Beware: Major League Quidditch Is Back

Yes, you read that right.  The actual, real sport of quidditch has returned this summer with 16 teams plus one team playing as a "trial expansion team".  

Harry Potter would be proud for the league which began in 2015. 

Just an FYI....they won't be flying on broomsticks, but sticks are involved.  Don't ask.  Just watch a YouTube video of it because you wouldn't believe me if I described it to you.

It's a real organized sports league called Major League Quidditch (MLQ) and is divided into three divisions.

The East Division consists of:  New York Titans, Boston Forge, Charlotte Aviators (trial expansion team), Ottawa Black Bears and Washington Admirals

The North Division consists of:  Toronto Raiders, Rochester Whiteout, Cleveland Riff, Detroit Innovators, Indianapolis Intensity and Minneapolis Monarchs.

The South Division features:  Austin Outlaws, Kansas City Stampede, New Orleans Curse, San Antonio Soldados, League City Legends.

During the regular season each team plays a three-game series against all other teams in their division throughout June and July.  All three games are played regardless of the outcome but the team that wins the series gets ranked as a result of the series' outcome.  The top four teams in each division qualify for the championship in August.  The remaining teams are re-sorted into pools and play in a bracketed series format working towards the final three-game series for the Benepe Cup which is sometimes referred to as the "SuperSeries".  This involves three teams playing at one location over two days.  This series format was developed to save costs for the teams.

You can watch games live on the MLQ website at mlquidditch.com. 

The championship series will be played the weekend of August 20-22 in Howard County, Maryland.

Austin is the defending MLQ champions and have won three of the last four titles.

In the latest league news, MLQ and the U.S. Quidditch organization have begun the process of selecting a new name for the real-life version of quidditch.  The leagues will conduct a series of surveys over the next few months to guide a decision regarding the new name.  The sport was originally developed from the Harry Potter book series at Middlebury College in Vermont.  A name change is coming to help protect against trademark and other legal issues since the name "quidditch" is trademarked by Warner Brothers.