July 15, 2025
By Evan Lepler

Following 12 weeks of riveting competition, we have isolated the field of 12 teams that will be battling for the 2025 UFA Championship. The field is now set, though seeding in two of the divisions remains unsettled heading into the final slate of the season. 

Interestingly, after all the chaos, upsets, and overtime drama, the composition of the 2025 playoffs is actually quite similar to what we witnessed a year ago. Only two teams—Colorado and San Diego—are among this year’s dancing dozen after missing the tournament in 2024. 

At the same time, if Austin is able to fend off Carolina and clinch the top seed in the South this Friday night, then three of the four divisions will have different top seeds than a season ago. Furthermore, it feels more likely than not that Championship Weekend will have a completely different vibe in 2025. Half of last year’s semifinalists—Carolina and Seattle—have already been eliminated. The other half—DC and Minnesota—will be underdogs in their quest to make it back to the UFA’s signature event. 

I’m not a professional oddsmaker, but here’s how I’d rank the current crop of playoff participants in terms of who’s most likely to win the title in Madison on August 23.

1. Chicago Union
   Even though they will likely need to go through the defending champions, their pathway to the semifinals is the least challenging of all the top seeds. The Union are not the overwhelming favorites to win the whole thing, but they should be considered the leading contender heading into the playoffs.
    
2. Atlanta Hustle
   Not sure if placing a potential divisional two-seed in the number two overall spot speaks more to my belief in the Hustle or continued skepticism toward other contenders, but Atlanta won’t be wary about having to win on the road. Frankly, it might be a relief after what happened to them at home the past two seasons.
    

3. Boston Glory
   Despite dropping two of their last three games, the Glory still have the depth, the top-end talent, and the motivation to win the whole thing. But they also probably have the toughest division title test of any top seed.

4. Salt Lake Shred
   Winners of 10 straight, the Shred are grooving toward Championship Weekend with a sizzling offense, a ferocious defense, and a head coach who’s pushed all the right buttons to get the most from his young team. There’s also the reality that—if not for Joel Clutton’s miraculous buzzer-beating tip two years ago—the West Division would be winless in UFA semifinals in the last six seasons.

5. DC Breeze
   After a middling 3-3 start to their season, last year’s Championship Weekend favorite appears to be peaking at the right time. Plus, they are the only team that’s won on the road against the top seed in their division already this year, so their confidence should be in a great place going up to Boston…if they can squeak past New York first.

6. New York Empire
   The Empire have been waiting all season for their young talent to become consistent playmakers. In Sunday’s blowout win over Philly, however, their youth movement was the difference. Winning two straight road games at DC and Boston will be an incredible challenge, but if they somehow get through the East, New York would arrive to Championship Weekend with more final four experience than anyone else. Also, a bit of BREAKING NEWS: Ben Dameron, the former University of North Carolina star who won three straight national championships with his college club, will make his UFA debut for the Empire this Saturday.

7. Minnesota Wind Chill
   The reigning champs looked bad in Chicago on July Fourth, but they also looked bad at home on July 12, 2024, when they lost by nine to an Empire team that failed to reach the second round of the playoffs. The point being, a lot can change in six weeks. Bottom line, the Wind Chill offense must make significant strides to even give themselves a chance against the Union.

8. Oakland Spiders
   The Spiders are tantalizingly talented offensively, with multiple All-UFA candidates who were the talk of the league through the first half of the season. They also went 0-3 against their two closest West Division counterparts, with their only victories against winning teams being a pair of interdivisional triumphs over New York and San Diego. Their ceiling is high enough to win the title, but delivering four straight offensive masterpieces against top tier defenses—which would be required to earn the trophy—seems like too tall a bar to clear.

9. Austin Sol 
   Sneakily, the Sol are 3-2 against playoff teams, but all three of those victories were against teams currently in third place, so Austin is still searching for a true marquee result. Their schedule was inarguably easier than any of their South rivals, but they also are in position—if they can beat the Flyers at home on Friday—to host their division championship game for the first time. The Sol do have more firepower than you might realize, but even if they can sneak past the hungry Hustle, they’d still be sizable underdogs in Madison.

10. Colorado Summit
    It’s literally been years since the Summit played four consecutive strong quarters against an elite opponent. They’ve shown glimpses of greatness at times and were leading Salt Lake at the half this past Friday, but inconsistent execution continues to wreak havoc at the wrong times for this current Colorado club to be taken seriously as a true title contender.

11. San Diego Growlers
    Making the South Division playoffs is a huge accomplishment for the Growlers, who are back among the dancing dozen for the first time since 2022. We’ve seen them play super competitively with both Atlanta and Austin, but it doesn’t feel super plausible for them to beat both on the road to make it to Madison.

12. Madison Radicals
    Among the 12 playoff participants, the Radicals stand alone as the only squad that hasn’t beaten another playoff team this season. Even if they could stun Chicago and end the Union’s undefeated journey at Breese Stevens Field this Sunday, it’s virtually impossible to fathom Madison earning the right to play at their home venue in August.

The Full Field Layout

Here’s an interesting question: where would the Carolina Flyers’ odds sit on the above list if they were still in the mix? 

With three losses to the Hustle and another home setback against the Breeze, it’d be tough to automatically vault them into the top five. But the Flyers would probably be regarded as sixth or seventh among the championship favorites if their offense had simply held on universe point at home against the Growlers on May 23. Instead, San Diego scored the double overtime break, and Carolina will begin its offseason conversations earlier than any other year in the franchise’s decade-long history. 

On Saturday against the Hustle, the Flyers were stunningly outscored 7-1 in a painful 12-minute stretch in the second half, leading to Atlanta’s 21-17 victory that officially eliminated Carolina from playoff contention. The Hustle, while improving to 9-3 and staying alive in the race for the South’s top seed, were understandably thrilled to finally vanquish their long-time rival. 

“After last year, I realized all roads go through Carolina,” said Atlanta Coach Tuba Benson-Jaja. “They are the most playoff battle-tested program in our [division]…While it was fun to play against some of the out-of-conference teams, Carolina was the only team that beat us last year and the only [South] team that beat us this year.” 

But by winning three out of four regular season meetings, the Hustle ensured that the Flyers would not be a postseason obstacle in 2025.

“Carolina played great in the first half [on Saturday],” said Benson-Jaja. “But we reminded ourselves during halftime that they had to crack at some point. The end of the third and fourth gave us our moments, and the crew seized them…This was a big win for the franchise and getting to knock Carolina out on their home turf was super sweet for me and for the team. We have all been on the other side of it with Carolina countless times, so it’s nice to be on this end for once.”

Half of the Hustle’s 20-man active roster tallied at least one block, and Atlanta converted six of its 11 break chances, five of which came during the climactic second-half push. On the flip-side, the Hustle offense was broken just once in the first 46 minutes. The Flyers had their opportunities, but finished the game with just two breaks in seven tries.

Hustle Captain Brett Hulsmeyer felt that Atlanta’s O-line defense was the difference in the game. 

“We gave up the same number of break chances as the last game, we just didn’t let them convert as much,” said Hulsmeyer, who led Atlanta with four goals and 387 receiving yards. “We’re at a great point right now of actually getting blocks. Carolina, as a team, is not going to give you many turns off execution [errors], so you have to create your own chances. Several players, like Tyler Randall and Kenni Taylor, are converting good defense into blocks, which is really hard to do.” 

The Hustle finished the night with just 11 turnovers, the eighth time this season they’ve had 11 or fewer giveaways in a game. The other 23 teams in the league have collectively combined to do that just 21 times through 12 weeks. 

“It wasn’t the prettiest, but the O-line held it down in the first half by competing mostly on defense and executing our game plan,” said Atlanta veteran Christian Olsen, who was the only Hustle player competing on Saturday who’s been with the team since the franchise’s inception in 2015. “We knew our defense would wake up in the third and make a push. It was special seeing our guys rise to the occasion and truly compete to get some outstanding blocks and conversions…This sure felt like a weight off our back. It’s hard to win [at Carolina], so we made sure to celebrate each other and soak in the moment.” 

As the Hustle rejoiced the end of their 9-3 regular season, the Flyers were forced to comprehend the new reality where their dreams of a late surge into the postseason party ultimately went unfulfilled. 

“Going into the third, we felt really good about our approach and process, but we forced a few looks that we got away with earlier in the game, and that hurt us,” said Carolina Coach Michael Avila. “And when combined with some tough mental lapses, Atlanta being very good at punching in their opportunities, and our defense having to take more risks to generate turns, it led to a tough quarter and second half overall.

“Postgame, what was tough was realizing that this iteration of Flyers only has one more weekend together. We had been fighting these last few weeks to get more time together. More practices. More games. More opportunities to be around each other. So to see that our time is ending soon is tough. That said, it’s also been filled with lots of gratitude and appreciation for one another and our journey, but we’re saving more of that stuff for after our season.”

Indeed, the Flyers still have tough a Texas trip this coming weekend, including Friday’s meaningful matchup at Austin, a game the Hustle will be watching closely. If Carolina can prevail over the Sol, Atlanta would move up the standings and become the top seed in the South Division playoffs.

“Postgame, [Flyers Owner Mike] DeNardis, Coach Avila, and I joked a little about them helping us out,” said Benson-Jaja. They said congrats and gave the customary good luck. At the end of the day, they need to keep growing and have two more games to do that. I don’t think they want to go from being runners-up the season before to being sub-500 [this year], so I could see them being amped to finish Coach Avila’s first season at 7-5 [with two wins in Texas this weekend].” 

Meanwhile, Carolina’s loss was San Diego’s gain, as the Growlers were the biggest beneficiary of Atlanta’s Saturday night result. Watching from afar, the Growlers got to ride the roller coaster of emotions. 

“Travis [Dunn] and I were actually watching together,” said San Diego Captain Kyle Rubin, “and after the first half, we weren’t feeling too confident, but when things really flipped in the third quarter, I think we knew Atlanta was going to close things out. It’s nice to officially lock in our playoff spot, but our aspirations definitely lie beyond that.” 

Growlers Coach Kevin Stuart also added that the clinching moment was bittersweet, since the team, idle in Week 12, wasn’t all together to enjoy it. 

“I was ecstatic for our team because we earned the opportunity with all the work that has been put in since January, but on the other hand, it was a bummer not to be able to enjoy the moment with everyone,” said Stuart. “It’s been a few years since we have been in the playoffs, and we are excited for a chance to compete for a South Division title. Just tell us where we are going, and we’ll be ready.” 

*****

There are a season-high 14 games on the Week 13 schedule that will close out the 2025 regular season, and while 11 of the 12 playoff teams will be in action, only two or three games this weekend will impact the seeding structure of the playoff bracket. 

One, Carolina at Austin, will determine whether the Sol or Hustle will take the top spot in the South and determine where the Growlers will be traveling for the opening round matchup. Another, ironically the game that San Diego will be directly involved in, will dictate the location of the first round playoff matchup out West. 

The Growlers are set to visit the Oakland Spiders this Saturday, and following Colorado’s back-to-back losses against the Shred, the Spiders can claim the two-seed in the West with a home win over San Diego. Of course, this result will only matter if the Summit can first surpass Seattle on Friday night. If Colorado falls at home against the Cascades, then the Spiders will be at home for the opening round playoff tilt regardless of Saturday’s outcome. 

The other 11 games may not carry direct postseason consequences, but there’s still plenty of anticipation around many of the matchups. In the final regular season edition of "Friday Night Frisbee", Minnesota travels to Salt Lake for a fascinating interdivisional showdown. While the Shred are hunting their 11th consecutive victory, the Wind Chill are looking to maintain the positive vibes inside Zions Bank Stadium, the site of their greatest moment last August. 

“Wind Chill won the championship there last year,” said Minnesota’s James Pollard, “so the team has extra motivation to continue winning there. There’s also the 2023 semifinal game that has the team looking for payback [against the Shred]. The [Joel Clutton] tip still haunts the team to this day, so there’s a lot of focus going into this week to have a new story with the Shred.” 

Similarly, Salt Lake, who’s gone 42-5 all-time against the West, but just 2-4 against opponents from other divisions, understands the significance of Friday’s home test. 

“We’re excited to see a unique and very good style of defense in Minnesota this weekend,” said Shred veteran Jordan Kerr. “We couldn’t think of a better way to prepare for the playoffs and really fine-tune things as we get into our most important games.” 

Coming up later today in “Seven On The Line”, Salt Lake’s scintillating second half, Boston’s insane buzzer-beater, DC and New York again on a collision course, and all the rest of the noteworthy Week 12 stories around the UFA.