Playfly Sports Partners with CSMG, Adds College Esports’ Tournament of Champions to May Madness Weekend
May 2025 event set to take place at Esports Stadium Arlington (Arlington, Texas).
BERWYN, PA. (August 22, 2024) – Playfly College Esports, the newly rebranded and fully owned and operated college esports community from Playfly Sports, the Fan Focused and Data Driven leader in sports media, marketing, and technology, today announced a partnership with Collegiate Sports Management Group (CSMG) to host its Tournament of Champions (TOC) at the CSMG-owned 2025 Collegiate Esports Commissioners Cup (CECC).
The event, commonly known as “May Madness” takes place in May at Esports Stadium Arlington (Arlington, Texas) and is the largest in person scholastic esports event in North America, delivering over 4 million viewers and 4,100 attendees in 2024. 2025 will be the 5th year CSMG has held CECC and awarded collegiate championships across Overwatch 2, Super Smash Bros. TM Ultimate, Rocket League and VALORANT.
“We are excited that this alignment has come together as we’ve been circling this opportunity for some time,” said Charles O’Donnell, Head of Esports at Playfly. “With the rebrand from NACE Starleague to Playfly College Esports this year, the timing made a lot of sense.”
“Starting this Fall, programs participating in Playfly College Esports’ Premier competitions for Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros.TM Ultimate and VALORANT will be able to qualify for CECC bids,” continued O’Donnell. “This gives programs additional opportunities for in-person competition, scholarship prizing and hardware for their trophy cases.”
CSMG’s Head of Esports, Angela Bernhard Thomas, was thrilled to welcome Playfly’s competitors, saying “CECC is the crown jewel of the collegiate esports calendar and expanding the field to include qualifying teams from Playfly Sports will only increase the level of competition and the excitement of May Madness”
In addition to the CECC bids, the Playfly College Esports’ Tournament of Champions event will feature winners and runners up from the Fall and Spring seasons of both Varsity Premier and Open Premier Divisions across eight titles: Call of Duty, Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Overwatch 2, Rainbow Six: Siege, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros.TM Ultimate, and VALORANT. The competition will take place over four days and two distinct stages: a “GSL” double elimination Groups stage and a single elimination Playoffs stage.
In the partnership, CSMG will provide Playfly with broadcast and event operations support. The Tournament of Champions will be streamed live at www.twitch.tv/playflygg. Both sides will work to integrate sponsors that are looking for meaningful touchpoints with GenZ to promote brand awareness and affinity.
“CSMG is delighted to welcome Playfly into the CECC community. As the owner and operator of CECC we are committed to continuing to grow the scholastic gaming community” said Mike Schreck, CEO of CSMG. “This partnership provides an opportunity for more schools across North America to participate at CECC - the ultimate championship destination for the best collegiate gamers across the continent.”
“I’d like to personally thank Angela [Bernhard Thomas], Mike [Schreck], Kyler [Tandel], and Chris [Postell] from CSMG for their collaboration on this project,” added O’Donnell. “We believe that this is a first step in a long meaningful partnership.”
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ABOUT PLAYFLY SPORTS
Playfly Sports is a sports media, marketing and technology business centered around the team, league, brand, and network. Believing in ‘Fandom as a Service’ and focusing on a consultative, data driven approach to REACH, ENGAGE, MONETIZE AND MEASURE FANDOM gives the company’s partners and brands a competitive advantage. Playfly connects more than 2,000 brand partners with approximately 85% of all U.S. sports fans. Through the proprietary platform the business delivers scalable, data-oriented marketing, technology, and media solutions with capabilities including exclusive MMR management, sponsorship sales and activation, streaming, consulting, ticket/premium sales, all along with new revenue-driving platforms and technologies. Founded in September of 2020, Playfly Sports is now home to approximately 1,000 team members located across 43 U.S. states dedicated to maximizing the impact of highly passionate local sports fans. Follow Playfly Sports on social media @PlayflySports or visit www.playfly.com, and for more on esports follow @PlayflyGG on social media or visit playflycollege.gg.
ABOUT CSMG
CSMG is an integrated sports and entertainment media company focused on esports and traditional sports in the new creator economy. We are an experienced, trusted results-driven team with a lens on what's next. The focus of our business verticals - CSMG and ESPORTSU - is rooted in intellectual property rights management, acquisition, and development through media rights, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), valuation services, licensing, and sponsorship sales. We offer expertise in developing communities through brand building, original content, and event production & management. We drive our partners' success at the crossroads of tech, sports, entertainment, and video games. To learn more, visit us at https://collegiatesmg.com/.
