Major League Quidditch

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Major League Quidditch

Current season, competition or edition:
Sport	Quidditch
Founded	23 March 2015
Commissioner	Ethan Sturm Amanda Dallas
Divisions	3
No. of teams	15
Countries	Canada (2 teams) United States (13 teams)
Most recent champion(s)	Austin Outlaws
Sponsor(s)	VII Apparel
International cup(s)	Benepe Cup
Official website	MLQ Official Website

Major League Quidditch (MLQ) is a quidditch league based in the United States and Canada.^[1] Major League Quidditch is the highest level of quidditch competition in North America. The league is composed of 15 city-based teams—13 in the U.S. and 2 in Canada. The MLQ season runs from June to August, with each team playing twelve games in the regular season. The playoffs includes the top 12 teams competing in the MLQ Championship in late August, culminating in the championship series. The winning team is awarded the Benepe Cup.

History[]

Major League Quidditch was founded in 2014 by Ethan Sturm, who joined with Amanda Dallas in hopes of elevating the sport of quidditch to higher levels of competition.^[2] Sturm and Dallas currently co-commission the league.^[3]

In December 2021, US Quidditch (USQ) and Major League Quidditch (MLQ) announced their intention to change their names to distance themselves from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's views on transgender people, that have been perceived as transphobic.^[4][5]

Structure[]

Current league structure[]

In 2019, MLQ reorganized the league into 3 divisions with 5 franchises in each division. As part of this reorganization, three changes happened: (1) all franchises in the West Division were disbanded due to long inter-divisional travel times, (2) three new teams were added to the remaining Divisions (the Minneapolis Monarchs and the Toronto Raiders joined the North Division, while the San Antonio Soldados joined the South Division), and (3) Rochester Whiteout moved from the North Division to the East Division.

The North Division includes much of the geographic Midwest, plus Toronto. The five teams in the North Division are the Minneapolis Monarchs, Indianapolis Intensity, the Detroit Innovators, Cleveland Riff and the Toronto Raiders.

The East Division includes all MLQ teams in the geographic Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, plus Ottawa. The five teams in the East Division are Boston Forge, Rochester Whiteout, the New York Titans, the Washington Admirals, and the Ottawa Black Bears.

The South Division includes all teams in the geographic South Central region of the United States, plus Kansas City. The five teams in the South Division are the Austin Outlaws, the San Antonio Soldados, the League City Legends, New Orleans Curse, and Kansas City Stampede.

Past league structures[]

The first season took place in 2015 with eight teams. MLQ had an extremely successful first season, picking up a partnership with SAVAGEultimate, Petersons Brooms and Destination Toledo, hosting 12 regular-season, three-game series, and the 2015 MLQ Championship in Toledo, Ohio.

In the 2016 season, MLQ doubled the size of the league to 16 teams and geographically expanded it with the creation of the South and West Division.^[6] The new teams were located in Austin, Kansas City, League City, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco.^[7] The same sixteen teams competed in 2017.

In 2018, the Phoenix Sol relocated to Boise, Idaho as the Boise Grays. During the Boise Grays' first match of the 2018 season, a brawl broke out between the Grays and Salt Lake City Hive. MLQ immediately disbanded the Boise Grays for the remainder of the 2018 season as punishment for the brawl.

Organizational structure[]

MLQ is a nonprofit run entirely by volunteers. All central operations - such as people operations, accounting, marketing, and administration - operate remotely and there is no central headquarters for personnel.

MLQ has over 100 volunteers across 8 departments. Departments include: Gameplay; Finance; People Operations; Marketing; Creative; Digital Media; Diversity Equity & Inclusion; and Events. At the top of the organization are Commissioners Amanda Dallas and Ethan Sturm. Each of the 8 departments has a Director who oversees operations and reports to the Commissioners. Directors' departmental teams are composed of managers, coordinators, and assistants.

Franchise staff (such as coaches, assistant coaches, managers and assistant managers) apply each season and are hired only for the duration of the MLQ season. Franchise staff select the rosters for their own teams.

Referees are hired on series by series basis.

Competition format[]

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2017)

During the regular season, teams plays a three-game series against all other teams in their division throughout June and July. All three games are played in each series, regardless of the outcome of the first two games, though the team that wins at least 2 out of the 3 games wins the series. Teams are ranked as a result of these series' outcomes. The top four teams in each division are invited to the Championship in August. These twelve teams are re-sorted into pools and play in a bracketed series format working towards the final three-game series for the Benepe Cup. Started in 2018, teams sometimes play "SuperSeries", which involve three teams playing at one location over two days. SuperSeries were developed in an attempt to save costs for the players.

Teams[]

Major League Quidditch teams

Inactive Teams[]

Expansion Teams[]

The West Division was eliminated at the end of the 2018 season due to extensive travel time for the teams. In addition to the 3-team expansion in 2019, the Rochester Whiteout were moved from the North Division to the East.

League champions[]

Relations with Other Quidditch Governing Bodies[]

MLQ is an independent quidditch organization in North America dedicated to developing the highest possible level of competition in quidditch.

International Quidditch Association (IQA)[]

Unlike most quidditch leagues, MLQ is not a member or partner of the International Quidditch Association (IQA). This is in large part due to MLQ's ongoing development of its own rulesets.

US Quidditch (USQ)[]

MLQ occasionally partners with United States Quidditch to create resources and put on non-gameplay events that further the growth of the sport of quidditch in the U.S. or North America more generally. However, the two are separate and distinct organizations.

MLQ players typically begin their quidditch careers by playing on USQ teams, most often for a college or university. Many MLQ players also continue to play on USQ teams when MLQ is not in season, since USQ season runs from September through May.

Quidditch Canada (QC)[]

MLQ occasionally partners with Quidditch Canada to create resources and put on non-gameplay events that further the growth of the sport of quidditch in Canada or North America more generally.

Canada-based MLQ players typically begin their quidditch careers by playing on QC teams, most often for a college or university. Many Canadian MLQ players also continue to play on QC teams when MLQ is not in season, since QC season runs from September through May.

See also[]

• Quidditch Canada
• US Quidditch
• International Quidditch Association
• Quidditch in Canada
• Quidditch (sport)
• Fictional Quidditch

References[]

External links[]

• Major League Quidditch official website