USQ Cancels Northeast Regional Championship

The next US Quidditch (USQ) regional championship that should have been held after the first one, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship (MARC), was the Northeast Regional Championship (NERC). It was scheduled for this weekend, October 30–31, in Warwick, Rhode Island.

Unfortunately, on October 27, Executive Director Mary Kimball, Director of Events & Partnerships Laura Porth, Northeast Regional Coordinator Christian Barnes, and Strategic Planning Manager Megan Anderson decided to cancel the event due to several inches of rain this week in Warwick, Rhode Island, that had already flooded the fields. More rain, high winds, and another drop in temperature were expected over the weekend.

We have exhausted our options with our city partners, looking for an indoor venue, but none are available at this time. Due to this, we have decided to cancel this event in advance, for the safety of our athletes, officials, and staff. This being the first regional championship in the northeast since 2019, USQ’s goal is to make it a positive experience for all involved. With the current and anticipated weather, we felt as if this would not be possible in these conditions.

The gameplay structure of NERC is similar to MARC. If this Muggle quidditch event had not been canceled, there would have been 12 teams in the collegiate division. These teams would have participated in pool play in four pools. After the first set of games, teams would have been reseeded into three new pools. The winners from this set of games would have been placed in the eighth pool, teams from second place in the ninth pool, and third places in the tenth pool. For another day, teams would have continued in the stacked bracket structure until the champion was decided.

The club division would have been a one-day tournament for only seven teams. Teams would have participated only in an incomplete round robin where matchups would have been based on standing and geography and with an effort to minimize rematches in this season. The top four teams would have continued then into the four-team bracket with a chance to win and become the division champion.

After the event was canceled, team leaders were invited to join a meeting about the next steps. There is a possibility that the event will be rescheduled or that USQ will find an alternate solution.