Collegiate Rugby Championship
Current season, competition or edition: 2016 Collegiate Rugby Championship
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| Sport | Rugby sevens |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2010 |
| Inaugural season | 2010 |
| CEO | Jon Prusmack |
| No. of teams | 20 |
| Country | United States |
| Most recent champion(s) |
California (2016) (4th title) |
| Most titles | California (4 titles) |
| TV partner(s) | NBC and NBC Sports Network |
| Official website | usasevenscrc |
The Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC), is a college rugby sevens tournament held every June at PPL Park in Philadelphia. The CRC is the highest profile college rugby competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC every year. The CRC has capitalized on the surge in popularity of rugby following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby to the Summer Olympics.
The Collegiate Rugby Championship has succeeded in drawing media attention. NBC recognized that rugby is growing in popularity, participation and interest, and NBC's broadcast of the inaugural 2010 CRC was the first time college rugby had been broadcast live on network TV in the US. NBC Sports Programming President, Jon Miller, described NBC's support of the Collegiate Rugby Championship, "We're hoping to see continued growth in the ratings and the attendance. We like the sport a lot, and we've given it a great time period and a real plumb position on our schedule." The CRC has posted respectable TV ratings, with the TV audience for the CRC larger than that of the NCAA lacrosse championships.
Due in part to the exposure from NBC's broadcasts, the tournament has attracted several blue chip corporate sponsors, including Geico, Subway, Toyota and Bud Light. The CRC is popular with fans, with over 17,000 fans turning out to watch the 2011 tournament, and over 18,000 fans in attendance at the 2012 tournament. This was further increased by a twenty-two percent increase in attendance from 2014 to 2015 totaling 24,813 and an even further increase in 2016 to a total attendance of 27,224. In September 2014, Penn Mutual life insurance company announced a multi-year title sponsorship of the annual championship, which is now titled the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship.
The first day of the two-day tournament features 20 teams divided into 5 pools of 4 teams, with the top team in each group advancing to the quarterfinals, along with the three best second-placed teams. The second day of the tournament is knockout play, featuring the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
The majority of the participating teams are invited to the tournament based on the quality of the school's rugby program and on the school's fan appeal. Certain teams also qualify by winning their conference 7s tournament.
The inaugural 2010 Collegiate Rugby Championship, at the time known as the Collegiate Championship Invitational (CCI), was held in Columbus, Ohio, at the Columbus Crew Stadium. Utah defeated Cal 31–26 in overtime in a thrilling final. Bowling Green's Rocco Mauer led the tournament with 11 tries and was named tournament MVP by Rugby Mag.
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