Competition Season Changes for Master & Backyard Barbecue TOY Programs

The MABA Board of Directors recently polled the membership with regard to aligning the MABA barbecue competition season to the KCBS competition season. The Board of Directs reviewed the results which were 2 to 1 in favor of aligning to KCBS. This past week the Board of Directors discussed, voted and approved a change to the competition season for the Master Series and Backyard Series Barbecue Team of the Year Programs. The competition season for Steak Team of the Year remains unchanged.

What

The competition season for both the Master Series and Backyard Series Barbecue Team of the Year Programs will now be “defined as a calendar year from November 1st through October 31st the following year.” This also impacts the Master Series Rookie Team of the Year program that follows the calendar year Master Series Team of the Year program. The previous definition for the competition season was “defined as a calendar year from January 1st through December 31st.”

Why

The Master and Backyard Series Barbecue Team of the Year programs will now align with the competition season of the major sanctioning body, KCBS, which MABA uses to determine points, and allows for easier points tracking and verification through BBQData.com.

When

The new program rule change will go in effect for the 2022 season starting November 1st, 2021. The 2020-2021 Super Season will conclude December 31st, 2021. Overlap of any contests in November and December will be credited to both the 2020-2021 Super Season and the new 2022 season for this year only.

The MABA website will be updated to reflect the new rules by December 1st, 2021.

BBQData.com will update programming, and points for the new season will be updated to the MABA website by February 1st, 2022.

Additionally

The North Carolina State Cup Champion who will be crowned at the Bulls & BBQ competition in Currituck, NC in November will count for this year only and will be eligible to compete in the 2021 MABA Cup Championship to be held March 25th to 27th, 2022 at BBQ Gives Back in Urbanna, VA.

It is important for the Board of Directors to release this update now so teams are informed and have opportunity to participate in any November/December 2021 overlapping competitions that would count for points in the 2020-2021 Team of the Year Super Season and the upcoming 2022 Team of the Year competition season.

Thank you,
The MABA Board of Directors