The roller derby capital of the world is Lansing this weekend

For three days this weekend, Lansing is the most important city in roller derby.

The 2026 WFTDA North American Playoffs is rolling into the Lansing Center and bringing a dozen of the best roller derby teams together for a playoff weekend that will draw competitors, officials and fans from across the continent.

Lansing Roller Derby, a skater-run nonprofit that has spent years quietly building one of the most respected league operations in the Midwest, is running the show. And this weekend, they get to show off their hard work on a national stage.

“Hosting a WFTDA playoff event honestly feels like the result of years of behind-the-scenes work finally materializing into something visible,” said Ali Jahr, aka “Jahrmageddon,” who helped organize LRD’s bid for the tournament as the league’s president. “It reflects where the league is now organizationally: not just surviving, but capable of operating at a very high level.”

What is the WFTDA, and why does this event matter?

The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association is the global governing body for competitive roller derby, overseeing hundreds of leagues across dozens of countries, including Japan, Finland, Argentina and South Africa. Every two years, the best teams in each region compete in bracket-style playoffs for the right to advance to the WFTDA World Championships, taking place in Sweden this October.

This year, the WFTDA is running four separate regional playoff tournaments in North America, where the majority of leagues are located. Lansing is hosting one of them, a 12-team bracket featuring some of the sport’s most accomplished leagues. The fact that mid-Michigan is one of the locations is no accident.

“Lansing Roller Derby demonstrated exactly what we look for in a postseason host: strong organizational capacity, deep community support, experienced volunteers, and a commitment to athlete-centered events,” said Bri DeWitt, known in the derby community as “Babe Runner,” the President of the WFTDA.

There’s also a timely backstory behind Lansing’s selection. The original Northeast playoff site was slated for Ontario, Canada. However, the WFTDA needed a domestic contingency, with some teams concerned about U.S. border crossings in the current political climate. LRD was a natural fit, having hosted several tournaments at the Lansing Center, including the 2025 Skate Wars tournament.

“Teams were able to indicate whether crossing the U.S. border posed concerns for them, and we used that information during placement discussions,” DeWitt said. “This was about increasing access, not limiting it.”

 

A Michigan moment … plus Gotham

Three Michigan organizations are integral to this weekend. Lansing Roller Derby is running the whole show, though not competing. 7th-seeded Ann Arbor Roller Derby and 6th-seeded Detroit Roller Derby are both playing, reflecting how tough Michigan roller derby has become.

“Michigan derby is super strong,” said Melissa McDonald, aka “Donnie”, a co-captain of the Detroit Roller Derby Allstars. “Going into the playoffs, there were four Michigan teams in the top 25 for our region.”

Last year, Team Michigan took first place at the Skate Wars event, a competition among state and collective all-star teams. “Our team represented people from all over the state,” McDonald said, “showcasing just how strong we are when we come together.”

Detroit Roller Derby is one of the founding WFTDA member leagues, with a history dating back to 2005 and an almost unbroken streak of playoff appearances since the event first started. DRD arrives at the Lansing Center with a chip on its shoulder after a tough season of losses that forced a fundamental rethinking of strategy, according to McDonald. “Losing can really teach you a lot, and we made the most out of those lessons,” she said. “We’re coming into the playoffs hungry.”

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Founded in 2010, Ann Arbor Roller Derby regularly holds impressive spots in the WFTDA rankings, reaching the top 25 in the world at its peak and earning a second-place regional ranking. Emily Samuelson, known as “Slamlet”, a founding-era skater and board member who will compete in the tournament after recovering from an ankle injury, described the league’s identity plainly: “We’ve always been a brains team. We want to be there with the best strategy and the smartest decisions.”

And then there’s Gotham.

Second-seed Gotham Roller Derby, out of New York City, are to roller derby what the Yankees are to baseball: defining dominance during the sport’s most formative era. “They helped define the competitive standard for the sport,” DeWitt said, “and have had an enormous impact on strategy, athlete development, and the visibility of derby internationally.” Having Gotham on the floor at the Lansing Center is the kind of thing that draws in longtime derby people and converts newcomers into lifelong fans.

 

What to expect when you walk in

The Lansing Center isn’t for quiet tea parties. Derby crowds are loud, knowledgeable and welcoming to strangers. DeWitt describes the atmosphere as “unlike most sporting events — passionate, welcoming, and loud in the best way.” McDonald’s advice for first-timers is simple: “Find a seat next to some friendly faces and just ask questions. Derby people love to talk about derby.”

What you’ll see on the floor is a sport that has evolved far beyond what casual fans might remember from the early banked-track days. “Roller derby is essentially physical chess being played at high speed on roller skates,” said Jahr. “There’s constant communication, positioning, defensive strategy, offensive timing, endurance and split-second decision making happening all at once.”

According to McDonald, the moment that converts skeptics into fans is usually a blocker sending a jammer flying across the track or a jammer launching themselves over the track’s apex, bypassing the entire pack of blockers at once. “There is an audible gasp at the hit,” she said. “But for the apex jump, it’s more of an ‘oooh-ahhhh’ reaction, like they’re watching fireworks.”

 

The details

The 2026 WFTDA North American Playoffs take place May 29-31 at the Lansing Center, 333 East Michigan Avenue in downtown Lansing. Tickets are available through Etix. Reduced-price tickets are available for the evening feature games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The full schedule is available on the WFTDA website.

For those who want to know more or get involved in roller derby, Lansing Roller Derby’s website is lansingrollerderby.com.

James Brains runs Brains Report, a product review website and YouTube channel. He also played, coached, officiated and wrote about roller derby on and off over the last 17 years. Brains holds the men’s record for most points in a jam.