New BBQ League: United Competition BBQ League

[Spinaker]

I was just reading my monthly edition of National BBQ News, early this morning that there is a new league in the world of BBQ, United Competition BBQ League (UCBL) that will be kicking off their first competition on June 10th. They will judge on seven criteria: appearance, aroma, texture, salt, spice, smoke and overall impression. Each competitor will also get feed back from the judges on each of their entries. I like this part, especially. I think it is tough for some of us backyard and competition cooks to honest advise from your friends and family. Your feeding them, why would they bash your BBQ? This will allow teams to better dial in flavors and techniques when they receive comments from the judges on their entries. I also like that there is NO GARNISH for the boxes! The meats are not to be dressed up by garnish, nor should there be anything in the box, other than meat.

What do you all think of this? Should the KCBS be worried? Or will this go like all the other leagues that have come out over the years........up in smoke never to be heard from again. They do seem to have more transparency between the judges and the teams competing. I have never competed but I wanted to know what people thought about this new governing body coming into the world of BBQ.

[FireMan]

First of all, I did'nt know there was a National BBQ News. Sort of dumb on my part, because there are national news of just about everything. So on that note, I will also express total ignorance on the competition scene except what I read here in AR. Regarding the KCBS vs the UCBL, I like the sound of KCBS over the UCBL, it just has a better ring to it. I might also view the situation like the NFL vs USFL or whatever it was, the KCBS is the really big guy in the room & it has The Royal. I think they are probably safe, if they don't get to complacent.

[CandySueQ]

Politics, even BBQ politics, is ugly! I know Jeff and believe that his ambitions for this UCBL are true. With that said, KCBS is the big dog and will remain the big dog. I think this is a flash that will go away once it's realized how much work it'll be.

[Spinaker]

I was really curious to hear your thoughts on this one. I was hoping it had some chance......but it doesn't seem to be the case.

[CandySueQ]

All comes down to strength behind the scenes. Jeff is a stand-up guy, fierce competitor but I doubt if he has enough backing (personnel and financial) to give the big sanctioning entities a run.

[Histrix]

Really kinda early to speculate if the UCBL has any legs.

[Spinaker]

Just want to see what people think.🤔👍

[DeusDingo]

maybe it will be like american league vs national league

[Spinaker]

Or dare we say.......The NFL and the XFL! 😂

[CandySueQ]

There are about 5-6 major BBQ competition sanctioning bodies. With that said, the newest one, BCA (Barbeque Competitors Alliance) came out of South Louisiana strong after the first of major rule changes to IBCA occurred. BCA has successfully achieved Jack Daniel's qualifier status (must have 10 or more contests of a certain size) and likely American Royal as well. MBN (Memphis BBQ Network) appears to be on the wane. I don't know anything about the St. Louis group. IBCA appears to be concentrating inside of Texas. With the demise of the Pit organization, there are no IBCA contests in Arkansas this year. And there were over 8 last year. I suspect that Arkansas will go BCA.

Then there's Pacific Northwest and Georgia BBQ Association, both of which have their own rules. Then there's the regional groups that do not. New England BBQ has rules for grilling, but their BBQ contests are KCBS. Rocky Mountain BBQ Association is all KCBS. California BBQ Association is a mix of KCBS, IBCA (I don't know if these will happen this year). Mid-Atlantic BBQ Association has rules, but they do KCBS contests too.

I believe that KCBS will top out with over 500 contests world-wide. There's no doubt that they have the BBQ competition market.

[PaulstheRibList]

You didn't mention FBA? Listening to Greg's BBQ Radio show, which I used to do regularly but have been on other things for a while, he mentions FBA regularly.

[JPGators17]

Sounds good in theory, not practical in reality. It sounds like they are attempting to do away with competition standards and opting for personal preference. Doing so would cause competition results to be wildly variable, and as random as the composition of the judge's tables themselves. If I'm wrong and they are expecting each entry to be judged against a standard for each category, as they define it, then I'd love to see what their definitions of champion "aroma, texture, salt, spice" are.

[tbob4]

I've never competed in BBQ but if I did I would be scared about going into one of the "more established" competitions. I've toyed with the idea of entering a few local competitions but if I found that they were a KCBS competition I would likely be too intimidated to even try. So it is kind of nice to read about the other venues out there if for no other reason than to think one day I could give it a try.

[CandySueQ]

The best about KCBS is the published rules. With that said, I've always enjoyed cooking IBCA because of the structure of presentation (all about the meat not the flare) and I like the idea of anyone being a possible judge versus "trained" judges.

[Baker Dan]

I like the idea of commenting back to the cooks. However KCBS Judges have always had that option to fill out a comment card which is given to the cook. I do this every time I judge

[BarBQ22]

How are completion cooks supposed to cyfer what to do? One judge can recommend one thing and another recommend another. Yes I would love feedback, as I'm new to the kcbs circuit, but am leary in ways on feedback. Never know until united competition league kicks off. BBQ is a growing sport. It may benefit newcomers to the sport.

[TheCountofQ]

I have no competition experience, but from what I understand KCBS is all about sweet sauce. Very little savory, which is where my tendencies lay. I'm not sure if that is because what people are taught is right in the judging certification process, or if it is really what many prefer. Maybe some could "chime" in on this. Would like to see some savory competition news occasionally though, rather than the KCBS pork popsicle.