Minnesota's quidditch team might win a title before its NFL, NHL and NBA teams
The Minneapolis Monarchs Major League Quidditch team has a chance to do what three of the state's most popular current pro sports franchises have failed to do: Win a championship.
The Monarchs are headed to Howard County, Maryland this weekend to take part in the MLQ Championship tournament, the Benepe Cup. It'll feature 12 teams from around the country, each having qualified with their regular season play.
The Minneapolis squad enters the cup in a strong position. The Monarchs, in their second full season, finished 8-1 and won the North Division. Only two teams finished with a better record: the Austin Outlaws and New York Titans, both of which went 11-1.
The tournament will take place over two days, Aug. 21-22, with a play-in round kicking things off Saturday morning. The Monarchs, thanks to their record, will open things up against the defending champion Boston Forge that afternoon. The first match in the best-of-three round starts at 2:30 p.m. central time.
Tickets are available here, though if you're not in Maryland you can catch the livestream here.
Unsure what we're even talking about?
Major League Quidditch is the real-life version of the fictional sport quidditch, the athletic competition of choice among wizards and witches in the Harry Potter series. In the books, it's played in the air on flying broomsticks. The non-fiction version is described as part-rugby, part-basketball, part-dodgeball. It's played on the ground (though still with broomsticks), and both full-contact and co-ed.
