ASU Quidditch: The Funding

You don’t have to attend Hogwarts or own a Nimbus 2000 to win the Quidditch World Cup – you don’t even have to be a wizard.

Students at universities all over the country have the opportunity to attend the Quidditch national championship or the US Q Cup.

Major universities such as UCLA and Arizona State participate in Quidditch year round.

However, Quidditch at these universities is a club sport and is not recognized by the NCAA.

That, coupled with Quidditch being an untraditional sport without many teams in a small vicinity, results in far travel for games in which the athlete is responsible for funding.

After a lengthy application and qualifying process, Arizona State is now receiving funding from its student government.

"It takes the burden off of future traveling to tournaments," said Victoria Sanford, ASU’s Quidditch treasurer. "[It] makes it a lot easier knowing I wont have to pay for the expenses for three or four tournaments per year."

Schools across the country are also dealing with ways to finance travel and team expenditures each year.

"Members are paying out of pocket," said Brett Ambrose, ULCA’s Quidditch treasurer. "Team money comes from fundraisers like selling t-shirts."

Quidditch is anything but an inexpensive sport to play, given that teams in the western region will often have to travel as far as Florida to compete in tournaments.

"Last year our total expenditures were $17,000," Ambrose said. "That includes sending one team to South Carolina and another to Texas and renting cars."

The team is also responsible for purchasing its own equipment including dodgeballs, volleyballs and used PVC pipe.

Sanford said that because of the funding ASU now receives from student government, the team could buy all-new equipment on top of brand new conditioning equipment.

Much like ASU, Texas State University, one of the top Quidditch clubs in the country, also receives funding from the university.

"We always get tier A and usually that's around 2000-3000," said Texas State Quidditch treasurer Nathaniel Moore. "But that money remains with the school and does have limitations on what we can use it for."

Funding from the university helps Quidditch teams more than monetarily.

"We have definitely seen an increase in participation, and number of people since we have become a sports club," Bailey said. "All schools participate in fundraising efforts to further fund their travel throughout the season. A big one we do is called Kidditch. We go to people’s houses for birthday parties and teach kids how to play Quidditch."

Quidditch funding is not an issue that only affects U.S. Universities. There have been growing issues with Quidditch funding in countries across the world.

The International Quidditch Association hosts the Quidditch World Cup each year in which countries from around the world such as South Korea and Germany sends teams.

Each country and team is responsible for a funding its trip to the World Cup where ever it may be.

"Denmark is unable to pay international Quidditch dues," said Nicole Hammer, International Quidditch Association’s Executive Director. "The country is not allowed to pay an outside source when they are receiving government funding."

As Quidditch’s global popularity grows so will questions regarding funding at both the university level and international level.

As funding from governing bodies becomes more pertinent, so will involvement in Quidditch.

"It's very expensive," said Moore. " Jerseys can run $30-70 depending on what you want. Renting vans, gas, lodging, and tournament fees can all vary, but it's always a lot."