MABA will recognize 2 Tiers for Master Series Team of the Year (TOY) eligibility throughout the competition season. The competition season is defined as a calendar year from November 1st through October 31st. Teams do NOT have to declare what Tier they wish to compete in during the season. This will automatically be determined at year’s end, based on the number of eligible contests each eligible team competes in.
Tier I: All MABA teams, in good standing, who compete in any number of MABA approved sanctioned competitions during the course of the competition season.
Tier II: MABA teams, in good standing, who compete in 7 or less MABA approved sanctioned competitions during the course of the competition season. Contests outside of the MABA region that meet the eligibility rules, but are not MABA approved will count toward a team’s overall contest count. For example, cooking a 4 meat KCBS Open Master Series contest in California will still count toward the 7 or less even though there will be no MABA TOY points awarded. To encourage Tier II teams to compete in Invitational contests when they qualify and an Open Master Series contest is held in conjunction, the team is encouraged to compete in both without the Open contest counting toward the 7 or less criteria. The Invitational+Open contests considered for this exception are the American Royal and the KCBS World Invitational. The goal of Tier II is to level the playing field for teams that are not able to cook as many contests.
Approved body/contest information
Sanctioning bodies approved for MABA TOY points accumulation:
KCBS
MABA Approved TOY Contest: (for a contest to be awarded MABA TOY points, the contest must meet all of the following criteria)
Must be a contest in the approved sanctioning bodies
Must be a 4 meat contest with an overall award
The contest must be conducted in one of the MABA region states: MD, DC, DE, VA, WV, PA, NY, NJ, NC
The contest must be an “Open” contest that allows all teams to join. Invitational or other contests that require a team to meet a criteria outside of normal will not count.
Accumulating points for teams
Tier I: Scores from the team’s 8 or LESS best MABA approved sanctioned competitions as defined above.
Tier II: Scores from the team’s 5 or LESS best MABA approved sanctioned competitions as defined above.
Competition teams from Tier II ARE eligible to win any Tier I Team of the Year (TOY) title as well.
Only ONE team per MABA Membership is eligible to accumulate Team of the Year points. That team MUST be designated BEFORE the beginning of the season. Points will not be scored or tracked for second, third, or more teams on or with a membership of any type.
Points for Overall Event Rankings
1st place = 125 points
2nd place = 100 points
3rd place = 80 points
4th place = 70 points
5th place = 60 points
6th place = 50 points
7th place = 45 points
8th place = 40 points
9th place = 35 points
10th place = 30 points
11th place = 25 points
12th place = 20 points
13th place = 15 points
14th place = 10 points
15th place and below = 5 points
Point bonus multiplier
Take the total number of teams at the event, divide by 2 then express it as a percentage + 1
i.e. a 50 team event; 50 / 2 = 25 / 100 = .25 + 1 = 1.25 or a 25% point bonus. Points will be carried out to 4 decimal places. (.0000)
MABA TOY points will be awarded in the following categories:
Recognition of TOY standings will be by the TEAM NAME attached to a CHIEF/HEAD COOK and not by individual member’s names. MABA TEAM NAME must be affiliated with designated CHIEF/HEAD COOK in the current MABA membership database. The database is created from information listed on membership applications and/or annual renewals. The CHIEF/HEAD COOK DOES NOT have to be present at an event in order for their team to accrue TOY points.
TOY points will only be awarded to teams whose current CHIEF/HEAD COOK is a MABA member in good standing.
To accrue TOY points for an event, the CHIEF/HEAD COOK MUST apply or have already applied and paid for membership by ‘9:00am’ of the day turn ins are judged.
Teams cannot accrue points during any lapsed membership period.
Teams can start to accrue TOY points again upon renewal of membership status.
If one or more teammates are current MABA members but there is no team affiliation documented in the membership database, then their team cannot accrue points no matter how well they have competed.
TOY Tiebreakers: In the event of a tie, the following tie breaking procedure will be used:
1st Tiebreaker – The team with the greater number of 1st place finishes in that category
2nd Tiebreaker – The team with the greater number of 2nd place finishes in that category
3rd Tiebreaker – The team with the greater number of 3rd place finishes in that category
If no resolution after the above tiebreakers a coin flip will determine the outcome
Teams may not accrue TOY points for multiple events on the same contest date. A contest date is determined by the first day that turn ins are judged.
If it is determined that a team has accrued points from multiple events on the same contest date, all points accrued on those dates shall be forfeit and a penalty of 50 (fifty) TOY points overall and across all categories or the team’s total points accrued (whichever is less) shall be assessed.
A second violation of this rule within the same competition year will result in a 2 year suspension of the team’s CHIEF/HEAD COOK from the MABA TOY points chase.
Only valid teams that have earned the top TOY standings will be officially recognized in writing by the MABA Board of Directors for representing MABA in any national events or promotions. Any recognition declared or made without the written consent of the MABA Board of Directors will result in that team’s name and any MABA member documented to be affiliated with that team being banned from any MABA TOY points chase for one year.
MABA members may cook on more than one team throughout the course of a season. It is the responsibility of a noted team that places in the TOY standings to determine their teammates when representing MABA in any national competition, demonstration or exposition.
The MABA Board of Directors reserves the rights to alter any points/eligibility if it determines that something is falling outside the spirit of the rules intended. We expect and trust all members to compete in good faith manor.
