Colorado Springs, Colo. (February 3, 2022)—College ultimate returns to southeastern Wisconsin this spring as the USA Ultimate Division I and Division III College Championships are set to return to Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States announced today.
A two-day tournament since its inception in 2010, the D-III Championships will expand to three days beginning this year and are scheduled for May 21-23, while the D-I Championships will take place over Memorial Day weekend, May 27-30.
Uihlein previously hosted the D-III Championships in 2013 and the D-I Championships in 2015 and 2018.
Both tournaments will be co-hosted by the Milwaukee Ultimate Club and Sports Milwaukee, Championed by Visit Milwaukee.
“Our city has welcomed many world-class competitions and we are grateful to welcome back the USA Ultimate College Championships to Uihlein Soccer Park,” said Sports Milwaukee Director Marissa Werner. “It’s an exciting opportunity for our team to host both championships in 2022. Sports Milwaukee has developed a strong partnership with USA Ultimate over the last 10 years and we look forward to making these the most successful championships to date.”
“Milwaukee Ultimate is looking forward to this year’s D-III and D-I tournaments,” added tournament director Scott Severson. “Hosting USA Ultimate championship events is always exciting and challenging, but organizing back-to-back events takes that to a whole new level. We are looking forward to that challenge and will strive to provide two top-notch events and a lot of great memories.”
Following an outright cancellation of both tournaments in 2020 followed by a postponement of the 2021 editions that led to both events happening simultaneously in Southern California last December, the D-III and D-I Championships return to their traditional spots on the spring calendar.
This year marks the first time both events will be held on back-to-back weekends in the same market.
The D-III Championships will host 32 teams – 16 each in the men’s and women’s divisions – and more than 800 athletes.
The D-I Championships will welcome 40 teams (20 men’s, 20 women’s) and more than 1,000 players.
Defending champions include Oklahoma Christian University (D-III Men), Middlebury College (D-III Women) and the University of North Carolina, who captured both Division I titles last month.
The USA Ultimate College Championships are the culmination of the college ultimate season. Each year, more than 600 teams across the country compete for a spot at nationals, playing in a 12-week regular season before a series of conference and regional qualifiers sets the fields for nationals.
The D-I Championships will again be covered by the networks of ESPN with both the men’s and women’s championship games airing live on ESPNU and four semifinals streaming on ESPN3.
After holding the D-III tournament over four days in conjunction with the D-I Championships last year, USA Ultimate and its college working group explored the idea of adding an extra day to the tournament. With the ability to spread games out over more days, the expansion is expected to improve the player experience from both a safety and quality of competition perspective while also allowing for more opportunities to showcase games to fans.
