The RSAA Announces 2020 Collegiate LoL Season

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Courtesy Riot Games

The RSAA announced the 2020 collegiate LoL season and changes made to adapt to last year’s competition.

The basic structure of the 2020 season is similar to last year’s format with teams competing in the Swiss Tournament style, playing six games over a six week period. Competition is divided by cardinal regions with teams that carry a record of 6-0 or 5-1 moving into playoffs. 

Each region’s playoffs lead to a conference championship, with the top-performing teams from each conference entering the College Championship—a 32-school tournament bracket. At the end of the season, the top eight teams in the series will play in the College Championship finals to fight for the title.

Partner conferences like the Big Ten Conference will have their own tournament rules and scheduling, but are still eligible to win Riot prizes.

Prizing for the 2020 season has changed from last year’s system with scholarship money being awarded according to College Championship performance rather than regional conference performance. The amount of scholarship funds given is determined by placement and by the number of players and staff a team has. First place nets the winning team $10,000 per player and $5,000 per sub and staff. 

It’s important to note that with this change, the amount of money directly awarded by Riot to high place finishers is higher than in previous seasons, but the total prize pool is actually smaller. According to Riot’s statement on the change, since 2014 they have invested more than $3,900,000 into scholarship funding for students. As the college LoL scene was being built, Riot directly provided for all conference partner scholarships—a model that couldn’t reasonably be maintained as hundreds of new schools entered the scene. Riot also cites the increasing level of school provided funding—in 2020 alone schools have invested more than $4,500,000—as a reason to reconsider the impact of their individual funding. 

Since scholarship winnings are only available to the teams that make it out of their conference playoffs, teams that are eliminated early on can compete throughout the season in the Teemo Cup for RP prizes. 

Significant changes were also made to roster sizes with the limit increasing from 6 to 10 players. This both gives schools with smaller esports programs a reason to expand and lets the schools that have already invested in creating deeper talent pools utilize their resources. 

Teams that want a chance to prove their stuff can register their schools on the college LoL website. Registration is available for the entire month of November, and the requirements for entry are the following: information on at least five players, your school’s name, a team logo, and fulfillment of eligibility forms. 

The regional regular season begins Jan. 20, and ends the first of March. March 2 through March 29 are the regional playoffs. College Championship dates are yet to be announced. Eliminated teams can start playing in the Teemo Cup from March 9 until April 12. 

Final news on rule sets and more detailed will drop on Nov. 1, so be sure to stay tuned for follow up information.

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