Figuring Out the College 7s Landscape
Figuring Out the College 7s Landscape
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 |