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Figuring Out the College 7s Landscape

irish rugby tours

Figuring Out the College 7s Landscape

Action from the PAC 7s last fall. David Barpal photo.

USA Rugby's Collegiate Council-sanctioned college 7s championships, the NCCR 7s, is set for May 14-15 at Kennesaw State University's main stadium, and there are some familiar aspects to the event.

Both this AEG/CRAA/Collegiate Council event and National Collegiate Rugby's May Madness carry features from the old CRC 7s which ran from 2011 to 2019. NCR's May Madness uses the name and has received license to use logos and and the CRC's old social media account. 

The NCCR 7s has linked up with NBC, which showed the CRC for almost its entire run, and has re-introduced a key aspect of the old CRC's business model—teams are on the hook for a portion of the ticket sales.

Now, this isn't new. College Football Bowl Games expect participants to sell tickets, and, as we said, the old CRC expected participating teams to sell several thousand dollars' worth of tickets. We talked to Life University Head Coach Colton Cariaga, who has been involved in developing this event (in part because the event is on his doorstep in the Atlanta area). Cariaga said that college rugby programs that played in the old CRC, or who wanted to play in it, understood that the ticket-selling thing was part of the deal.

Basically, invited teams need to buy $5,000 in tickets (100 tickets), which ideally they'd sell to fans or alumni who would attend the event, fill the stadium, have a great weekend watching some college rugby, and look good on TV. (This $5,000 is, if memory serves, less than what the old CRC expected of the men's-team invitees.) The idea is to leverage team loyalty to get fans in seats. 

Note: the other aspect is that teams at AEG's NCCR get accommodation, food, ground transportation, as well as the fields, refs venue and TV coverage.

Cariaga, who remembers playing 7s at Life and not being invited to the CRC, and then qualifying to play and showing well, and then coaching there, says playing in a big stadium with lots of fans and on television "is a game-changer. We're not talking about having a championship that's just the same old thing we used to have most of the time, but a true experience."

It matters, he said. It matters to the fans, the school, and the players, to have the stage be big. And the question arises: is $5,000 all that much? For some teams, if they are not well-funded and find themselves unable to sell those tickets, it could be a problem. But the answer might also be, if you're serious about performing at a high level on a national stage, should you be able to sell 100 tickets to your faithful?

Life University got invited back to the CRC not because they made the 2013 final, but because they brought fans, loud fans in matching T-shirts. The same is true of Kutztown. 

With 60 teams hoped for in six brackets, might we see 6,000 fans in the stadium thanks to this plan? Quite possibly.


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Ah yes—brackets. So May Madness will have brackets for D1 Men Premier, D1 Women Premier, D1 Women Club, D1 Men Club, D2 Men, and Small-College Men. Six championships. For the NCCR 7s (AEG's event), it's D1 Men (which will mostly be D1A teams), Women D1 Elite/NIRA (a mixture of the four D1 Elite teams plus the NCAA programs), D1 Men Club, D1 Women Club, Open Men, D2 Women.  

Both events have TV contracts, with NBC, along with CNBC and Peacock for the AEG event May 14-15, and CBS Sports Network for the NCR event May 28-30. How teams qualify for these events is especially clear. AEG wants qualifiers to be done early so they can plan and get license to use university logos, and other things. Some conferences pushed back on the timeline and AEG did ease the deadline somewhat. The May Madness event appears to be more of an invitational, but both events have their invitational aspects.

We'll keep you updated on that, and one which teams are trying to sell tickets, and who is going where. For now, here, updated, is our list of college 7s tournaments. Let us know if we missed one.

 

College 7s Tournaments Around the Country
Date Event Location Division Winner
2/12 Furman 7s Greenville, SC Men DI/DII Kentucky
2/19 Chesapeake Tnmnt #1 (Open) Buena Vista, Va. Men DI Mary Washington
2/19 Pitt Dome 7s Pittsburgh, Pa. Men D1/DII Wheeling
2/26 Frostbite Tnmnt Landsville, Pa. Multiple  
2/26 Chesapeake Tnmnt #2 (Open) College Park Md. Men DI  
2/26 SCRC 7s Alabama Tuscaloose, AL Men DI  
2/26 Southern Conference 7s Wilmington, NC Men DII  
3/19 Virginia Tech 7s Blacksburg, VA Women DI  
3/19 Allegheny 7s Indiana, Pa. Men DII/SC  
3/19 University of Minnesota 7s Minneapolis, Minn. Women DI  
3/19 Mooseman 7s Murfreesboro, Tenn. Men DI/DII  
3/26 Baldwin Wallace 7s Cleveland, Ohio Women  
3/26 WPU, Seton Hall, Drew & MSU Drew University Men DII  
3/26 Chesapeake Tournament #3 (Open) Emmitsburg, Md. Men DI  
3/26 Columbia, RPI, Hofstra & Fairfield. Fairfield University Women DII  
3/26 MARC 7s Gettysburg, Pa. Men SC  
3/26 Southern Conference 7s Greenville, NC Men DII  
3/26 NALA 7s Lindenwood Women  
3/26 MARC 7s Penn State-Berks, Pa. Men SC  
3/26 Allegheny 7s Rio Grande U. Men DII/SC  
3/26 Notre Dame Tnmnt  South Bend, Ind. NCR CRC Qualifier  
3/26 Liberty Conference Tnmnt  Stony Brook, NY Men DI  
3/26 USMMA, Fairfield, Hofstra & Maritime SUNY Maritime Men DII  
3/27 Drew, MSU, SBU & Albany Drew University Women DII  
3/27 Fordham, Molloy, Rutgers & UNH Fordham Women DII  
3/27 Marist, RPI, New Paltz, Vassar & Oneonta Hudson Valley 7s Men DII/DIII  
3/27 Hilltop 7s Philippi, WV Women DI/DII  
3/27 Marist, Vassar, New Paltz & Maritime Vassar Women DII  
4/2 Great Lakes 7s Championship Allendale, Mich Women DI  
4/2 Northeast 7s Beverly, Mass. Men SC  
4/2 Boise State Tnmnt  Boise, Idaho NCR CRC Qualifier  
4/2 New England Freejacks Boston, Mass. NCR CRC Qualifier (men)  
4/2 Harvard 7s Cambridge, Mass. Women DI/DII  
4/2 Ohio Valley 7s Series Delaware, Ohio Women SC  
4/2 MARC 7s Easton, Pa. Men SC  
4/2 Allegheny 7s Gambier, Ohio Men DII/SC  
4/2 Great Lakes 7s Grand Rapids, Mich. Men SC  
4/2 Ohio Valley 7s Series Granville, Ohio Women SC  
4/2 MARC 7s Lancaster, Pa. Men SC  
4/2 Oneonta, New Paltz, Fairfield & Vassar New Paltz, NY Men DIII  
4/2 Ohio Valley 7s Series Oxford, Ohio Women DI  
4/2 Midnight 7s St. Boanventure, U. Multiple  
4/2 Lindenwood Qualifier St. Charles, MO NCCR Qualifier  
4/2 Hofstra, Maritime, SBU & Molloy Stony Brook, NY Women DII  
4/2 Big 10 Series-Illinois U. Illinois Men DI  
4/2 Allegheny 7s Upland, Ind. Men DII/SC  
4/2 Sioux City 7s Wayne, Neb. Women  
4/2 Allegheny 7s-Nail City 7s Wheeling, WV Men DII/SC  
4/3 Maritime, Hofstra, Drew & MSU Hofstra Men DII  
4/3 Marist, Fairfield, UNH & New Paltz Hudson Valley South 7s Women DII  
4/3 Columbia, Rutgers, Fordham, Drew & MSU Montclair State Women DII  
4/3 WPU, Marist, RPI, Seton Hall, USMMA Troy, NY Men DII  
4/3 Upstate 7s TBA Women SC  
4/3 Hudson Valley North 7s UAlbany Women DII  
4/9 Allegheny 7s Cedarville, Ohio Men DII/SC  
4/9 Queens 7s Charlotte, NC Women DI/DII  
4/9 MARC 7s Dunmore, Pa. Men SC  
4/9 Southern Conference  East Carolina University Men DII  
4/9 Iron Man 7s Eau Claire, WI GMW  
4/9 Tri-State Conference 7s  Fairfield University Women DII/SC  
4/9 MARC 7s Farmville, Va. Men SC  
4/9 Chesapeake Championships Fredericksburg, Va. Men DI  
4/9 Liberty Conference Tnmnt  Hamilton, NY Men DI  
4/9 Neb-Mo. 7s Kansas City, Mo. Multiple  
4/9 Life University Marietta, Ga. NCR CRC Qualifier  
4/9 WVU 7s Morgantown, WV Men  
4/9 Battle of the Border Niagara Falls, NY Multiple  
4/9 Big 10 7s Series-Purdue Purdue U. Men DI  
4/9 Colonial Coast Smithfield, RI Men SC  
4/9 MidAmerica 7s TBA Women SC  
4/9 Ohio Valley 7s TBA Women SC  
4/9 SARC 7s TBA Women SC  
4/9 MARC 7s Temple U. Men DI/DII  
4/9 Ohio Valley 7s Championship Tiffin, Ohio Women DI  
4/9 Cal Maritime Vallejo, Calif. Men SC  
4/10 Tri-State Conference 7s  Hofstra Men DII  
4/10 Life U. 7s Marietta, Ga. Women  
4/10 Chris Munn 7s Northfield, Vt. Men DII  
4/10 Upstate 7s TBA Women DI  
4/10 EPRU 7s TBA Women SC  
4/16 Princeton 7s Princeton, NJ Women DI/DII  
4/16 MARC 7s Selinsgrove, Pa. Men SC  
4/16 Bloodfest 7s Stevens Point, WI GMW  
4/16 Great Waters 7s TBA Women SC  
4/16 Big 10 7s Series-Michigan U. Michigan Men DI  
4/17 RPI, Hofstra, Drew & Vassar Vassar Men DII  
4/23 Ivy Rugby 7s Cambridge, Mass. Men DI  
4/23 Midwest 7s Championship Cedar Falls, Iwa Women DI  
4/23 Gareth Jones 7s College Station, Texas Men/Women  
4/23 Allegheny 7s Crawfordsville, Ind. Men DII/SC  
4/23 Wildcat 7s (TBC) Evanston, IL GMW  
4/23 Three Rivers 7s Finals Grove City, Pa. Men SC  
4/23 MARC 7s Championship Lancaster, Pa. Men SC  
4/23 Southern Nazarene  Oklahoma City, Okla NCR CRC Qualifier  
4/23 Great Waters 7s Championships Oshkosh, Wisc. Women DI  
4/23 Northern Lights 7s Otsego, Minn. Men SC  
4/23 Northwest Conference 7s Finals Portland, Ore. Men SC  
4/23 MARC 7s Rowan U. Men DI/DII  
4/23 MAC Conference Tournament TBA Men DI  
4/23 Mid-America 7s TBA Women  
4/23 Southern Conference Finals  Wake Forrest University Men DII  
4/23 Gateway 7s Championship Warrensburg, Mo. Men DII  
4/24 Liberty Conference Finals Hamilton, NY Men DI  
4/24 NEWCRC Championship TBA Men DII  
4/30 New England Freejacks Boston, Mass. NCR CRC Qualifier (women)  
4/30 Allegheny Conference Championship Calrion, Pa. Men/Women  
4/30 Great Midwest 7s Cottage Grove, WI Men DII  
4/30 Great Plains 7s Des Moines, Ia. Men SC  
4/30 MARC 7s Salisbury U. Men DI/DII  
4/30 Allegheny 7s Championships South Euclid, Ohio Women DI  
4/30 Red River 7s TBA DIA  
4/30 West Point 7s West Point, NY Women DI/DII  
5/1 ACRA 7s Finals TBD Women DII ACRA  
5/14 SVSU 7s University Center, Mich. Women  
3/12-13 St. Patrick's Day Tnmnt  Savannah, Ga. Multiple  
4/23-24 Lighthouse 7s Needham, Mass. Men SC  
4/23-24 Beast of the East Tnmnt  Portsmouth, RI Men/Women  
4/23-24 Southeastern Conference TBA Multiple  
5/14-15 National Collegiate Championship 7s Kennesaw State, GA Multiple  
5/28-30 May Madness 7s New Orleans, LA Multiple