With the 'Tacko Fall effect,' women's pro sports team launches in Portland

Premier Ultimate League players on the field.

Photo / Matthew Dacey-Koo for the Premier Ultimate League Maine's first professional women's sports team, Portland Rising, is the newest member of the national Premier Ultimate League. The league includes teams from New York and Raleigh, N.C., which competed in a semifinal game pictured here.

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By Renee Cordes

Ultimate frisbee anyone? Two Maine women have teamed up to launch the state's first professional women's sports team, in a fast-growing team sport played with a flying disc. Originally called ultimate frisbee, it's now just ultimate.

"The sport is called ultimate, frisbee is trademarked," said Maddie Purcell, co-owner of Portland Rising, the newest member of the national Premier Ultimate League, with Chloe Rowse. They unveiled the launch this morning, along with a new website, and are seeking to raise $250,000 initially in corporate sponsorships.

Purcell, a 2018 Mainebiz Next honoree, is the founder of Fyood Kitchen, a fast-growing startup at Portland's Fork Food Lab that organizes cooking parties. Rowse is the founder and executive director of Growing Routes, a Portland-based nonprofit that runs children's summer camps.

Both attended the Maine Coast Waldorf School four grades apart, and both have ultimate experience on the field.

Rowse, who started playing in high school, competed with Team USA at the U-24 World Championships in 2005 as well as across Europe and South America. Purcell started playing ultimate at Colby College, where she also ran track, and in Portland's Adult Summer League.

With Portland Rising, they hope to create a world-class pro women's sports experience in Maine, home to the Red Claws basketball, the Portland Sea Dogs minor-league baseball and Maine Mariners hockey teams. Among non-pro teams, there's also the Maine Mayhem women's football team that charges players a one-time registration fee.

"We have a good sports town, and a great town for women in entrepreneurship and women in government and across industries," Purcell told Mainebiz. "There are a lot of people who are really excited about being able to tell that story in a new way."

She also anticipates a healthy appetite from spectators for one more professional sport.

"It's the Tacko Fall effect," she says, referring to the excitement generated by the Red Claws center from Senegal. "I've been trying to get to a Red Claws game for weeks." She also recently attended a Mariners hockey game.

"Seeing the level of fanship for existing sports," she says, "we're excited to be offering another option."

Team tryouts, courting sponsors

Asked about what's next, Purcell said they'll be announcing the team first, then building sponsor relationships, hiring staff and scouting players ahead of January tryouts.

She said they're already talking to potential sponsors, and has this message for others who may be interested.

"The ultimate community is an incredibly desirable one in terms of demographics," attracting a lot of young adults ages 25 to 35 as well as kids to the sport, she said, adding: "So far, the return on investment for ultimate sponsors is kind of like a no-brainer for those who have been involved."

Photo/Tim Cardoso

Maddie Purcell, left, and Chloe Rowse are the founders and owners of Portland Rising, part of the new Premier Ultimate League.

The Premier Ultimate League is a start-up in its own right, holding its inaugural season this past spring with eight teams from around the country.

Year Two will feature 12 teams including Portland Rising, which beat out cities including Toronto and San Diego for the 2020 season.

Colleen Callaghan Wright, a founding member of the Premier Ultimate League and board chair for the Nashville Ultimate Machine team, said the board chose Portland Rising for a number of reasons following an extensive screening process. Among other things, teams were vetted for plans regarding fundraising, budget and attendance.

"They were one of the top candidates for expansion and we wanted to invite them in," she told Mainebiz via phone.

She also said that during the League's first season, average game attendance was 250 and the highest game attendance was more than 800. In the coming season, Callaghan Wright said that early-season games will be played in southern towns, and later-season games in the north. The season runs from tryouts in January through mid-June.

Portland Rising's owners are hoping to build on the sport's growing popularity in Maine. They note that an estimated 2,500 to 3,400 Mainers played ultimate last year, with 1,300 participating in USA Ultimate-sanctioned leagues, tournaments and club teams.

Portland Rising will will start its 2020 season on the road in early April.

Purcell said the first home game will take place at the end of April, in a Portland venue still to be determined.

"As soon as we firm up the venue and ticket information, it will be on the team's website," she said.

They haven't yet determined whether or not they'll have a team mascot.

"It's hard to compete with Slugger," Purcell said, "but that could be an inspiration."

'Bright future' for women's sports

Brian Corcoran, chief engagement officer and founder of Shamrock Sports & Entertainment in Portland who has no involvement with Portland Rising, sees bright prospects for women's sports in general.

"Off the heels of the contagious excitement from Team USA Women's World Cup victory, the future is bright for women's sports," he told Mainebiz on Tuesday. But he also pointed to challenges for new professional franchises, in terms of competing for the hearts and wallets of both sponsors and fans in a growing, but crowded marketplace.

"All successful franchises, much like our beloved Sea Dogs, Red Claws and Mariners, need key assets to be sustainable," Corcoran said, with this advice for the state's newest franchise. "To start, they will need smart and hard-working franchise personnel powering affordable and fun entertainment."