We introduce and solve a new type of quadratic backward stochastic differential equation systems defined in an infinite time horizon, called emph{ergodic BSDE systems}. Such systems arise naturally as candidate solutions to characterize forward performance processes and their associated optimal trading strategies in a regime switching market. In addition, we develop a connection between the solution of the ergodic BSDE system and the long-term growth rate of classical utility maximization problems, and use the ergodic BSDE system to study the large time behavior of PDE systems with quadratic growth Hamiltonians.