As third-party Collegiate Rocket League (CRL) competition has entered full swing, Rocket League Esports and the College Carball Association (CCA) have announced the details behind publisher-backed Collegiate Rocket League for the Spring semester of 2026. This announcement includes nearly three months of play, an expansion to last Fall’s format, and nearly $60,000 in total prizing.
The New and Improved CRL Format
The official announcement came straight from the RLEsports X/Twitter account on February 2, just 2 weeks before the first official CRL tournament is set to begin with one of two Open Qualifier tournaments that will fill an expanded 16-team League Play round robin. The Fall 2025 League Play round robin that CRL featured included two splits of an 8 team field, while this semester will showcase 16 teams across one split of League Play.
Open Qualifiers
The aforementioned Open Qualifiers carry a similar format to the only Open Qualifier last semester; four pools of an open amount of teams competing across a double elimination bracket for eight total League Play spots per qualifier. The first OQ will take place on February 15 and the second, 13 days later, on February 28. No prizing will be awarded to teams competing in these brackets.
League Play
Once the 16 team League Play field is filled, a full round robin will run from March 8 until April 19. Each of these 16 squads will play the other 15 once. Prizing for this segment of CRL Spring 2026 includes $21,000 spread across the 16 competitors, with 1st prize being $3,000, down to 9th-16th getting $1,000 per team.
Official gamedays and broadcasts will be:
- Week 1: March 8, 2026 @ 1:00 PM ET (10:00 AM PT)
- Week 2: March 15, 2026 @ 1:00 PM ET (10:00 AM PT)
- Week 3: March 22, 2026 @ 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM PT)
- Week 4: April 4, 2026 @ 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM PT)
- Week 5: April 19, 2026 @ 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM PT)
The teams competing in this League Play format will vie for the top four positions at the end of the round robin, as these spots will guarantee positions in the Spring Championship tournament. The 12 that do not automatically qualify to the Spring Championship must play through a Last Chance Qualifier that invites a select few that did not qualify to League Play back into Spring Championship Contention.
Open 3v3 Tournaments
While the top 16 battle through League Play, the rest of the Collegiate Rocket League field must fight through three Open 3v3 Tournaments for just eight Last Chance Qualifier positions.
The format of these Open 3v3 Tournaments is the same as last semester’s trio of Opens: unlimited signups, 6 pools of teams, points assigned to the top four placing teams per pool, and $300 to each pool’s winner. The distribution of points per pool placement is 5, 3, 2, 1 for first, second, third, and fourth, respectively.
A two-team tiebreaker for the final LCQ spots, should one be necessary, will feature a best-of-7 series between tied teams. This was featured in Fall 2025 with a tiebreaker played out by Michigan State and St. Clair Gold. Tiebreakers of a greater quantity of teams will be settled with a single elimination bracket of variable size depending on the number of tied teams.
The Open 3v3 Tournament dates are as follows:
- Open 3v3 Tournament 1: March 12, 2026 @ 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM PT)
- Registration Closes March 6, 2026 @ 1:00 PM ET (10:00 AM PT)
- Open 3v3 Tournament 2: March 19, 2026 @ 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM PT)
- Registration Closes March 13, 2026 @ 1:00 PM ET (10:00 AM PT)
- Open 3v3 Tournament 3: March 26, 2026 @ 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM PT)
- Registration Closes March 20, 2026 @ 1:00 PM ET (10:00 AM PT)
Last Chance Qualifier
The LCQ of Spring 2026 is another demonstration of expansion by the new CRL format. Previously 12 teams and a qualifier for a Split Two of League Play that no longer exists, the new LCQ has become a 20-team, double elimination qualifier for the final two Spring Championship spots. The bottom 12 from League Play plus the top eight of the Open 3v3 Tournaments must whittle down to two on April 26.
Spring Championship
The Championships of Spring 2026 also adhere to the theme of expansion for this semester of Collegiate Rocket League. Previously a four-team, double elimination bracket, two more teams will get the chance to crown themselves kings of CRL across a double elimination bracket that will take place on May 2 and 3. These kings earn $7,500 in spoils out of an entire prize pot of $20,000 set aside for the Spring Championship.
All matches will be best-of-7 series.
Open 2v2 Tournaments
This Spring of CRL also includes a return of Open 2v2 Tournaments, which will distribute $13,600 in prize money across Opens taking place on April 23 and 30 in the weeks leading up to the 3v3 Spring Championship.
The Negatives
While the announcement of CRL’s Spring competition has been met with largely positive reactions, it is worth noting a few shortcomings within the successes.
First, the February 2 announcement of CRL’s return came after no communication from any operating parties of Rocket League’s largest collegiate competition. This left programs and stakeholders in the dark for the entirety of December and January’s pre-Spring planning period.
As publisher-backed Collegiate Rocket League has disappeared for an entire semester (Spring 2024) with no word previously, the community is very sensitive to this lack of communication regarding competition.
Second, the Spring Championships of CRL will conflict with the Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup, the biggest third party hosted competition in the CRL space. CSMG, the company behind EsportsU and CECC, announced the dates and details behind CECC on November 25.
Notable Rosters to Know
Despite a shorter transfer window when compared to the summer break between Spring and Fall, there were still 20 notable changes within rosters around the top 50 of CRL. This included the two-time reigning champions of CRL, St. Clair College.
For an in-depth breakdown of these roster moves and impact they may have on the CRL space, check out College Esports News’ collaboration with the Collegiate Exclusive Podcast here.
CRL Information
The Collegiate Rocket League Spring 2026 season officially begins on February 15 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT with the first Open Qualifier for League Play.
You can visit all tournament pages in the CRL Tournament hub or the rulebook for more details.
