Mid-market assessments

Pool: 26 entrants · 9 division champion slots (National footprint tier)

Divisions map

Nine U.S. divisions — click a state to open that division’s bracket for this tier (map scales with the page).

Mid-market footprint · playoff bracket

US-wide playoff pool for this footprint tier (up to 26 seeds). Division pages list up to 26 qualifiers per footprint tier per division for most tiers, and up to 16 for Local (for a balanced division bracket).

FIRST ROUNDUNITED STATES CELLULAR CORP…#1 · west north centralBYE — advancesQuantum Fiber#2 · mountainUPN#13 · west north centralNextlink#3 · west north centralBrightspeed#12 · west south centralRise Broadband#4 · west south centralWisper ISP, LLC#11 · west north centralOptimum#5 · west south centralCox Communications#10 · west south centralW A T C H TV#6 · east north centralCenturyLink#9 · mountainCspire#7 · east south centralAstound Broadband#8 · pacificROUND 2UNITED STATES CELLULAR CORP…#1 · west north centralBYE — advancesQuantum Fiber#2 · mountainCspire#7 · east south centralNextlink#3 · west north centralW A T C H TV#6 · east north centralRise Broadband#4 · west south centralOptimum#5 · west south centralROUND 3UNITED STATES CELLULAR CORP…#1 · west north centralRise Broadband#4 · west south centralQuantum Fiber#2 · mountainNextlink#3 · west north centralCHAMPIONSHIPUNITED STATES CELLULAR CORP…#1 · west north centralQuantum Fiber#2 · mountainCHAMPIONUNITED STATES CELLULAR CO…#1 · west north central

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Playoff rules

  • National pool. Up to 26 seeds: nine division winners from the National footprint tier only, plus at-large picks from the full national candidate pool (all regional qualifiers), ordered by footprint composite.
  • Who advances. When review samples are available at build time, matchups can use positive vs negative review counts; otherwise winners follow footprint scores. Ties break by footprint, then seed.

This footprint tier: Mid-market

At least two census divisions and not National, with either three or more states or exactly two states (multi-division gap rule).

  • Closes the gap where a provider spans multiple divisions with only two states—they still land here instead of being unclassified.

All footprint tier definitions

How footprint tiers are defined

  • National

    At least two census divisions and more than 30 distinct mappable US states.

    • Listings = distinct Google place_id across the country plus rows without a place_id (each row counts).
    • States and divisions are derived only from rows with a mappable US state → census division.
  • Mid-market

    At least two census divisions and not National, with either three or more states or exactly two states (multi-division gap rule).

    • Closes the gap where a provider spans multiple divisions with only two states—they still land here instead of being unclassified.
  • Regional

    All activity in a single census division and at least two mappable states.

  • State

    More than two listings and footprint in exactly one mappable state.

  • Local

    At most two listings (US-wide).

If there are no mappable states but more than two listings, we still assign a tier: Mid-market when there are multiple census divisions, Regional when there is exactly one division, otherwise State. Any remaining edge case is classified as Mid-market.