Mallory
I played in UGC for several months before learning p much anything about ESEA/ETF2L/TFTV/etc. I'm not the only one.
For the few people on this forum that may not know: I ran newbie mixes as a (the?) head admin for a few years. The notion that the players at the lowest level of competition automatically know about ESEA is straight up wrong. Very few people, if anyone, has had the chance to so personally talk to so many new players as myself, and overwhelmingly the players either don't know about ESEA or have this mentality of "it's impossible, they're all so good!"
The general success of our team drives and the retention those players (and occasionally those teams) in the ESEA league is evidence that the only real barrier of entry into ESEA is one that has been built up in UGC culture for years.
If UGC really want to play the "we're doing it for the good of the community and nothing else! you should be grateful!" card that I've seen so many times over the years, maybe you guys should stop deleting shit from the forums that lets these (potentially highly competitive) new players know that comp tf2 is so much more than UGC.
UGC serves a great purpose that you laid out in your post well. If your post represents an official UGC stance, then the league should recognize its purpose as the "fun" or "more casual" league that people play in because of their inability to play in ESEA "financially, emotionally, or time-management wise(sic)". Provide your players with tools to improve and eventually work their way into Open over time if they don't meet the three criteria you listed as causing people to play in UGC.
You seem like a good person and a great admin, as many people within the UGC org are. I hope that you and others can be the voices of reason that push us towards being the more sustainable, less split up community that EVERYONE wants. :)