would be hard to come by for frisbee tournaments, where non-players are an endangered species. Not until recently have there been enough graduated Ultimate players who wouldn't mind observing a game in lieu of playing one.

Almost overnight, two proposals passed the UPA board. One; to accept a sponsorship and advertising deal with Jockey and two; to allow a 2/3 vote to approve the implementation of the Callahan Rules at this year's College Nationals.

The Jockey sponsorship is a done deal: officially this year's Nationals will be called the 1999 Jockey UPA College Championship.

There is solid evidence that the Callahan Rules will be passed (the rules will be voted on by the top 50 Collegiate Open teams and a 2/3 majority in favor will pass the proposal. The Women's division is not involved in the Callahan Rules at this point).

Jockey and Sponsorship
Ultimate has long had a love/hate relationship with mainstream media. Players have complained that there is, unjustly, little to no coverage of the sport in magazines, such as Sport Illustrated, and on television, such as ESPN2. At the same time Ultimate as a whole refuses to court mainstream media outlets, acting as a standoffish teenager who expects to be taken seriously.

This indignant and often rebellious stance is classically American and insures that there is a future for frisbee in the crowded sports landscape. Other grassroots sports, most notably beach volleyball and snowboarding, had the same attitude through years of growth. Volleyball is a prime example. Once considered a fad or a fringe sport, the sport broke suddenly into American consciousness in the 1980's and has been on an international roll ever since. Volleyball was invented in the 1950's and Ultimate's growth (started in 1967) parallels the sport with about 20 years of lag time.

Does this mean Ultimate will become a household name in 2010 and become a professional sport with sponsorship, advertising, paid players and television coverage? If the UPA's board meeting is any indication, it may just turn out that way.

In January, a marketing executive at Jockey, the undergarment company best known for bedroom-ready briefs, went directly after Ultimate Frisbee as a potential partner.

During advertising negotiations with Sports Illustrated, Jockey sought out Ultimate as part of their advertising package with the magazine. They hinted to S.I. to talk to Ultimate officials about possible sponsorship before closing the deal. S.I. talked to their Ultimate contacts and helped initiate the deal that has led to Jockey's sponsorship of major Ultimate events in 1999.

It's not a head-turning deal. But UPA officials jumped on the chance to convince a sponsor that Ultimate can be marketed. They agreed to a one-year contract that provides Ultimate with $35,000 worth of free advertising in Sports Illustrated and an additional $25,000 to run 5 Jockey Ultimate "festivals" to be held at College campuses in the U.S. UPA officials concede that the festivals will cost about $20,000, leaving them with a net of $5,000 and the free advertising.

Free advertising for Ultimate frisbee? $35,000 is not a lot of money to purchase ads in a major national publication like Sports Illustrated. But it will buy the UPA large full-page ads in select markets, like Denver, New York or Los Angeles. And that's what the UPA plans to do. Soon we will see these ads touting Ultimate and Jockey-sponsored frisbee.

This is a "major step forward" according to several board members who view the initial deal as chance to prove to other possible partners the potential Ultimate has of being sponsored and marketed, which means getting more money in the cash-strapped coffers of the UPA.

In other words, if we look good in our deal with Jockey, we can look forward to more lucrative deals with more suitable sponsors, such as Gatorade or Adidas.

The UPA has changed its tune. Two years ago the thought of seeking out major sponsors was blasphemous and voices were heard decrying the return to Cuervo days when the liquor maker devised tournaments with their own set of rules. Some players liked the changes (most notable being a 2-point line) but most, it seems, resented having to alter the sport for an outside group.

Ultimate may just get what it has always (apparently) wanted: non-meddling sponsors who will let the sport be dictated by its own players and administrators.

Can it be true? Will Ultimate keep its rules in the hands of the players? Will major tournaments get mainstream sponsorship in the future?

The Callahan Rules
The Callahan Rules are the brainchild of Charles Kerr [Ed. note: Kerr and Will Deaver orchestrated the "Experimental Rules"], an ex-Ultimate player from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, home to several teams and three sports-loving universities.

North Carolina was a hotbed of Ultimate activism in the early 90's. Vocal hothead Mike Gerics, then a player at East Carolina University, made his opinions widely known on rec.sport.disc, the fledgling internet bulletin board. Gerics called for referees and an abandonment of the zone, ostensibly to make the game more exciting, but quite possibly as a justification for the nature of his own team, the Irates, known for bad spirit and a plague of foul-calling. Regardless of his motives, the radical (at the time) views on the sport began to take shape.

Ultimate players had little contact across the nation until rec.sport.disc was able to reach players from all over (and 90% of Ultimate players learned the sport in college where the internet first took hold). Gerics' dispatches were noted by many and took up by a coalition in Wilmington, North Carolina. The New Ultimate Association, or NUA, was founded and introduced referees into the sport to curb the complaints against foul-calling and foul-causing teams.

The NUA held several refereed tournaments and started a small league in North Carolina but the majority of Ultimate players were either put off by Gerics' abrasiveness or were not ready to make changes to a sport that seemed to be moving along just fine.

The NUA stayed around for 3 or 4 years before folding. But it left an indelible impression on many. Why couldn't Ultimate try having referees?

The collapse of the secessionist NUA allowed for Kerr to soften the harshness of NUA's often confrontational strategy by introducing the Callahan Rules. Kerr brought the rules into a sponsorship deal he had secured on his own with Nortel, a large telecommunications company.

Kerr had Nortel sponsor a series of college tournaments and encouraged the tournaments to adapt the Callahan Rules – a new set of guidelines that clearly delineated some of the grayer points of traditional Ultimate.

The Callahan Rules are an open attempt to attract sponsorship and fans – the two things Ultimate has felt it has deserved for so long. Kerr (and others) realized that the game's often laborious pace was a detraction to fans attempting to appreciate a game of frisbee. There were mysterious foul calls and long stoppages of play for discussions. Do-overs were baffling and the time allowed between points and after turnovers made the sport appear leisurely.

The Callahan Rules call for 90 seconds between points, 10 seconds of elapsed time after turnovers, and most dramatically, an observer on the field of play who responds to conested foul calls (still called by the players) with either acceptance or dismissal, eliminating time-consuming discussions between players and the mysterious do-over.

Younger college players, unfamiliar with the sport's history, have taken to the rules because they make sense and speed up the game. More and more schools are playing competitive Ultimate and the gray areas don't seem necessary anymore. A higher caliber of Ultimate jock has started to play the sport, one who believes that when participating intensely in any activity there is the likelihood that being able to make the "right" call should not be expected of an active player.

In other words, the "call and dispute your own foul" slows down the game's inherent intensity of play. You can't get into the game and keep a supposed objective eye open for fouls.

The Callahan Rules provide an observer to make a judgment if a call is contested. Calls are still made by players, but if there is a disagreement it is left up to the neutral observer to make a final decision. If the empowered observer decides that he/she cannot make the call, then the call defaults to the defense, a significant change. Traditionally, disputed calls become do-overs and return to the offense.

In the three years since being introduced, the Callahan Rules have been updated to be more fluid. This year five major college tournaments will be using them exclusively. At the1998 College Nationals, the Open teams were asked their opinions of the new rules. Most responded favorably, encouraging Kerr to send a proposal to the UPA board to adopt the rules for 1999 Nationals.

The Board agreed on a trial basis, allowing the top 50 teams to vote yea or nay on adopting the rules for Regionals and Nationals. The votes will be made in the first week of April. Right now, it looks like they will pass. It's tough to tell, as only 17 teams need to nix the proposal for it to fail.

If the rules do pass, it seems unlikely that they would be rescinded in the near future, although the possibility certainly exists (like the NFL's short-lived instant replay).

Although the Callahans do not employ referees, they do include the fundamental addition of a third party empowered to affect the game. Traditionally the game's rules have always resided with the players on the field. For the first time in a long time (referees and time limits were just a few of the things experimented with during the early 70's when Ultimate was defining itself) a game of Ultimate, in certain tournaments, will include an officiating crew.

So what does it all mean?
Ultimate has taken some bold steps toward the future. For years a vocal majority (or was it a minority?) has been clamoring for UPA officials to get the ball rolling; to attract sponsorship, fans, television coverage, respect.

Ultimate has long been haughty and timid. We have been afraid to accept the possible negative changes that might result from increased exposure. Everyone wants the good changes that may come.

Either way, it won't be for us to decide. Maybe we will get on television and finally be legitimized. Maybe we'll get non-frisbee-playing fans to our major tournaments. Maybe even, God forbid, a disc player might make a buck or two.

The important thing to remember is: we don't know what will happen, whether Ultimate (the unique iconoclastic Ultimate that we know and love) will interest the mainstream or not. What we should now know is that the sport is strong enough to keep its identity in the face of increased exposure in the world outside.

We should be open to changes that will keep Ultimate a living and growing community instead of a closed-off world of reactionary rules and stagnant growth.

We don't know what may happen, and that is scary to some, but the sport – Ultimate itself – demands growth and opportunity. We are just the players.

So check it out if you can! This year's College Nationals could be a turning point for our sport. New rules, new sponsorship, even a new regional redrawing (the United States and Canada have been divided into 8 regions, replacing the long-standing 5 region system).

The tides of change are beginning to crash on the shores of America. Grab a disc and don't be left behind. It could be fun in the water.

Whoo-hoo! (as we Americans are fond of saying)

This was written for WFDF.org.

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