*Comprehensive Review of S40 Host City Bids

[slate]

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3,488 words, ready for grading. Please give Mojojojo 50% of the payout!

With the overabundance of host city submissiosn for the S40 Ultimus and Ultimini (and World Football Championship also I think?) it can be a bit hard to keep track of all the awesome bids. @Mojojojo and I, longtime enthusiasts of the host city submission process, took a break from preparing for our upcoming wedding to throw together a quick, extremely subjective review of all the submissions just to collect them all in a single place and share our thoughts.

The 35 point rating scale we used was broken down as follows:

Location [15 points]
Uniqueness [1 to 5 points] - Mojo and I frequently try to highlight underlooked locations that may be less well known but deserving of more attention, places that could benefit from the spotlight of an Ultimus or Ultimini. The uniqueness of the location is a fairly substantial piece of how we evaluate bids. This category aims to reward submissions that choose unique locations - both compared to the current field and to historical winners - and  penalize ones that pick “obvious” cities that are hard to get excited about (looking at you, the 5 submissions in the continental United States).

Feasibility [1 to 5 points] - While we do like underappreciated cities getting to host, we also appreciate the in-universe logic of the host city having the capacity to host a large sporting event. Locations with large sports stadiums, good transit and other infrastructure to facilitate large crowds visiting, etc. are all favored in this category.

Tourist Appeal [1 to 10 points] - At the end of the day, the most important thing for a host city is that it must be exciting for visitors. This is the most subjective category, where Mojo and I basically just ranked on “How much would I personally enjoy visiting this location?”

Logo [15 points]
Reflects Location [1 to 5 points] - How well does the logo match the host location? A logo that highlights recognizeable elements of the host city, reflects local culture, and ideally even teaches you about the location a little will do extremely well in this metric.

Visual Appeal [1 to 10 points] - Mojo and I have both dabbled in graphics a fair amount and designed several host city logos ourselves, so as much as one can be objective about graphics we tried to be. But yeah this is probably another extremely subjective category where we just rated based on how much we personally liked the overall design of the logo.

Mojo and I both ranked each submission blind and then averaged our scores to create the combined rankings you see below. Let’s dive in!!

12. Tampa Bay, Florida, USA by @jdc4654


Location
Uniqueness: 2/5 (S), 2/5 (M)
Feasibility: 3/5 (S), 5/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 3/10 (S), 4/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 9.5/20

Mojo: Florida has so many sports teams, including the best fish team in the ISFL. While it's clear that Tampa Bay could host the Ultimus/Ultimini, it's just not that high on my personal list of cities I would want to visit for the event.

Slate: I’ve been to the Tampa area a lot to visit family, and I give it 1 point for beaches/weather and 1 point for Busch Gardens. That’s all it gets for tourist appeal. While the USA overall often makes up the overwhelming majority of host bids, the southwest is actually a bit underlooked relative to other areas. But the competing Atlanta bid in the same cohort hurts Tampa there too.

Logo
Reflects Location: 2/5 (S), 2/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 3/10 (S), 3/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 5/15

Mojo: The font choice is great and the colors of this logo are spectacular, but it feels a bit more like a promotional poster than a sports logo to me. And while I understand the pirate's cove association with Tampa Bay, I also feel that pirates could evoke a lot of locations... there isn't much that feels uniquely "Florida" to me

Slate: Aside from the NFL team I don’t think there’s much pirate connection to Tampa, and I personally dislike making references to an inferior football league as part of the Ultimus. I docked the logo mostly for being difficult to imagine on the 50 yard line of a sports field, as Mojo said because it reminds me of a promo poster. I did like the crossed pirate swords making “XL” though.

Overall Score: 14.5/35

11. San Francisco, California, USA by @18situaseans


Location
Uniqueness: 2/5 (S), 2/5 (M)
Feasibility: 4/5 (S), 5/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 6/10 (S), 5/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 12/20

Mojo: No more tech bros... please! If I'm traveling to the Bay Area, take me to Oakland who has been robbed of their football team! They have football fans just waiting for a game and league to call their own.

Slate: I grew up and went to undergrad in the Bay Area, I personally love it, but you know what I don’t love? Santa Clara. This isn’t a San Francisco bid at all!!!! At least it’s right next to California Great America. Santa Clara is also a giant pain to get to from the actually cool parts of the Bay Area (SF and Oakland) so I docked it a point for feasibility even though it clearly has capacity to host an event this size.

Logo
Reflects Location: 1/5 (S), 3/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 3/10 (S), 4/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 5.5/15

Mojo: Where is the Golden Gate Bridge? While I'm not sure I would recognize the San Francisco skyline easily, this one just seems so abstract that it's hardly recognizeable. I do love the light and shadow and simple detailing of the buildings, but I feel it's got too many colors…

Slate: The TransAmerica Pyramid is an underrated SF landmark and I appreciate going for the not-obvious thing. But of course, the TransAmerica Pyramid is not in Santa Clara.

Overall Score: 17.5/35

10. Los Angeles, California, USA by @AnUnoriginalGuy


Location
Uniqueness: 1/5 (S), 2/5 (M)
Feasibility: 5/5 (S), 5/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 4/10 (S), 2/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 9.5/20

Mojo: Great details in the write-up on why LA would be a city fully capable of hosting the Ultimini/Ultimus and how there are many things to do when not watching football. With that said, it is a bit typical as a location, so it loses points on uniqueness

Slate: Los Angeles hosted the Ultimini in S31. While that was quite a while ago (before Adam! joined the league even!) but repeating an already winning submission is as not-unique as you can get IMO. I really dislike visiting Los Angeles but I can only put it so low on tourist appeal when the weather and beaches are so good.

Logo
Reflects Location: 2/5 (S), 3/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 6/10 (S), 6/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 8.5/15

Mojo: I really like the look of the logo and I can feel a bit of the LA 'vibe', but I'm not sure I would be able to place it as LA without the context of the article. So that brings it down a notch for me.

Slate: Exactly what I was going to say.

Overall Score: 18/35

9. San Antonio, Texas, USA by @Alikh and @Gordon Bombay


Location
Uniqueness: 2/5 (S), 2/5 (M)
Feasibility: 4/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 6/10 (S), 1/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 9.5/20

Mojo: I'm honestly not completely sure why, of all the cities in Texas, it's San Antonio that was chosen. Maybe because Houston and Dallas are overly-saturated with sports teams already and Austin is too cerebral? While I don't necessarily think it was a bad choice, it would have been nice to see the write-up provide a bit more details on why San Antonio and what fans can do there besides watch a sim football championship game.

Slate: Not gonna lie I’m realizing that I rated tourist appeal as if this were Austin until I started writing up these comments. Whoops!! Always makes sense to host a big football event in Texas though, and I appreciate choosing something outside of Houston/Dallas. El Paso (!) did host the Ultimus in Season 30 though.

Logo
Reflects Location: 4/5 (S), 5/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 5/10 (S), 4/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 9/15

Mojo: Very impressed by the details in the logo, but it's maybe a bit busy for a sports logo and may be difficult to see when shrunk down on the field.

Slate: Definitely evocative of Texas and San Antonio, but yeah quite visually busy to use as a midfield logo.

Overall Score: 18.5/35

8. North Pole by @IceBear32


Location
Uniqueness: 5/5 (S), 5/5 (M)
Feasibility: 1/5 (S), 2/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 2/10 (S), 2/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 8.5/20

Mojo: Ice Bear really trying to keep us all cool with this submission. I love the innovativeness of the location, but with no write-up on how one would even be able to host an Ultimus/Ultimini in the North Pole and the lack of other things to do in the city raises some serious questions. I would have liked to see a bit more context provided. However, I am optimistic about feasibility; if Las Vegas can host curling championships by wasting a ton of energy to create an ice rink in the middle of the desert, then we could have a nice, warm stadium in the middle of the North Pole. Just make sure we're far enough inland that as we melt the polar ice caps, we won't have the stadium crash into the ocean with them. I had to dock the "coolness" factor down, even though it is literally the coolest submission, because of global warming concerns.

Slate: Congratulations to IceBear for finding a worse place to play postseason football than Yellowknife.

Logo
Reflects Location: 3/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 8/10 (S), 7/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 11/15

Mojo: Put "Ultimus" in the white L of XL and lose the extra snow flakes and it would look really clean. But already a very nice logo

Slate: “Ultimus” being offset from the rest of the logo is really my only visual complaint, it’s very clean. While the North Pole is obviously cold, I think “snowflake” is a bit generic for such a specific location.

Overall Score: 19.5/35

7. Atlanta, Georgia, USA by @Starboy


Location
Uniqueness: 2/5 (S), 3/5 (M)
Feasibility: 3/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 4/10 (S), 4/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 10/20

Mojo: The short write-up accompanying the logo submission notes the stadium capacity and feasibility of Atlanta hosting the sim football championships, but it doesn't comment on what else might draw fans to the city. When I think of cities to visit, Atlanta isn't one that immediately comes to mind, so maybe I just needed a bit more coaxing…

Slate: Atlanta is a large US city with obvious football ties… yawn. I’ve also never personally been particularly interested in visiting even though I do hear that Atlanta is very cool. Also:


Logo
Reflects Location: 4/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 7/10 (S), 6/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 10.5/15

Mojo:That peach football is wonderful! Back in S28, Starboy submitted a bid for Atlanta to the host city competition and this year's logo is a huge improvement for me compared to the previous iteration. I'm not really sure what the globe is in the background and I wish the font for "Ultimus XL" was a bit less scripty and easier to read, but these are relatively minor quibbles for a logo that really just makes me smile when I see it. Great work!

Slate: I really enjoy this logo (peach football!). To make a few suggestions, I think it could have used just a bit extra in terms of tying into Atlanta specifically - maybe use the iconic retracting roof mentioned in the submission writeup, rather than the globe? I think slightly cleaning up the fonts, and using a bit more diversity rather than one all the way around, would be big boosts to the visuals of the logo too.

Overall Score: 20.5/35

6. Vienna, Austria by @JuOSu


Location
Uniqueness: 4/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Feasibility: 3/5 (S), 3/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 8/10 (S), 8/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 15.5/20

Mojo: I really appreciated the explanation of the bid, which helped me understand the uniqueness and feasibility of the location. I would be very happy to have an excuse like the Ultimus/Ultimini to visit Austria, so it scores fairly high on the coolness factor as well.

Slate: While Europe is not the most unique location, we’re at least out of the United States! And looking back at previous host cities, it’s really only very prominent European tourist countries - Germany, Italy, Greece, Netherlands. Austria is definitely an original choice and I would love to visit!

Logo
Reflects Location: 4/5 (S), 3/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 2/10 (S), 3/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 6/15

Mojo: I relied a bit on the explanation to fully understand why all the elements were there in the logo and it still doesn't fully explain the rainbow of colors for me. As a graphic for the city, it's really interesting. But I'm scoring this lower because it is just a bit busy and so I think it would be challenging to have as the centerpiece of a football field. So I don't think it makes for a strong sports logo

Slate: While perhaps historical, the palace of Schoenbrunn is not so recognizeable that you can get away with not listing the host city in the logo itself! While obviously reflective of tons of Austrian culture, I also had to dock a point for the fonts feeling very mismatched to the Vienna vibe - gave off much more of a Viking or maybe even Roman vibe to me.

Overall Score: 21.5

5. Paris, France by @Akoustique


Location
Uniqueness: 3/5 (S), 3/5 (M)
Feasibility: 3/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 7/10 (S), 7/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 13.5/20

Mojo: If Slate wanted to take me on a romantic trip to Paris, I wouldn't say no (espeically if he also promised some tasty vin et fromage)! There's obviously a lot of draw to visit the city beyond the Ultimus/Ultimini and the city can handle a large sporting event. I agree, it's a bit surprising that Paris hasn't yet hosted an ISFL championship game given the league's growing presence in Europe. So overall, a strong location choice!

Slate: Paris is an obvious choice to host but props to Akou for finding the rare globally recognizable city that’s never been submitted as a bid before. I’ve visited Paris for a few days before and don’t feel an urgent need to return, but I did enjoy my time there and obviously I can’t rate it too low on tourist appeal.

Logo
Reflects Location: 5/5 (S), 5/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 6/10 (S), 4/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 10/15

Mojo: The idea of the Ultimus trophy on top of the Eiffel Tower is really fun. I like the color map effect from blue to red through white, but having it applied to almost everything on the logo (graphics and text) is maybe a bit too much. Also, please give me the number of your calligrapher because that Paris France font has so much flourish!

Slate: The latticework of the Eiffel Tower base, plus the extreme calligraphy, plus the gradient French flag makes for a very visually busy bottom half of the logo. But my first impression of it was good and it was really only once I started looking at details that I started to pick it apart - I liked it and it clearly evokes Paris and France!

Overall Score: 23.5

4. Montreal, Canada by @UptownCord


Location
Uniqueness: 3/5 (S), 2/5 (M)
Feasibility: 4/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 9/10 (S), 5/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 13.5/20

Mojo: I know we have a great group of Canadian players and fans in the league and so I can see the rationale for hosting another league championship in Canada. I loved the "Sin City" tie-in and that stadium is a work of beauty. But... I've been to Montreal before and I'm just not that excited to go back while it's still cold

Slate: I’ve been to Montreal before, loved it, and would love to go back and experience even more of the city! Of course I visited during the summer so maybe that’s where Mojo and my opinions differ. Toronto previously hosted way back in Season 29 but Montreal culturally feels quite different, and the Olympic Stadium would be a great venue.

Logo
Reflects Location: 5/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 8/10 (S), 5/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 11/15

Overall Score: 24.5/35

Mojo: I really like the idea of the logo, but I feel like there's just something jarring about the simplicity of the red city logo and then the details of the stadium tower and cables... Having worked on a stadium-based logo bid for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I know how tricky these can be to fully realize.

Slate: The stadium looks so cool so I understand wanting to feature it, but I agree that it feels a bit at odds with the rest of the logo. Overall I still really appreciate the look of it, and it was very well thought out in terms of its connections to the city logo and color scheme.

3. London, United Kingdom by @Bayley


Location
Uniqueness: 2/5 (S), 2/5 (M)
Feasibility: 5/5 (S), 5/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 9/10 (S), 7/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 15/20

Mojo: As a two-time former London Royal, I'm inclined to love Bayley's submission. London is a great city and while it does have a DSFL team, I could see the benefit of bringing more UK fans to the ISFL. Again, a bit sad to see very little by way of explanation of the submission.

Slate: I spent a summer in London and loved it, an excellent choice for host city especially given its rare international experience hosting major American football games. The UK is basically the 2nd most culturally similar international destination to the US after Canada, though.

Logo
Reflects Location: 5/5 (S), 5/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 8/10 (S), 7/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 12.5/15

Mojo: The logo is a bit text heavy and the XL gets a bit lost up at the top, but I love the boldness of the union jack.

Slate: Union jack and Big Ben clearly tie this logo to London. It’s very good but could be cleaned up in a few places (overlapping text at the bottom, and “Season Forty” on top of the XL is a bit too much IMO).

Overall Score: 27.5/35

2. San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA by @slate


[Note: Slate abstained from grading his own submission, so this was all Mojo]

Location
Uniqueness: 5/5 (M)
Feasibility: 2/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 9/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 16/20

Mojo: Warm sun, beautiful beaches, tropical cocktail in hand... yes please! If another location is chosen, I may miss the Ultimini/Ultimus game and take a vacation instead. I know Slate abstained from scoring this one, but I will still acknowledge my own bias because I loved the idea of this location when we were first brainstorming the submission

Logo
Reflects Location: 4/5
Visual Appeal: 8/10
Total Logo Score: 12/15

Mojo: The logo has the lovely landmark of El Morro, but while iconic for Puerto Rico it may not be that widely known. But I like the complimentary sunset colors to give the beachy vibe.

Overall Score: 28/35

1. Sydney, Australia by @Number 82


Location
Uniqueness: 4/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Feasibility: 3/5 (S), 4/5 (M)
Tourist Appeal: 8/10 (S), 8/10 (M)
Total Location Score: 15.5/20

Mojo: The write-up adds some nice context to the logo bid for Sydney and does a nice job of explaining why having the Ultimus/Ultimini in Sydney would compliment the fact that the Bondi Beach Buccaneers are nearby in the DSFL. I am going to disagree with Slate on this one regarding feasibility of travel; if BBB can travel back and forth for away games in the DSFL, then fans can make it to Sydney and, really, who wouldn't want to use dot football as an excuse for an adventure Down Under?

Slate: My feasibility grade was a combination of not only travel difficulties but also the lack of enthusiasm for American football in the region and questions about the suitability of the existing sporting venues. Perth did host the Ultimini back in S29 but otherwise Australia has been a bit underrepresented in host city submissions given how many users we have who hail from there.

Logo
Reflects Location: 5/5 (S), 5/5 (M)
Visual Appeal: 10/10 (S), 10/10 (M)
Total Logo Score: 15/15

Mojo: Oooh, as an engineer I love the architectural Sydney Opera House logo. It's iconic, recognizeable, and sculptural. I parciularly like the second coloring with the grey building, which I think makes the other red accents pop even more.

Slate: Perfect host city logo IMO. Not only is it visually appealing, but it’s also a superb representation of the location to an international audience, accomplished by including both an internationally recognizable icon (everyone knows the Sydney Opera House) and an opportunity to learn about the local culture with the inclusion of the Waratah!

Overall Score: 30.5/35

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I hope that was fun for everyone to read! Don’t get too mad at us for trashing on your favorite logo or enjoying a city that you hated visiting, but feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments. Overall this was one of the best crops of host city bids I’ve seen in a long time and we’re really excited to see which come out on top.

Slate’s Rankings
1. Sydney (30/35)
T-2. London (29/35)
T-2. Montreal (29/35)
4. Paris (24/35)
T-5. Vienna (21/35)
T-5. San Antonio (21/35)
7. Atlanta (20/35)
8. North Pole (19/35)
9. Los Angeles (18/35)
10. San Francisco (16/35)
11. Tampa Bay (13/35)
[Unranked] San Juan

Mojo’s Rankings
1. Sydney (31/35)
2. San Juan (28/35)
3. London (26/35)
4. Paris (23/35)
5. Vienna (22/35)
6. Atlanta (21/35)
T-7. Montreal (20/35)
T-7. North Pole (20/35)
9. San Francisco (19/35)
10. Los Angeles (18/35)
T-11. San Antonio (16/35)
T-11. Tampa Bay (16/35)