Current season, competition or edition: 2024 Collegiate Rugby Championship | |
Sport | Rugby sevens |
---|---|
Founded | 2010 |
First season | 2010 |
CEO | Jeremy Treece |
Organising body | National Collegiate Rugby |
No. of teams | 32 |
Country | United States |
Most recent champion(s) | Wheeling (1st title) (2024) |
Most titles | California (5 titles) |
TV partner(s) | The Rugby Network |
Official website | collegiaterugbychampionship.com usasevenscrc.com |
The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC began as the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010 to 2017, on ESPN News and ESPN3 from 2018 to 2019, The Rugby Network in 2021 and 2023, and on CBS Sports in 2022. The CRC capitalized on the surge in popularity of rugby at major universities following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics. Beginning in 2021, the tournament has been organized by National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) under license for the name and logo. Since the CRC franchise was licensed to NCR, the tournament has primarily featured comparatively smaller universities, as USA Rugby, recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the sport's National Governing Body (NGB), holds the official championship in June 2024.[1]