To the players of Spring League and Chicago Ultimate Juniors (CUJO):

As you are all well aware, this season has been extremely frustrating because of
the high number of cancellations and late notice. As such, I thought it might
appropriate to provide you with additional information on how these decisions
are made, what the impact has been so far, and other factors affecting our
ability to run the current season.

For those of you who don't know, the League's day-to-day administration is
managed by League Commissioners; this year, they are Chris Hoeft, Galen Graham,
and Wayne Tang for Spring and Josh Cooper and Carey Goldenberg for CUJO.
However, matters of broader impact, such as managing our field relationships and
League-wide game cancellations, generally fall on the Board of Directors for
Ultimate Chicago.

Historically, Spring League and CUJO games are played at Schiller Woods, a
Forest Preserve District field (entirely separate from the Chicago Park
District). This year, however, the Forest Preserve decided not to permit any of
the picnic groves at Schiller for use by team sports and despite our early
arrival the day that permitting began, we were still behind several other sports
groups who were given priority on any available NON picnic space at Schiller or
other more desirable parks. Miller was our only option.

Myself and several other board members immediately surveyed Miller to ensure
that there was sufficient space and that the fields were of reasonable quality.
However, this was in February and it was impossible to foresee Miller's horrible
drainage problems and the low tolerance of the local field managers for field
damage. As a backup, we asked for and received permits at Bunker Hill for the
first 4 weeks of the season.

Much to our dismay, and as you already know, the combination of poor drainage
and relatively constant rain has made the fields virtually unplayable this
season without significant risk of damage. This has resulted in many Spring
cancellations and even more CUJO cancellations.

Most of you in the community have been very understanding of the situation, and
for that, I am very thankful. As a Board, we walk a fine line between giving
our players a great playing experience, ensuring the long-term viability of the
league, and managing our external relations with not-so-transparent government
agencies. Navigating the last few months has been extremely challenging in
that, as frustrating as it can sometimes be, we must value and maintain our
relationship with the Parks Authorities (including the Forest Preserve) and
comply with THEIR standards to ensure that we all have a place to play Ultimate
for years to come. These are the same organizations that provide us with fields
for Summer and Fall leagues and have done so since the early 90's.

Since the very first week of Spring League, we have sent a representative out to
both Miller and Bunker Hill to meet with Forest Preserve representatives and
assess the fields. While we generally start scheduling these meetings early in
the week, due to the volatility of the weather, we try to perform the assessment
as late as possible to give the fields the most amount of time to drain. The
commissioners fire off the communication to you the players once we have enough
information to make the decision. We strive to accomplish this not later than
midday on the Friday before Spring games. Despite our efforts, we have received
warnings and formal complaints from the Forest Preserve for the games we DID
play even if the pre-assessment went well.

So, that is a little insight into the current season and our history with the
Forest Preserve. Now allow me to answer two of the more frequently asked
questions as of late:

1) If the Forest Preserve is so difficult to deal with, why use them?
First off, please keep in mind that this is the first year we have had this
degree of difficulty in managing our relationship--Even last year when we had
weather issues, they were generally more accommodating. The main reason for
maintaining the relationship has much to do with the price and more to do with
convenience. Forest Preserve fields have historically been a fraction of the
price of Chicago Park District fields or University fields. The convenience of
having all games at the same physical location is more consistent for the
players and far easier to manage. The forest preserve fields are some of the
few areas that have enough grass for us to run an entire league or division in
single locations. This year the Commissioners wanted to make a push to be
present at most rounds, make sure fields were setup, enforce caps and game start
times, and manage other variables—all much more difficult if you are dealing
with multiple sites.



2) Why are you not giving refunds? The reason is frustratingly simple—it
is because Ultimate Chicago cannot get a refund from the Forest Preserve. We
have asked on several occasions now for either partial refund, credit towards
future seasons, or even a permit transfer to usable fields—all requests have
been denied. Further, Ultimate Chicago as an organization cannot take on
"Cancellation Risk" as a financial liability. Despite that fact that we
maintain a healthy reserve, even a 50% refund to Spring and CUJO would cost UC
more than $25,000. Once the precedent is set, a few bad seasons of weather and
UC would be completely out of money. We would be remiss in our responsibilities
to ensure the longevity of this organization if we allowed this to happen.
Meanwhile, we have made other major financial investments this year, primarily
on a new website. Although it is tempting to returnsomething to the community
for what we have had to endure this season, I truly believe that the best course
of action is to design a better long-term strategy that may include things such
as diversifying away from the Forest Preserve for the Spring Season, obtaining
event insurance or self-insuring, and/or negotiating long-term contracts with
park authorities or private land owners. Putting a major dent in our finances
at this time will do little more than limit our long-term options and provide
marginally little benefit to the community as a whole.

Of course there are probably plenty of other questions and reactions circulating
among you; and while myself and the rest of the board would love to address them
all, it's challenging for obvious reasons. What I WILL commit to doing is
watching the UC message board (at www.ultimatechicago.org) and the UC Facebook
group message board and responding to related discussions as I can. In the
meantime, we have taken some action to reduce our dependency on Miller for
summer league and we hope to have more luck from Mother Nature as well.

If this letter hasn't completely alleviated your anger or disappointment, then
at the very least, I hope it has provided you with sufficient information to
have an informed opinion.



Sincerely,

Ben Davis, UC President