For Immediate Release
January 5, 2022
U.S. Quidditch Selects Goldsboro to Host Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships in 2022
Goldsboro, N.C. – Visit Goldsboro, the travel and tourism department for the City of Goldsboro and Wayne County, is proud to announce the U.S. Quidditch organization has chosen Goldsboro as its host city for the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. The tournament will take place at the Bryan Multi-Sports Complex on November 19 – 20, 2022. The event will be free of charge and open to the public. Spectators can enjoy youth Quidditch workshops, as well as onsite breweries, food trucks, and a vendor village.
Goldsboro was the host city for the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. Goldsboro was also scheduled to host the 2020 tournament, but the event was canceled due to the impacts of the coronavirus. The 2021 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships took place October 23-24, 2021 in Richmond, Va.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship is one of the organization’s larger tournaments, attracting as many as 25 teams and approximately 500 additional spectators to the host city. Past Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships have been hosted by Howard County, Md., and Virginia Beach, Va. The 2019 championship in Goldsboro experienced record turnout of 1,200 spectators to the complex during the two-day tournament, bringing in teams as far away as Penn State and Drexel. The 2019 sporting event generated $64,000 of economic impact due to visitor spending in area businesses to include lodging, retail, dining, and fuel.
US Quidditch hosts seven regional championships each year with the intent to showcase the growing sport in different areas around the country and increase awareness. USQ includes official club teams at collegiate and club levels that compete over a yearlong season. The regional championships are part of the qualification process for teams attending the annual US Quidditch Cup, which was canceled in 2020 due to impacts of the coronavirus.
The U.S. Quidditch organization has a strong social conscience valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and they make sure whoever they partner with also shares their value system, so their decision to partner with Goldsboro-Wayne County for the 2022 championships makes the award even more meaningful.
The U.S. Quidditch selection process required interested hosts to submit an intent to bid form, bid snapshot form, and a formal proposal no later than February 2021. Several destinations competed for the chance to host the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. After review, the USQ office chose three finalists and scheduled site visits to the possible host cities. Goldsboro hosted the USQ staff on August 17-19, 2021, for a site visit, which included a visit to the Bryan Multi-Sports Complex, local hotels, the Maxwell Center, and various businesses in historic Downtown Goldsboro.
Laura Porth, director of events and partnerships for U.S. Quidditch said, “We were very impressed with Goldsboro and its facilities on our site visit. The city was very welcoming and the Bryan Multi-Sports Complex is a high quality facility. When we hosted in 2019, our teams had the best experience, and we knew they would be excited to return to Goldsboro again. We can’t wait to return, and with the support of the Visit Goldsboro team, we know the 2022 USQ Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship will be the best championship yet.”
Quidditch originated as a fictional sport invented by author J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter book series. The sport evolved into reality when a freshman at Middlebury College in Vermont laid the foundation for the sport’s rulebook, and the very first game of Quidditch was played in October 2005. Over the last 14 years, the sport has grown into a widely respected, physically intense sport. Quidditch is a mixed gender contact sport with a unique mix of elements from rugby, dodgeball, and tag. A team is made up of seven athletes who play with brooms between their legs at all times. While the game can appear chaotic to the casual observer, once familiar with the basic rules, Quidditch is an exciting sport to watch and even more exciting to play. The US Quidditch official rulebook is available free for download here.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship is free of charge and open to the public, and more event details with game schedules will be released in the summer of 2022. Additional information about the sport and the USQ organization is available at www.usquidditch.org.
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For more information, contact Joanna Ferrin, Communications & Creative Services Manager, (919) 734-7922, jferrin@goldsboronc.gov
