Collegiate Rugby Championship

The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. 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. The CRC (called Collegiate Championship Invitational in its first year, 2010) began as an independent competition run by USA Sevens, LLC, owned by American International Media LLC. It was the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010 to 2017 and on ESPN News and ESPN3 in 2018 and 2019. The CRC as it existed during this period has been called "the old CRC". Beginning in 2021, the tournament has been organized by National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) for its member schools under license for the name and logo. It was broadcast by Rugby Network in 2021 and 2023 and CBS Sports in 2022. Since the CRC franchise was licensed to NCR, the tournament has primarily featured comparatively smaller universities. USA Rugby, the older rival of NCR, conducts its separate collegiate sevens championship annually, organized by its arm, the College Rugby Association of America.