The USQ Stay and Play policy applies to all USQ-run tournaments, including National Qualifiers and US Quadball Cup.  

NATIONAL QUALIFIERS & US QUADBALL CUP

The policy for national qualifiers and US Quadball Cup states that all participating teams that are not located within 100 miles of driving distance of the tournament site address are required to stay in a hotel within the competition’s designated city, county, or region.

Under USQ's current Stay and Play policy, teams must book 1 room for every 4 rostered players unless the hotel room allows higher occupancies, in which case teams must book 1 room for every n rostered players, with n being the maximum allowed (as defined by hotel policy) number of adults per room. 

All teams are required to book at least 3 rooms for 2 nights.  If the event/division the team is competing in is only scheduled to play on 1 day, teams are only responsible for booking 1 night but still must book at least 3 rooms on that night.

Deadlines for stay and play exemption and details on how to book your hotels for a qualifier can be found at USQ National Qualifiers under the '2023-24 National Qualifiers Deadlines & Forms/Bookings' tab.

Deadlines for stay and play exemption and details on how to book your hotels for US Quadball Cup can be found on this page under the 'Deadlines' tab.

EXEMPTION FROM STAY AND PLAY

The only exception to this policy is for teams who are located within 100 miles driving distance of the tournament site address, using the shortest driving distance as reported by Google Maps. The goal of the exemption is to accommodate local teams who could safely drive home and spend the night at their place of residence before, during, and/or after a USQ run event.

Collegiate teams must use their school’s address as their location. 

For club teams, they must demonstrate that a majority (half plus one, rounding down) of their roster (those who are registered adult players) lives within 100 miles driving distance of the tournament site address.

APPLY FOR STAY AND PLAY EXEMPTION

Teams must fill out the Stay & Play Exemption Form no later than the outlined deadline on the National Qualifier or USQ Cup deadline page. USQ events staff will then contact applicants via email to issue an official approval, provisional approval (subject to the roster review detailed below), request more information, or deny the exemption application.

Collegiate teams will be asked to provide their school’s address and a link to a page on the school’s website that verifies the address.

Club teams will be asked to provide a list of players who reside within 100 miles of driving distance of the tournament site address. They do not need to provide players’ addresses - we will utilize the address on file for their player membership. Players should ensure that their current address is up to date on their member registration. Trial members do not count, only fully registered adult players.

If a team has their exemption denied, they will be required to book approved hotel accommodations by the registration deadline in order to be eligible to compete in that tournament.

WHY IS USQ USING A STAY AND PLAY POLICY?

A Stay and Play policy is among the most effective tools we have to ensure overall event quality. One of the main reasons cities bid on sporting events like ours is because of the positive economic impact they have on their area. A big driver of economic impact is hotel nights. By having a Stay and Play policy, USQ is able to guarantee host cities that our events will have a tangible effect on local businesses within their service area. It encourages greater city support of our events in terms of both amenities and financial contribution. This commitment of room blocks also increases the number of potential hosts that are likely to submit bids. Lastly, a Stay and Play policy leads to lower rates for teams on hotel packages.

HOW DOES STAY AND PLAY HELP MY TEAM?

Benefits for teams from implementing Stay and Play include:

LOW GROUP ROOM RATES

Stay and Play allows us to negotiate collectively lower room rates for our blocks. Without Stay and Play, a considerable number of hotels in the best locations would be available only at higher rates. With a fixed commitment to purchasing room blocks, our hotel partners are able to offer rooms for lower rates than if we had to reserve rooms on a team-by-team basis. 

MORE ROOMS CLOSER TO THE TOURNAMENT LOCATION

Hotels that are familiar with Stay and Play policies know that their block will fill up and are willing to work with USQ to allocate rooms. This, in turn, produces more rooms closer to the tournament location and more rooms at a wider variety of hotels and price points.

SUPERIOR SERVICE

USQ contracts HBC for our hotel bookings for each event. The involvement of HBC means that teams will have points of contact who can assist in resolving issues that may arise regarding transportation, check-in, or hotel service. USQ & HBC also has relationships with the area tourism bureaus as well as each individual hotel, which further enhances the customer service experience for teams and players.