College Restructure Plans

Conference Plan

Introduction
     Overview Description
     Team Advancement and Bid Allocation Mechanisms
    
Reference Documents
        Video Explanation Clips
        Season Flowchart
        Season Calendar
        Geographic Structure/Map
        Sample Conferences
        Sample Bid Allocations
        Sample Seasons
        FAQ

Plan Details
     Regular Season
        Registration
        Eligibility
        Competition Structure
        Qualification for Post-Season
        Rankings
        Strength Algorithm
     Post-Season
        Registration
        Eligibility
        Competition Structure
           Stage 1 (Regionals)
              Division I
              Division II
              Division III
           Stage 2 (Conference Championships)
           Stage 3 (Nationals)
    
INTRODUCTION

The Conference Plan is in many ways a departure from the current structure of the UPA College Series and the informal regular season that precedes it. It has been developed separately from the current structure to address some of the desires of player and fans of college Ultimate as well as the changing landscape of the division as it has grown and developed, from 283 teams in 1999 to 630 teams in 2008.

The season culminates in a Division 1 national tournament where 20 Open and 20 Women’s teams vie for the undisputed title of UPA College Champion. Along the way, teams can opt to compete in a regular season, but every team will have the opportunity to compete in its own Conference Championship for bids to at least one of three UPA national championship tournaments (Division I, II, or III).

The Conference structure will allow teams with similar qualities (skill level, location, willingness to travel) to compete in events that cater to those qualities. This will not only create the most rewarding playing opportunities for those teams, but will also help build rivalries between teams and add excitement to the college Ultimate season. Conferences, which will stay basically the same from year to year, will be a great way to both organize competition and promote college Ultimate teams and the college season.

The Conference Plan not only distributes groupings of teams in a new way, it also creates a new way to approach the regular and post-season schedule of events. First, it allows current-season play to determine not only who advances to various post-season events, but how many bids will be available at each stage along the way. Throughout the regular season and post-season, teams will be fighting not only for themselves, but also for their Region and their Conference…until the Conference Championships, where it’s every team for itself. Secondly, it allows every team from throughout the country to participate later into the spring and in an event where they have a guaranteed shot at one of three national championship events.

• Increased opportunities to play in meaningful games at each team’s level throughout the regular season and post-season,
• A schedule that is fairly flexible but also provides playing opportunities later into the spring, when weather is less of an issue (i.e., the weeks currently scheduled for Regionals at the beginning of May), as weather issues plague some areas of the country during what is now Sectionals (during mid-to late-April).
• Inclusiveness in allowing all teams a meaningful end-of-season competition, including an approach (instead of Sectionals) that groups teams into units of ~8-12, where each conference championship will be a more manageable event with similar competition level and/or school size. 

These are all elements of the Conference Plan that will provide an incredible experience for college Ultimate players throughout the country and a sustainable structure for the future.

The first thing to understand about this system is the geographic setup and how teams fit into it. There are 6 Regions which roughly divide the country into 6 equal parts. Within each Region, there are a varying number of Conferences. But while Regions are strictly defined based on geographic boundaries, Conferences are actually just groups of teams. While those groups all do exist within the regional boundaries, the Conferences themselves do not have additional geographic boundaries.

Each Conference is a group of 8-12 teams that, generally speaking, have some things in common, such as level of play, willingness to travel, geographic location, or other factors that might make them important to put together. For instance, school size will also be used to create small school Conferences. Prior to implementation of this system, the UPA (with input from the teams), would set up the Conferences (groups of teams). Those Conferences would remain relatively static over the years, although there would be a mechanism for adding new teams and changing Conferences.

Throughout the season, the teams in each Conference would play games that would help its Region and its Conference earn bids to post-season tournaments. Then, at the end of the season, teams within a Conference would play each other for the bids they had earned, with the winners advancing to one of three national championship events.

The next thing to understand about this structure is that Regional tournaments are the first stage of the post-season, not the second, and they are not actually used to advance or eliminate teams from the post-season. Through the regular season, teams earn their way into Regional tournaments. At those Regional tournaments, however, competing teams are simply representing their Conferences and attempting to earn bids to National tournaments to bring to their Conference Championships. Teams that do not participate in Regionals still get to play in their Conference Championship after Regionals. And teams that attend Regionals as representatives of their Conferences do so without risking elimination, but also without the chance to advance to directly to Nationals. They will also have to play in their Conference Championships, after Regionals, for the bids they helped earn to Nationals.

So, how does this start? In the early part of the year (e.g. January), a set number of teams will be offered spots in the Tier 1 regular season based on their performance from the previous year. Teams that accept will be required to register and undergo a pre-season eligibility check of their rosters. Other college teams will have the option to register for an early season kick-off event, which will qualify a set number of additional teams for the Tier 1 regular season. These teams will also be required to register with the UPA and undergo an eligibility check. Teams that qualify for the Tier 1 regular season, whether based on the previous year or the kick-off event, will be designated Tier 1 teams for the regular season.

Other college teams will have the option to sign up in the early part of the season (e.g. January) as a Tier 2 team, including those that play in the kick-off event but don’t qualify for Tier 1. All Tier 2 teams will also be required to undergo an eligibility check, so that their regular season games against other registered teams can be considered official. Teams that don’t sign up as Tier 1 or Tier 2 can still play in many events, but their results will not be used to determine bids to the post-season.

All teams will have a great deal of flexibility in arranging their regular season schedules. Teams can play anyone they want, any time they want. However, Tier 1 teams will be required to attend at least two UPA-sanctioned Tier 1 events (one “national” and one “regional”). Results from games at these Tier 1 events will help determine, by use of an algorithm, the number of bids each Region will get to Nationals.

Tier 2 teams will also be playing regular season games at UPA sanctioned events. The results of those games will help determine two things, 1) bids to Division I, II, and III Nationals for their respective Regions and 2) which Tier 2 teams will get to represent their Conferences at Division I or II Regionals. (Note that all Tier 1 teams automatically qualify for Division I Regionals, but Tier 2 teams can earn their way into Division II Regionals or into available spots in Division I Regionals.)

So, the Tier 1 regular season is all about earning bids to Nationals for your Region. The Tier 2 regular season is all about the same thing, but also is about earning a spot for yourself at one of the Regional tournaments. Once the regular season is over and Nationals bids have been divided up amongst the Regions, the Regional tournaments become all about earning as many of those bids as you can for your Conference. The more bids teams help bring back to their Conference, the better their chances are for earning one of those bids and going to Nationals in one of the three divisions. Then, when it comes to the Conference Championships, there will be at least one guaranteed bid to a national tournament (Div I/II/III) on the line, and 8-12 hungry teams ready to compete.

The season ends with 3 National Championship events, Division I, II, and III. Division III will be exclusively for 32 small college teams. Division I will include 20 teams, all of which will be eligible to compete in Tier 1 regular season the following year. Division II will be a 64 team tournament, with the top 16 teams earning automatic spots in the following season's Tier 1 regular season.

It is important to note that the mechanisms described in this plan are not inherently tied to the structure itself. While the mechanisms described in this plan outline the vision of some planners, they do not necessarily represent the only viable option and are subject to feedback from the community as well as from organizers who would be tasked with implementing these mechanisms.

For example, in the Conference Plan outlined here, the mechanism for allocating nationals bids to conferences is based entirely on the results of regional events (i.e. the results of the teams in attendance, who are there representing their conferences). However, it is also possible to implement this same Conference competition structure, as described, but with conference bids allocated based on a ranking algorithm that includes both regular season and regional event results, instead of relying solely on the results of regional events.

In order to help explain the plan, only one mechanism for allocating bids and selecting teams for various events was described. However, alternative methods will be presented on the College Restructure Blog, where the pros and cons of the various alternatives can be discussed.

Video Explanation Clips - Video clips of HQ staff members explaining the major elements of each plan.

Season Flowchart - Graphic depiction of various elements of a season under this structure and how they are connected.

Season Calendar - Timeline of a college Ultimate season under this structure.

Geographic Structure/Map - Visual aide showing potential regional boundaries and conference distribution.

Sample Conferences - See how teams from two very different regions (Northeast Open and Southwest Women) might be divided into conferences.

Sample Bid Allocations - See how a region might distribute its bids to Division I, II, and III Nationals to its conferences.

Samples Seasons - See how a variety of real teams' 2008 seasons might have looked under this new structure.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

(Note: Unless specifically stated otherwise, all parts of this plan are applicable to both the College Open and College Women's divisions, which may also be referred to in general as "gender divisions".)

Regular Season

Registration

A pre-determined group of teams, based on the previous year's finish, will be offered spots in the Tier 1 regular season. This will occur in late November. Teams that accept this invitation will be required to register with the UPA by a late-January deadline.

Other teams that wish to qualify for the Tier 1 regular season will be required to register for a kick-off event to be held in late January. Registration for this event will likely be held in November and December. Teams that perform well enough at the kick-off event will be designated Tier 1 for the regular season. Those that don't will be designated as Tier 2.

Other teams who do not either a) automatically qualify for Tier  1 or b) participate in the kick-off event will have the opportunity to register for the regular season as Tier 2 teams. They will be required to register by the late-January deadline.

Any teams registering for the regular season that have not already been assigned to a conference will be assigned to one during registration.

Teams from small colleges (size TBD) that register for the Tier 1 or Tier 2 regular season will be designated Division III-eligible. This designation will allow their official regular season results to be used in determining how bids to Division III Nationals are allocated amongst the regions.

Teams that do not register as Tier 1 or Tier 2 teams by the late January deadline will not be officially registered for the regular season. They will be classified at Tier 3 teams.

Any tournament director that wishes to host a UPA-sanctioned regular season tournament must notify the UPA by early December.  UPA-sanctioned tournaments will need to meet certain event standards (TBD, but possibly including lined, full-size fields, a buffer between fields, UPA certified observers for semis and finals, a medical plan in place, UPA score reporting, and UPA tournament formats).  In addition to UPA-sanctioned tournaments hosted by the community, the UPA will partner with local event organizers to host two national-level tournaments and one regional level event in each region. These events will be announced in December so that teams will have the opportunity to plan their seasons.

Eligibility

Registration as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 regular season team will include a check of all rostered players to ensure they and the team meet the UPA College Eligibility Rules*. Only players who are registered and approved for Tier 1 and Tier 2 regular season play will be eligible to compete with their team in official regular season games.

The UPA will provide up-to-date rosters of eligible players to the tournament directors of UPA-sanctioned events, where teams will be subject to player checks by event staff to ensure compliance with approved rosters and eligibility rules.

Tier 3 teams will include all those not officially registered by the late January deadline. These teams' rosters will not have been checked and approved by the UPA for the regular season, so any results involving these teams will be unofficial.

*The UPA College Eligibility Rules will be re-written to accommodate the new, earlier deadline and school academic calendars to allow for eligibility verification prior to the regular season registration deadline.

Competition Structure

Regular season events will be comprised of UPA-affiliated (UPA-run or UPA sanctioned) and non-UPA-affiliated events. The UPA will partner with local organizers to host two national-level Tier 1 events and at least one Tier 1 event in each region to help provide adequate opportunities for Tier 1 teams to play one another in the regular season. Additionally, independent event organizers will be encouraged to sanction their events with the UPA so that Tier 1 and Tier 2 team rosters can be checked. Non-UPA-affiliated events will also exist and provide opportunities for Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 teams to play additional games.

Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 teams will be able to schedule their own seasons, although Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams will be held to some minimum participation requirements.

Results of games between Tier 1 and/or Tier 2 teams at UPA-affiliated events will be considered official regular season results. These results will be used to develop official Tier 1 and Tier 2 standings and rankings, which will be used in determining qualification for and numbers of bids to post-season events.

Results of games involving Tier 3 teams at any event and results of any games at non-UPA-affiliated tournaments may be tracked, but will not be considered in any official regular season rankings or results.

     Kick-off Qualifying Tournament

• All teams not pre-qualified for the Tier 1 Regular Season will have the opportunity to sign up for a kick-off qualifying event. The kickoff event (or events if necessary) will be open to any interested teams, although if field constraints are limiting, there will be an application period before the event.
• Sign-ups for the kick-off will be held in November and December, with the event held in January.
• The top 12 teams (or more if pre-qualifying teams turn down their Tier 1 regular season bids) will qualify to take part in the Tier 1 regular season.

     Tier 1 Regular Season

• Regular Season Tier 1 will be comprised of the the following 48 teams:
• 20 teams from previous year's Division I Nationals
• Top 16 teams from previous year's Division II Nationals
• Top 12 teams that qualifying via the kickoff event.
• The exact sizing/qualification of Tier I may have to differ for the women’s division, depending on team interest.
• Inclusion in Tier 1 regular season requires that the teams attend one national level Tier 1 event as well as at least one regionally located tournament over the course of the season.
• There will be a minimum of 2 bids per region to Division 1 Nationals and 1 bid per region to Division II and III Nationals. The remaining bids will be earned via a regional strength comparison.
• The results of Tier 1 determine directly how many strength bids to Division I Nationals each region will receive for that year. Tier 1 results will also be used, along with Tier 2 results to determine how many strength bids to Division II Nationals each region will receive for that year.
• All teams in Tier 1 automatically qualify to attend Tier 1 Regionals to represent their conference.
• Official results from Tier 2 teams will be used to determine which Tier 2 teams qualify for Division I and Division II Regionals to represent their conference.

     Tier 2 Regular Season

• Tier 2 regular season will be open to any team that wishes to take part and meets the registration and eligibility guidelines for the regular season.Teams in this tier will need to participate in at least one affiliated event in order to be considered for inclusion at Division I or Division II Regional Events.
• The UPA will offer at least one regular season event in every region via affiliation.
• Tier 2 results will be used, along with Tier 1 results to determine how many strength bids to Division II Nationals each region will receive for that year.
• Official results from Tier 2 teams will be used to determine which Tier 2 teams qualify for Division I and Division II Regionals to represent their conference.

     Tier 3 Regular Season

• Teams that do not register for the regular season will still be able to attend events, but their results will not impact their Regional or Conference bid allocations and will not be eligible to represent their conference at Regionals.
• For this report, these teams will be referred to as Tier 3 teams.

Qualification for Post-Season

All college teams (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, or brand new teams) will have the opportunity to register for the post-season (see Post-Season Registration). Teams do not technically have to "qualify" for the post-season through the regular season. Teams may play a Tier 1, 2, or 3 regular season, or none at all, and still be eligible to participate in their Conference Championship. However, only Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams are eligible to compete at Division I and Division II Regionals.

     Division I and Division II Regionals

• All Tier 1 teams will be given automatic bids to Division I Regionals.
• All Tier 2 teams will be lined up according to their regular season ranking and assigned spots at Division I Regionals in their region until the event is full (20 teams/event). Bids to Division II Regionals will be allocated in the same manner until each Division II Regional is full (24 teams/event).
• Bids that are turned down will go to the next team in the rankings from that region.
• Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams that have been designated as Division III-eligible will be treated the same as all other teams in the qualification process for Division I and II Regionals

Teams that do not participate in an official Tier 1 or Tier 2 regular season, and Tier 1 or Tier 2 teams that do not qualify for the Regional event will begin the post-season at their assigned Conference Championship.

Rankings

The details of the ranking system are still to be determined. However, the following would be integral to whatever ranking system was developed and utilized in this system:

• The rankings would be based only on regular season games between registered, eligible Tier 1 and/or Tier 2 teams at UPA-affiliated events where rosters were checked. Games involving Tier 3 teams or any game at a non-UPA-affiliated event would not be considered.
• The ranking system would be a mathematical formula (as opposed to voting) that would take into account official game results to compare teams. This would be similar to something like the current UPA Rankings or RRI on the UPA Score Reporter.
• The rankings would be used to compare individual teams within a region to determine which teams advance to Division I and II Regionals to represent their conference.

Strength Algorithm

The details of the strength algorithm are still to be determined. For Division I Nationals it would be used to allocate the 8 strength wildcards amongst the regions. (Note: Division I Regionals will have 2 bids to Division I Nationals automatically allocated to each region, accounting for 12 of the 20 bids to Division I Nationals.)

One option would be to use the average ranking (from regular season) of a specified set of 3 teams from each region to award strength bids. The subset of teams would be determined based on how many bids each region had already been awarded.

In math-speak: teams compared in the average rankings are teams N+1, N+2, and N+3 where N=Number of bids already secured by a region.

Bids to Division II Nationals would be allocated by continuing to apply the same algorithm, until all strength bids to that event had been awarded to Division I Regional events. With 64 bids to Division II Nationals, and 6 of them awarded automatically to Division II Regional events, there would be 58 strength bids to Division II Nationals to be allocated amongst the 6 Division 1 Regional events.

Bids to Division III Nationals would be allocated in the same manner, but only using small school teams (size TBD) in the rankings that are Division III eligible. The bids would be allocated first to Division I Regional events, then depending on how many Division III-eligible teams were participating in those Division I events, additional bids would be awarded to Division II Regional events. (A process would be developed to allocate additional Division III Nationals bids directly to conferences if there were more bids awarded to a region than there were Division III-eligible teams participating that region's two regional events.)

Registration

All college teams will have the opportunity to register online and submit registrar-certified rosters by late March to register for the post-season.

All Tier 1 and Tier 2 regular season teams will need to have their rosters re-verified, whether they qualified for Division I or Division II Regionals or whether they are just competing in their Conference Championship. Some modification of rosters will be permitted between the regular season and post-season.

Tier 3 teams who participated in an unofficial regular season, and teams that have not participated at all, will be able to register for their Conference Championship. Brand new teams will have to be assigned to existing conferences.

Teams in the Open Division from small schools (size TBD) will be designated as Division III eligible.  Potential requirements for Division III might be <6000 total enrollment (undergraduate and graduate). (Initially this level of play will only be offered in the Open Division, since the density of teams in the Women's Division is unlikely to be able to support a Division II and III post-season structure. This will be re-evaluated as the Women's Division continues to grow.)

Teams that do not register by the late March deadline will not be permitted to participate in the post-season.

All post-season tournaments will be managed by a UPA coordinator, who will be responsible for ensuring the quality of the event, compliance with player and team eligibility rules, and adherence to UPA competition guidelines. These events will be bid out to prospective hosts, who will be selected based on their ability to meet the goals of the event, including those related to event quality and travel time/cost.

Eligibility

Registration for the post-season (Regionals and/or Conference Championships) will include a check of all rostered players to ensure they and the team meet the UPA College Eligibility Rules. Only players who are registered and approved will be eligible to compete with their team in official post-season games.

The UPA will provide up-to-date rosters of eligible players to the coordinators of post-season events, where teams will be subject to player checks by event staff to ensure compliance with approved rosters and eligibility rules.

Competition Structure

     Stage 1 (Regionals)

     Division I Regionals

• Who will be playing?
• These will be 20 team (per gender division) events held during the middle of April in locations that are as geographically centered as the weather will permit in each of the 6 Regions.
• All Tier 1 regular season teams will be awarded a spot at Division I Regionals.
• The number of additional spots available at each Division I Regional event will be dependent on the number of teams in Tier 1 from each region. That number will fluctuate each year based on the teams that qualified for the prior year’s Division I Nationals, the results of the prior year’s Division II Nationals, and the location of teams that qualify for Tier 1 through the current season’s kick-off event.
• The remaining spots for each Division I Regional event will be allocated to individual Tier 2 teams based on their ranking, which is based on official results from the regular season. The spots would be allocated in order of ranking to teams in each region until the Division I Regional event was full (20 teams).
• Teams that did not participate in the official Tier 1 or Tier 2 regular season will not be eligible to participate in Division II Regionals.
• Some conferences will be represented by multiple teams at Division I Regionals, some only one, and some none.
• What will they playing for?
• Each Tier 1 and Tier 2 team participating at Division I Regionals will not be facing elimination or advancement. Rather, they will be representing their conference and attempting to earn bids to Division I and II Nationals to bring back to their Conference Championship.
• Each Division I Regional event will be automatically allocated 2 bids to Division I Nationals, 1 bid to Division II Nationals, and 1 bid to Division III Nationals.
• The total number of bids to Division I, II, and III Nationals up for grabs at each Division I Regional tournament will be determined by a strength algorithm (see Strength Algorithm), based on the regular season rankings of teams from each region.
• The final placement of teams at the Division I Regional events will determine which teams earn bids to Division I, II, or III Nationals to bring back to their conference.
• Division III-eligible teams who qualify to participate in Division I Regionals will be eligible to earn bids to Division III Nationals for their conferences, in addition to earning bids to Division I or Division II Nationals. A Division III-eligible team will be able to simultaneously earn a bid to Division III Nationals and a bid to Division I or II Nationals to bring back to their conference.
• For example, if a particular Division I Regional has 3 bids to Division I Nationals, 8 bids to Division II Nationals, and 3 bids to Division III Nationals, then the top 3 overall finishers would earn Division I Nationals bids for their conference, the next 8 finishers would earn Division II Nationals bids for their conference, and the top 3 Division III-eligible teams would earn Division III Nationals bids for their conferences.
• If there are more bids earned by a region than there are teams at Division I Regionals to play for those bids, then the bids would be allocated to the Division II Regional event in that same region. This could happen with Division II or III Nationals bids.

     Div II Regionals

• Who will be playing?
• These will be 24 team (per gender division) events held during the middle of April in locations that are as geographically centered as the weather will permit in each of the 6 Regions.
• The spots for each Division II Regional event will be allocated to individual Tier 2 teams based on their ranking, which is based on official results from the regular season. The spots would be allocated in order of ranking to teams in each region until the Division II Regional event was full (24 teams). The awarding of spots to Division II Regionals would essentially pick up where the awarding of spots to Division I Regionals left off.
• Teams that did not participate in the official Tier 1 or Tier 2 regular season will not be eligible to participate in Division II Regionals.
• Some conferences will be represented by multiple teams at Division I Regionals, some only one, and some none.
• What will they be playing for?
• Each Tier 2 team participating at Division II Regionals will not be facing elimination or advancement. Rather, they will be representing their conference and attempting to earn bids to Division II and Division III Nationals to bring back to their Conference Championship.
• Each Division II Regional event will be automatically allocated 1 bid to Division II Nationals and 1 bid to Division III Nationals.
• The only way that additional bids to Division II or Division III Nationals would be awarded to a Division II Regional event would be if there were more bids awarded to a region’s Division I event than there were teams eligible at that event to play for those bids. If that were to occur, the bids would be allocated to that region’s Division II Regional event.
• Division III-eligible teams who qualify to participate in Division II Regionals will be eligible to earn bids to Division III Nationals for their conferences, in addition to earning bids to Division II Nationals.

     Division III Regionals

• There are no Division III Regional events. All bids to Division III Nationals are allocated to conferences through Division I and II Regional events.

     Stage 2 (Conference Championships)

• Who will be playing?
• All teams will be placed into 8-12 team Conferences upon initiation of this competitive structure. Conferences will be primarily static after that, although there will be mechanisms to add new teams to conferences during regular season and post-season registration. There will also be a mechanism by which teams can petition to change conferences during the off-season.
• There will be 3 different tiers of conference: major, mid-major, and small.  (See Sample Conferences)
• Major conferences will have the largest geographic scope, and most regions will have only 1-2 major conferences.  These will generally include teams from larger schools, teams with a history of success and/or teams with a willingness to travel.
• Mid-Major conferences have a smaller geographic scope, and most regions will have 4-8 of these conferences for Open, 1-3 for Women.  These will generally include teams from mid-sized schools with some willingness to travel, as well as all large schools with established programs that are not in a major conference.
• Small conferences have the smallest geographic scope, and most regions will have 2-4 of these conferences for Open, 0-2 for Women.  These teams will mostly be teams from small schools (size TBD). In the Open Division, these teams will be Division III eligible, although Division III eligible teams can also be members of major and mid-major conferences.
• In some cases, the conferences might have to have slightly fewer than 8 teams, or slightly more than 12 teams.  In other cases, a conference might have to have an East/West or North/South split, particularly in the women’s division in geographically remote locations with few teams (e.g., certain Women’s division conferences in the West).
• Teams that are registered for the post-season will be eligible to compete in that year’s Conference Championship event. Teams that are in a particular conference but do not register for the post-season will not be eligible to participate that year.
• What will they be playing for?
• Every Conference will have at least one bid to at least one national event (Division I, II, or III).
• This would potentially be accomplished by analyzing the results of the Division I and II Regional events in each region. If there is a conference in a particular region that does not have a bid to a national event, a Division II bid will be removed from the last conference in that region to have earned a bid and awarded to the conference with no bids, provided that does not leave the conference losing the bid with no bids. If the conference with no bids to a national event is made up entirely of Division III-eligible teams, the same process would be followed with the last conference to earn a Division III Nationals bid.
• The bid allocation at the conference tournaments will have been determined by the results of the Division I and II Regional events.  In some cases, conferences may have different numbers of bids to each of the three National events.
• For examples, a conference with 12 teams might have 1 bid to Division I Nationals, 3 bids to Division II Nationals, and 2 bids to Division III Nationals. (ex: 12 teams, 1 advance to Div I Nationals, 3 to Div II Nationals, and 2 to Div III Nationals).

     Stage 3 (Nationals)

     Division I Nationals

• This will be a 20 team event, comprised of at least 2 teams per region, and the remaining 8 bids allocated to regions based upon the regular season results.
• Conferences will earn bids to Division I Nationals through the teams representing them at Division I Regionals.
• Individual teams will earn bids to Division I Nationals through their Conference Championships, in conferences where Division I Nationals bids were earned.
• The 20 teams that participate in Division I Nationals will automatically qualify for Tier I of the regular season the following year.

     Division II Nationals

• This will be a 64 team event, comprised of at least 2 teams per region (1 automatic bid allocated to Division I Regionals and 1 automatic bid allocated to each Division II Regionals). It is possible that this event might not fill completely at first.
• The top 16 finishers in this event will automatically qualify for Tier I of the regular season the following year.

     Division III Nationals

• This will be a 32 team event, and limited to Open teams from schools that meet school size requirements to be considered small schools.
• (Initially this level of play (Division III) will only be offered in the Open Division, since the density of teams in the Women's Division is unlikely to be able to support a Division II and III  post-season structure. This will be re-evaluated as the Women's Division continues to grow.)

*Note: Division II and Division III Nationals will most likely be held in combination with each other, but on a separate weekend or in a separate location from Division I Nationals, which will be held as an stand-alone event. Host sites for all three events will be chosen based on current UPA criteria for championship events, including quality of facilities, local support, travel/geographic considerations, and costs. Division 1 Nationals will additionally consider qualities related to showcasing the event to a national audience.