Interested in hosting something truly different – and guaranteed to draw media attention to your destination? Major League Quidditch (MLQ) has two bidding opportunities available: its MLQ Championship (held over a weekend) and its MLQ Series and SuperSeries.
MLQ’s goal is to present quidditch in an elegant, highly-consumable form that mirrors other top sports leagues. MLQ features standardized schedules, high-level officiating, in-depth statistics and live or pre-recorded footage of all games.
The league consists of 16 teams from the United States and Canada. These teams are divided up geographically into three divisions (North, South and East), each composed of five teams. Each team plays three games against every other team in its division, for a total of twelve games. All regular season games will be completed by Aug. 7.
The bid documents, both of which have a deadline of September 1, 2022, are available at the following links. (This is also a good place to learn more about the sport and how it is played):
Major League Quidditch Championship: Held in late August, this event brings 12 teams to compete for the Benepe Cup and the title of MLQ Champion
The tournament will be played simultaneously on two pitches, with all matches livestreamed to the community of fans that cannot attend. The rapid growth of the sport means that the number of attending players, fans and staff will increase year after year. Championships will continue to be held every August. The atmosphere of the event will be family friendly.
The tournament will be played simultaneously on two pitches, with all matches livestreamed to the community of fans that cannot attend.
Major League Quidditch Series and SuperSeries: A typical MLQ series is a three-game match between two franchises held on one field over the course of three hours. MLQ requires a total of five hours to allow for setup and takedown.
A SuperSeries is a two-day event that brings three teams from a division together to play two series each. A SuperSeries requires 11 hours of field access over the course of two days in two blocks of time. The preferred split is seven hours on Saturday and four hours on Sunday. MLQ encourages late afternoon/early evening for Saturday games and no earlier than 11 a.m. ET for Sunday. The dates provided should be between June 1 and August 8.
IMPORTANT: After reviewing the manual, interested destinations should completed the Intent to Bid sheet and send it via email to events@mlquidditch.com.
Facilities: The sport is played on a rectangular field, 60 meters (66 yards) long x 33 meters (36 yards) wide. Including the space outside the playing lines, the field is 66 meters (72 yards) long x 44 meters (48 yards) wide. Diagrams can be found on the bid forms listed above.
Since few fields are built to hold quidditch, games usually are hosted on rectangular fields built for other sports, such as soccer and football. Playing lines (detailed in the diagrams in the bid documents linked above) are often marked with cones, although temporary lines (such as those in chalk or paint) may be used.
Full information, including support required by destinations, services expected, financial commitments, economic impact, hotel needs and more, can be found in the two bid documents listed above. Additionally, the bid documents explain the support provided by MLQ to these events. Those interested in bidding should read all information in its entirety.
Important Dates:
IMPORTANT: After reviewing the bid manuals, interested destinations should completed the Intent to Bid sheet (for either or both opportunities) and send via e-mail to events@mlquidditch.com.
September 1, 2022: Deadline to complete the Bid Snapshot and submit with supplemental bid package materials to events@mlquidditch.com. Submitted applications will be reviewed by the league commission.
November 1, 2022:
For MLQ Championship: Once the selection committee has narrowed down their top picks, site visits will be scheduled for October. Once the site visits have been completed, the league commission will decide on a location for the championship and will announce that location on or by November 1, 2022.
For Series and Super Series: The commission will decide on the winning bids for each Series and SuperSeries and notify cities by Nov. 1. These will be announced publicly in January along with the season schedule.
Questions on the process, the sport, the facilities or anything else should be directed to events@mlquidditch.com.
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