Do you love Ultimate? Have you ever driven past an open field and dreamt about turning it into an ultimate field? Have you, or someone you’ve known, spent 6-10 hours in a car driving to a tournament, just to be turned away early because of the wet fields? We believe the Ultimate Community needs to have fields designed and maintained specifically for ultimate.
Since 2007, we’ve been researching everything from grass seed to sod; land listings to mortgages; trying to develop a sustainable plan for an ultimate complex. When we didn’t hit the big mega-millions jackpot, it was time to get serious about raising money for the fields.
Here’s what we’ve found out. Land prices in a desirable location for ultimate start at the low end of $4500 per acre. Our goal is to buy a piece of land that is about 100 acres in size. We need a large piece of land for 2 reasons. First, we want to be able to host a couple tournaments that bring together as many ultimate players as possible. We’d love to one day host a World Championships all at one location…which can be over 130 teams. Secondly, we never want to have to cancel a tournament based on wet fields. We only plan to host at most 14 Ultimate tournaments in any given calendar year. With a smaller tournament, we’d be able to rotate fields to save the ground, and we’d almost always have 3-4 weeks between tournaments to repair any issues we do run into. A field site around this size should allow us to have between 40 and 50 fields with ample room for parking and extras like locker rooms, a disc golf course, and room to camp. At a conservative price per acre, we’ve budgeted $600,000 for land purchase.
If all we needed to do was purchase the land, this project would be pretty simple. However, purchasing the land is just the first step. We will have to make the fields playable which at the very least will require seeding and waiting for the grass to grow in. It will take nearly a year of growth before we can actually host a tournament. And, because we want to make this the best facility possible, there will undoubtedly be some costs associated with grading the fields. The seed, fertilizer, grading, and parking that will be required to get the fields up to playability will require a minimum of $250,000 and possibly much more dependent on the property characteristics.
Beyond this, we will be required to get the proper zoning and permits to host events at the site. There is no telling what type of resistance, and cost this may incur. Between lawyers, traffic studies, and other issues, the approval can be quite costly itself.
These are just our startup costs. And, there is no way to reach them without the help and support of the ultimate community. Each year, we estimate an additional $40,000 in upkeep of the property. Based on all of this, we have set our financial goal to raise $1,000,000. We know what we’re asking seems like a lot. And, in total, it is. This is our dream, and we need your help to reach it. If half of the USAUltimate members contributed, each gift would be about the portion of a hotel room split 8 ways. One night of camping at Oshadega would make up for that.
There is so much more to the plan for Oshadega. For those in our community that know me, I hope you trust in my vision. It is a vision to create the perfect environment for Ultimate. Please help us turn this dream into reality. For those that I have not met, or haven’t had the chance to hear about our plan first hand, I hope this will be the start of a conversation that leads you to the conclusions we’ve made. Ultimate is the greatest sport, and we need a place to play and continue to grow. Please contact us if you have any questions, suggestions, or can help to share our dream.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope our paths cross on a field somewhere soon. There is no community like the ultimate community.