PLAYFLY COLLEGE ESPORTS 2025 - 2026 ANNOUNCEMENT

By Curtis Winger

CHANGE LOG - 3/24/2025 @ 3:30pm ET: Clarified that per-person memberships will no longer be available; added additional information about purchased memberships being specific to either Playfly College Esports and UREC, and not universal.

Hello, collegiate esports family. I hope your Spring season has been a meaningful one so far. Today, I’m excited to share the next phase of Playfly College Esports. We’re making a number of changes in order to raise the competitive bar across all of our offerings. 

In this article I’ll discuss adjustments to our overall competitive structure, membership pricing, conference services, LAN events (two per year), and I’ll highlight a few of the other benefits our members will receive.

Let’s get into it.

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COMPETITIVE STRUCTURE

Moving forward, to increase overall competitiveness across all divisions, we will be combining the Varsity and Open divisions into one central pool of participants. There will be one Premier division, that teams will continue to self-select into (assuming they meet minimum rank requirements). All other teams will be seeded into our rank-based divisional system, formerly “Plus”, based on their in-game ranks and region.

We believe this change will benefit both player bases - Our most competitive Premier participants, by increasing the field and ultimately increasing the level of competition, and our rank-based divisions, by increasing the likelihood of having more similarly ranked teams in a given region, so everyone gets the hard-fought competitive season they are looking for. 

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MEMBERSHIP AND PRICING

Alongside this consolidation, we’ll be simplifying our membership options and expanding access. Both varsity programs and student organizations/clubs will be eligible for our new, all-inclusive membership, and they’ll have equal access to all levels of competition.

A membership includes unlimited entry into competition for all supported games. Per-person memberships will no longer be available. 

Schools can select from one of two available options:

• $625 - Half Academic Year - Fall or Spring Season 
• $1,000 - One Academic Year - Fall and Spring Seasons (20% discount with the full-year commitment)

With both of the options, there is no limit on the number of teams that a school may field or the number of games they may play.

APPLY FOR A MEMBERSHIP HERE.

If costs are a challenge based on the size of your program, please reach out to us directly to discuss.

Membership is not required to participate in our partnered events, including Collegiate Chess League, India College Chess Championship, eNASCAR College iRacing Series, Honor of Kings Campus Series, and PUBG MOBILE Campus Championship.

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LAN EVENTS

Members will have access to two events per academic year, with each focusing on some of the league titles we offer. LANs will take place over several days, with each participating team guaranteed multiple matches. To be clear, non-focus titles in a given season will still have a prize pool and championship. They’ll just culminate remotely. While this is subject to change, the current split being contemplated is below:

Fall

• LAN: Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, VALORANT
• Remote: Call of Duty, Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Rainbow Six Siege 

Spring

• LAN: Call of Duty, Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Rainbow Six Siege 
• Remote: Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, VALORANT

We know time (and travel budgets) are precious, and we feel this is an effective way to increase LAN opportunities without doubling the financial resources required of our members. Additionally, travel stipends will continue to be available.

We expect to bring at least one of these LANs to our members’ campuses each year, as we truly believe their execution provides invaluable experience to the local student body. An RFP will be made available in the coming months.

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CONFERENCE SERVICES

Beginning this Fall, for an additional flat annual fee member schools may form their own conferences for one or more of our supported titles, based on existing athletics affiliations, proximity, or for any other reason. Conferences that meet minimum rank requirements will be eligible for bids into Premier playoffs.

Additionally, while we are broadly making our competitions more accessible, member schools within these self-selected conferences will have the right to set their own restrictions and/or eligibility requirements that go above and beyond those in place for the rest of the player base (e.g. all conference matches must be played in-person from a campus facility).

Key Details:

• Cost: $5,000 for hosting and league operations (for up to four supported titles)
• Additional services (streaming, brand development, etc.) are available upon request. Associated incremental fees will be applied.
• All participating schools must be Playfly College Esports members.
• Charges for conference services will be split equally between participating schools and included on their membership invoice. Charges will be in addition to membership fees.
• A minimum of six schools is required.

Example Breakdown of Costs For Six-School Conference:

• $5,000 base conference services fee, divided by six participating schools = $833.33 per school
• $1,000 membership fee + $833.33 base conference services fee = $1,833.33 per school

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OTHER RETURNING BENEFITS

• Scholarship prizing for Premier divisions (no scholarship prizing for Rank-based divisions)
• Seasonal trophies for all divisions
• Weekly streams of featured matches
• Seasonal merch drops
• Access to our proprietary marketing kit which includes templates to help grow your program/club, promote events, and increase awareness for your matches

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PLAY DAYS

Please review the following information carefully, as we have made some changes to avoid as many scheduling conflicts as possible.

• Monday: League of Legends, Marvel Rivals
• Tuesday: Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League
• Wednesday: Dota 2, Overwatch 2
• Thursday: Apex Legends, Call of Duty, VALORANT
• Friday: Counter-Strike 2, Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate
• Saturday: Fortnite, Hearthstone

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TOWN HALL

We understand that you may have questions regarding these changes. We’ll be hosting two Town Halls this Spring, on March 20th and 25th at 2:00pm ET. You can RSVP below and share your questions in advance.

RSVP FOR OUR TOWN HALLS HERE

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ROAD MAP

• Member Applications: Monday, March 17, 2025
• 2025-2026 Schedule Release: June 20, 2025
• Fall Registration: Friday, August 1, 2025

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UREC

Today we announced a new product for the collegiate esports community, an evolution of Open Plus - UREC. 

While Playfly College Esports will continue to be the home of intercollegiate competition, if you’re a college student who is just looking for an organized place to play with your friends, whether your friends attend the same school or not, UREC is for you. 

UREC is just that, an esports rec league for full-time and part-time college students. No school or club affiliation required. 

READ OUR FULL UREC ANNOUNCEMENT HERE.

Memberships do not carry-over between Playfly College Esports and UREC. A membership in one is specific to that product, and does not provide access to the other.