NECC has announced that they will be partnering with CFGC to provide monthly collegiate tournaments for Street Fighter and Tekken. These monthly tournaments will culminate in playoffs and finals tournaments to crown two collegiate champions.
CFGC and NECC announced their collaboration in a press release on Monday, Nov. 11. The new collaboration builds on the trend of major collegiate leagues working closely with independent groups to increase their offerings.
Monthly Tournament Schedule Released
Starting in February, CFGC and NECC will start a three-month tournament series in both Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6. Tekken will always be a week before Street Fighter, and all events will be held on Saturdays.
For playoffs, both Street Fighter and Tekken will be on the same day. Playoffs are broken down across two weeks, with the finals on May 10, 2025.
Below is the complete list of dates pulled from the official announcement.
○ February
■ Tekken, Saturday, February 8th and Street Fighter, Saturday, February 15th
○ March
■ Tekken, Saturday, March 8th and Street Fighter, Saturday, March 15th
○ April
■ Tekken, Saturday, April 12th and Street Fighter, Saturday, April 19th
Playoff-Format – Top 16 Double Elimination for each of the two titles
(Seeding based on placement from previous three brackets of competition)
■ Saturday, May 3rd, Tekken and Street Fighter
Finals Tournament: Top 8 Double Elimination for each title
(Seeding based on Playoffs)
■ Saturday, May 10th, Tekken and Street Fighter
Big Leagues Continue to Expand Their Reach
In the current landscape of four big college esports leagues, there’s been a concerted effort from each league to better their offerings.
These efforts range from huge initiatives such as NECC’s Project I, to increased prizing such as ECAC providing complimentary Chipotle meals to their Spring winners.
This also isn’t the first time NECC has partnered with existing organizations to expand their titles list. They’ve already been partnered with Collegiate CoD for nearly a year. ECAC also maintains active relationships with organizations such as iRacing and Collegiate Corestrike League.
According to CFGC CEO Jason Clark, this upcoming FGC tournament series will be entirely free to enter, regardless of whether competitors already compete in other NECC competitions. In their joint press release, NECC Commissioner Jacob VanRyn mentions:
“We’re hopeful that this is the beginning of a long-term relationship with CFGC that helps support the collegiate fighting games community.”
Despite being somewhat under the radar due to the FGC’s lesser popularity in collegiate esports compared to other major titles, they’ve made a number of large moves in the past year.
CFGC brought on veteran commentator Saint Cola as an ambassador before announcing a partnership with popular FGC tournament organizers and broadcasters Tampa Never Sleeps. This collaboration could see a merging of CFGC’s fighting game-centered roots with the wide collegiate connections of NECC.
Much is still unknown about the upcoming event series, with NECC and CFGC promising to announce more details in the coming weeks. As always, it will only be once the competition starts up that colleges and players alike will see the value of this new partnership.
