Meet Portland’s New Major League Ultimate Frisbee Team: The Stags
Major League Ultimate frisbee lands in Portland. The Portland Stags join MLU’s Western Conference for the league’s inaugural season.
The team’s talent largely draws from Portland’s elite club Ultimate team, Rhino, who finished tenth at the 2012 Club Ultimate Championships in Sarasota, Fla. The team boasts some of the youngest talent in the league, including three players selected for the U-23 USA National Team who will be competing the U-23 Worlds Championships this summer in Vancouver, B.C. In addition, the team possesses the 2010 Callahan winner Eli Friedman.
Players were selected throughout a series of combines in which they were asked to scrimmage other contenders as well as go through a series of tests which measured sprint speed, jump height, throwing distance and more. Combines took place at Buckman Field in Portland.
The Stags started their season in late April against the San Francisco Dogfish. Although their 1-4 record has them sitting at 4th in their division, the talent looks to be much more competitive on the West coast than elsewhere. The season is set to run from April 20 to June 22 after which playoffs will take place.
Home games take place at Roughrider Stadium at Roosevelt High School and Griswold Stadium at Lewis & Clark college. Tickets are on sale now: Season passes are $80 for adults and $45 for children. Single-game tickets are also available. Fans under the age of two attend for free.
The team was named for the Stag that graces the Welcome to Portland sign in Downtown Portland.
Check out the Portland Stags online for more.
Major League Ultimate
Founded in 2012, the MLU is the premier league for top-level Ultimate in the US. The league was created to provide a professional platform for the incredibly athletic, highlight-packed sport that is Ultimate. Prioritizing production, fan-experience, and level of play, the MLU is committed to giving the sport the audience it deserves.
MLU’s inaugural season began in the spring of 2013 and consist of 40 regular season matches between all the teams, two playoff matches, and a championship game. Regular season matches in this first season are played within the conference over a 10-week season. The post-season then pits conference champions against each other to determine a league champion.
