July 27th, 2009 - Saint Paul, MN.  We are happy to announce the ten leagues that have been invited to compete on September 18th-20th at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium at the Brawl of America, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s North Central regional tournament.  Over three days, ten leagues will skate fifteen bouts to determine the WFTDA North Regional champion. In addition, the top three teams leaving the tournament will have the opportunity to play in Philadelphia at WFTDA’s national tournament against the finest leagues in the modern roller derby resurgence. 

The leagues invited are:
Seed 1: Windy City Rollers - Chicago, IL
Seed 2: Detroit Derby Girls - Detroit, MI
Seed 3: Mad Rollin’ Dolls - Madison, WI
Seed 4: Cincinnati Rollergirls - Cincinnati, OH
Seed 5: Arch Rival Roller Girls - St. Louis, MO
Seed 6: Minnesota RollerGirls - St. Paul, MN
Seed 7: Grand Raggidy Roller Girls - Grand Rapids, MI
Seed 8: North Star Roller Girls - Minneapolis, MN
Seed 9: Brewcity Bruisers - Milwaukee, WI
Seed 10: Burning River Roller Girls - Cleveland, OH

The Brawl of America will be conducted as a single-elimination tournament for the regional championship with multiple consolation bouts to work out overall tournament ranking.  The first day’s six bouts will determine who will make it into the semi-finals.  The six top-seeded teams will be given a bye into the quarter-finals as the bottom four battle for the final two spots.  Semi-finals will be played on day two as well as three ranking bouts for those teams knocked out. On the third day, the third-place bout and two other ranking bouts will precede the regional championship match.  The top three teams of the tournament will be given a place at the national tournament in Philadelphia on November 13th-15th.

The ten leagues invited represent Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin as well as the Brawl’s home state, Minnesota.  Five of the leagues representing the North Central region are founding members of WFTDA, while one joined WFTDA only eight months ago.  Their invitations are determined from the quarterly ranking of WFTDA, flat-track derby’s governing body.

The leagues and their fans are on their way as the best of the North converges on the Roy in September.  The bracket is set.