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UPA Decision to Sign a Five Year Contract with Sarasota Polo Club for the UPA Club Championships (2008-2012)

Posted 07/10/2008

The UPA appreciates the concerns voiced by a small group of members regarding the decision to sign a five year contract with the Sarasota (Florida) Polo Club. The information below will provide additional background on this decision.

Several years ago the UPA headquarters staff sought guidance from the UPA Board of Directors (the elected representatives of the Association’s 27K members) as to their expectations for locations for UPA national level events. The following priority levels were established by the Board for the UPA Club Ultimate Championships: 

Required

• Adequate and capable local support, or alternatively HQ support, for quality services
• Early decision (at least 1 year prior)
• Keep event costs within UPA budget guidelines
• EMT onsite and hospital within 30 minutes travel
• High quality fields for quality play and minimum injuries (preferably all close to each other)
• Probability of good weather

High Priority

• High volume airport access for convenient schedules and lower airfares
• Adequate, close and inexpensive housing for players
• Insure all games are played during daylight
• Allow all divisions to play in one tournament
• Access to Internet for real-time reporting
• Alcohol permitted at field site

Desired

• Alternate location across country from year to year
• Access to media
• Availability of grandstand for finals
• Access to potential sponsors
• Ultimate fan base in area

The UPA has received general acknowledgement from its members that the Polo Club is an excellent site due to the consistently favorable weather conditions and superior field conditions/quality.

It has also been acknowledged by those responsible for organizing sectional and regional events prior to the Championships that it is advantageous to have sites/dates for the national event locked down in advance in order to facilitate planning and contractual agreements necessary for running these preliminary events. Players have likewise expressed a desire to have the dates and locations of sectional and regional events determined earlier in order to plan their lives/Ultimate seasons.

The UPA has spent considerable time and effort looking at and considering alternatives, thinking about goals for the event, and considering the implications of moving the event both in terms of time and location.

From 2000 to 2007 the UPA has maintained a year to year agreement with the Sarasota Polo Club in order to have flexibility for moving the event to another location.  During this period, considerable efforts have been made to locate alternative sites in other regions of the country, including research into every polo club/complex and numerous large soccer complexes in the country.

Among the information obtained:

California sites

San Diego Polo Club in Rancho Santa Fe, CA (near Del Mar) – At the time this site was investigated, it was no longer available for additional outside sporting events. Efforts to work around this issue through the local sports commission were unsuccessful – the local community simply doesn't want all those people in there. In addition, the Club Championships has grown since it was last held at this facility (the 1999 event held there had smaller Masters and Mixed divisions and required fewer fields). If the facility were available, it is unclear whether it would be large enough to hold the 30 fields necessary to run the current Club Championship event.

Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA – This facility is large enough to host the event but would be considerably more expensive, which would require a significant increase in player fees.  Additionally, there is not a volunteer community large enough to host an event of this size in close proximity to the site. The closest airports are in LA (1.5 – 2 hours away).

Other sites

Other large polo facilities are too far north, are similarly cost-prohibitive, aren't big enough, or are in Florida (which doesn't really address the primary concerns with Sarasota).

There simply are not a lot of facilities that are large enough to host an event that needs space for 30 Ultimate fields.

Like most sport organizing bodies, the UPA relies on a bid process for hosting its events. Every year, through UPA publications, Sports Travel magazine, membership in the National Association of Sports Commissions, and direct emails to Ultimate teams/leagues/organizations around the country, bids are solicited to host UPA championship events.

During the past 7+ years the UPA has received a handful of bids to host the Club Championships, and all have been thoroughly researched by the UPA. In some cases sites are rejected based on facilities (or lack thereof). Two separate bids from Albuquerque, NM were investigated and deemed insufficient in terms of size, quality, and/or availability of fields. A bid from Los Angeles to host at a large soccer complex stalled due to issues with the field layout and access to enough fields for the event.

Quality of the Club Championships is also a strong consideration, whether it's the fields or the general location in terms of accessibility, amenities, weather, etc. Albuquerque in late Oct can have snow. The weather in places like Birmingham and Dallas can be cool/cold and rainy. Some locations in the eastern part of Southern California, even if adequate and affordable facilities could be secured, may have less to offer than an area like Sarasota in terms of off-field amenities. Of all the sites visited over the past several years, not another one can accommodate all 30 fields adjacently. Softness and consistency of the turf, drain ability after rain (i.e. little chance of cancellation due to weather), lack of pre-existing lines for other sports, space surrounding each field (for safety and player/spectator convenience) are also important considerations. 

The UPA has also considered moving the Club Series earlier so that more locations with acceptable weather would become available for the Club Championships. After weighing the negatives – primarily the impact on participation of college teams in the Club Series if it started before most schools were back in session (~30% of the teams in the Club Series are college teams), and potential for “competition” with existing summer (August) events such as club tournaments and local summer leagues, it was determined that the existing timing is optimal.

If members disagree with the basis for the decision or have comments about the goals or priorities for the event itself, please contact either your Regional Board representative or one of the six At Large representatives to express your concerns (a list of Board contacts can be found on the UPA web site at http://www.upa.org/bod/currentboard).

Together the UPA Board of Directors and staff will continue to do our best to balance competing priorities and opinions and make decisions that are best for the sport and the community as a whole.

Will Deaver
UPA Championship Director