FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tuesday Nolen
Email: [email protected]
Howard County, Md. (May 19, 2021) — Major League Quidditch (MLQ) is hosting its season-ending championship in partnership with Visit Howard County in Howard County, Md. on Aug. 21-23. The 12 best real-life quidditch teams from across the U.S. will gather at Troy Park for a multi-day tournament to compete to win the prized Benepe Cup. Tickets are now on sale for the event at MLQChampionship.com.
Quidditch is a mixed-gender, full-contact sport played by over 600 teams in 40 countries. The rules, originally adapted from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series in 2005, incorporate elements of basketball, rugby and dodgeball.
Founded in 2015, MLQ is working to make quidditch a professional sport. The league is home to 15 teams that compete in three geographic divisions from June to August. The teams host open tryouts and recruit star players from collegiate and club quidditch programs in the spring.
The MLQ Championship is the league’s marquee event. Howard County was selected to host the tournament in 2020, however, due to COVID-19, the bid was deferred to 2021. The area has previously hosted the US Quidditch Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship.
“Many wonderful events were cancelled and postponed this year due to the pandemic, including hosting our first MLQ Championship,” said Howard County Executive Calvin Ball. “By not having these critical events, many hotels and restaurants lost out on important and needed revenue. It is great news that MLQ chose Howard County as the host for their 2021 championship and the county looks forward to the excitement of this new sport and the business it will bring as our economy recovers and rises from the impacts of COVID-19. Congratulations to Visit Howard County on this big win and thanks, appreciation, and welcome back to MLQ.”
The teams will be ranked and seeded by regular season results into a best-of-three single-elimination bracket. The winner will take home one of the sport’s highest honors: the Benepe Cup, named for real-life quidditch founder and former US Quidditch CEO Alex Benepe. The games will be played simultaneously on two fields over a two-day tournament and will be livestreamed to fans around the world.
New to this season, MLQ Championship will also highlight MLQ’s up-and-coming talent from the practice squad division in the MLQ Next Gen Showcase on Sunday and host Take Back the Pitch on Monday, the first tournament of its size for gender diverse athletes.
Take Back the Pitch is a showcase that challenges the current understanding of gender in quidditch and opens opportunities for gender diverse athletes to play quidditch out from under the scrutiny of misogyny, transmisogyny and misdirected misogyny. Through The Gender Diversity Initiative, MLQ seeks to address the very real ramifications of sexism and transphobia for cis and trans women, non-binary folk and trans men. Through the open-access Take Back the Pitch tournament, MLQ aims to highlight and lift up athletes that are overlooked by their teams and in the community on account of sex and gender, and give them the leadership opportunities, playing time and diverse skill training they deserve all the time.
Tickets can be purchased online at MLQChampionship.com or on-site Aug. 21-23.
About Major League Quidditch
Quidditch is a competitive, gender-integrated, full-contact sport played by athletes around the world. Major League Quidditch has set out to create a high-intensity environment for the best athletes in North America to hone their skills and compete for one of our sport’s highest honors: the Benepe Cup. Want to know more about Major League Quidditch? Visit mlquidditch.com or contact us at [email protected].
About Visit Howard County
Located in the center of Maryland, Howard County is the center of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Region, and the center of your next vacation, business trip or conference. Whether you like to dine, shop, visit museums or enjoy live music, Howard County has just the activities you enjoy. Visit visithowardcounty.com.