Steel Etc, a Montana based team placed second at Worlds and by rule, was moved up to 70 Major Plus, then disbanded. That rule basically says that if there you can take second or third and be bumped up to Major Plus where 5 teams exist in the USA and they are forced to play each other and Major teams...None of the teams currently playing in Major Plus are from rural areas. A shallow dive shows that no northern based teams have a player pool resilient enough to draw from a small area. That rule says that a team bumped up has to play three qualifying tournaments, in order to appeal to be put back down. Be aware that if you take second or third in Vegas, you will be moved up as will every player, just like the champs.

The problem is that SSUSA runs no competitive tournaments for Major or 70 Major or 65 Major Plus teams in Montana. SSUSA tournaments have failed for lack of teams in Montana, Washington and I know of no tournaments in northern Idaho or North Dakota that have fielded two 70 teams. SSUSA abandoned each of those tournaments. Rule 13 requiring 3 more tournaments at age 70 plus is basically a cold weather funeral for Steel Etc and most of its roster...

Steel has disbanded. The reason is there isn't enough players to make one 70 Major team, and certainly not two.

I would guess that the purpose of the rule is to make divisions competitive, but before the 3 tournament rule is imposed, you ought to provide 3 tournaments in that part of the USA that will draw at least another team. Bad rule for 70 players. Bad rule for northern teams.

Here are the seven (7) tournaments your team attended during the recently concluded 2025 Season ... ALL of these events are being offered again for the 2026 Season and will have 70+ divisions of play and should be accessible this time, too ... We do not currently have any Montana events on the schedule ...

• Winter World Championships (Phoenix)
• Top Gun Winter Classic (Bullhead City, AZ)
• Spring World Championships (St. George, UT)
• Southwest Championships (Las Vegas)
• Rock 'n' Reno Challenge Cup
• Western National Championships (Sacramento)
• World Championships (Las Vegas)

There are also two (2) other events that might make sense for you from a geography perspective ...
• Great Salt Lake Championships (Salt Lake City, UT in July)
• Rocky Mountain Championships (Colorado in August)

Good luck!

Montanapnc,
I think our team (70 KC Kids) can one up your situation & we feel your pain too. We started the year as 70M, played you in the spring Vegas Championships and you knocked us out Thursday morning. We did not place in the top 4. We never saw another 70 Major team until the Northern TOC in Minnesota in June.
One other 70 M participated and one 70 M+ team also participated. We went 1-1 in pool, lost to the 70M team and beat the M+ team by 3 with our 5 run spot. The 3rd pool game was against a 65AAA team so it did not count in the seeding. About 4 pm on Sat. a monsoon came thru which wiped out play for the rest of the day. Director(s) made Sunday a single elimination contest. the 70 M team also beat the 70 M+ team so they were seed #1. We were seeded #3 and played the 70 M+ team again winning 13-6 with our 5 run spot. Played the #1 seed (the 70 M team) and had our best performance of the year winning 35-26. The 70 M+ team then came to KC in July and we played them again a best 2 out of 3 and swept them but they were missing their #1, 3 & 4 hitters plus their #1 pitcher. Then later in July 4 of our 5 infielders got hurt and we were unable to participate in the Rocky Mountain TOC and the Vegas World Series. We then find out last Friday we have been moved to Major Plus for 2026 even after not placing in spring Vegas or going to the World Series. No one on our team can understand why. A logical thinking person might conclude that maybe the 70 M+ team should have just been moved down to 70 M for 2026. I dont know who we will be able to play for this next season. There are very few older Major teams in this part of the country too. Other than the Vegas, Minn & the 2 out of 3 July tourney every other game we played was against 65 AAA or 70 AAA. We played 1 game against a 65 M team that won it all in Vegas a couple of months ago and they beat us 24-9 even with us getting 5 runs. I guess every tournament we are in and they are in, we will play them since we are both M+ now. I really wonder how these re-classifications of teams are actually handled by the powers that be in Sacremento.

I think the ssusa response is accurate. They do provide multiple southern based tournaments again which only 2 or 3 major plus teams ever show.

Steel Etc could decide to attend and attempt to succeed in 70 Major Plus, when it never won a single tournament at Major. Five states, awful airline schedules, and costs, with expensive hotels, all have no impression on SSUSA, until they decide they want to raise the cost of entry or schedule the loser bracket to require 10 games in 95 degree heat, by 70 year old men

I wish to point out that mediocrity is their goal, that taking second or third at their well attended tournament will leave you in a new, higher bracket. If you like third, or second, then the rule is going to ensure that is your best hope when you move to M. Its a club sport.

study your American constitution, as this is why the Idaho has as many senators as every other state.

I'm curious what the actual language says about how teams get bumped (moved up). Is it a percentage, physical number, random, what? tyia