USA Rugby is expected to make some major announcements very soon regarding college championships.

 

It appears that there will be a fall championship for DI and DII rugby, as-yet unnamed. But one source said that there will be a "fall pathway" to a championship, with ACRC and ACRA not being an impediment. Teams and conferences will be invited to participate.

 

This comes as some teams from the ACRC, notably Bowling Green, have pushed for some sort of championship over and above the bowl system the affiliation of conferences had planned for November. One proposal was that winners of four of the ACRC conferences meet in Charlotte, NC, where the ACRC bowl games will be held, and play a semifinal-final series over the weekend. That plan was pushed to USA Rugby, which has expanded the idea. Details to come.

 

Meanwhile, in 7s, the game is afoot. USA Rugby will confirm this week that they will hold their 7s College National Championships over Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-24. The site is yet to be determined, but San Jose, Seattle, Kansas City, and Denver are all excellent candidates.

 

The USA event will be held a week before the CRC invitational run by United World Sports (UWS). The CRC has been linked with a move to San Jose, a move that seemed a sure thing until recently, when rumors started floating that it would remain for one more year at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. Either way, it seems clear that the lineup of teams for these two tournaments will, on the men's side, be very different. 

 

For starters, some teams, such as Cal, UCLA, and Navy seem locked in as CRC-only programs. In addition, graduation for the US Naval Academy and US Military Academy fall on May 23, and thus will preclude those teams from attending a USA Rugby event. The US Air Force Academy's graduation is May 28, which might allow Air Force a chance to play.

 

Some programs, such as Dartmouth, have voiced a desire to play in both.

 

(On the women's side, it seems clear the 15s championships will go on as planned anyway, and in 7s, the USA Rugby championship has long held sway over the CRC's half-hearted efforts to include the women's teams._

 

Holding the tournament on the Memorial Day Weekend is not a popular decision, according to some coaches Goff Rugby Report has spoken to, but a USA Rugby source said that the response from most programs has been one of approval. It may all depend on schedule. If the date isn't too long after classes end for the year, or doesn't conflict with graduation, teams might be amenable to May 23-24 (and potentially Monday the 25th?). However, the added problem is Memorial Day itself.

 

According to AAA, per 36 million Americans were forecast to travel at least 50 miles over this past Memorial Day Weekend. Of those, 2.6 million traveled by air. Both of those numbers were the highest since the 2009 recession. A USA Today article quoting AAA ranked Memorial Day Weekend as one of the ten busiest travel periods of the year, behind summer Fridays, July 4, Christmas, and Thanksgiving.

 

However, according to US Dept. of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, May overall is not as busy a travel month as March, June, July, or August. Still, it ranks in the top half of busy travel months, with Miami, JFK (New York), Atlanta, and Newark being the busiest airports that month (food for thought when planning travel). 

 

Also from the BTS, Memorial Day in 2013 ranked 4th among the seven major holidays in terms of air travel, just ahead of July 4, and behind (in order) Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. Memorial Day also ranked 4th in on-time stats, with 77% of flights on time, which behind Labor Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving, but ahead of July 4, Christmas, and President's Day.

 

Why this is all happening then requires another piece of the puzzle, and that piece will likely fall into place this weekend. USA Rugby is expected to make a major announcement that has financial and sponsorship implications. It's likely that announcement has a bearing why the fall championships and the 7s championships are being pursued in this fashion, and why they are being scheduled when they are being scheduled.