How To Watch The Rocket League Championship Series S9 North America & Europe: Event, Schedule, And Stream

This weekend will launch the Rocket League Championship Series S9 during which both the European and North American regionals will begin simultaneously and run over the course of February up until the start of March. For those unaware of Rocket League as an esport, the game itself combines soccer with a driving game. Played on a soccer field, each player in command of a car with which you must score. The game is simple in its format but the quality that is required to be a master of it is hard to achieve.

In the two Rocket League Championship Series’ that is set for this weekend, we will see the best of what America and Europe have to offer in Rocket League as they compete to win a share of the $313,973.60 USD that is offered in both regions, as well as gain qualification to the finals. $44,397.36 will be given to the winner but there will be plenty more prize sums available to those competing. On the flip side of this, it is also possible to get relegated which all the teams will be attempting to avoid. Let’s take a look at the Rocket League Championship Series 9 North America & Europe and see what we have in store for us.

How to qualify for the main event

Most of this participating in this event would have participated in last year’s event and would have succeeded at this level in order to maintain their position. This is because alongside the Rocket League Championship Series there is a lower division, the Rocket League Rival Series. The teams who failed to rise through the rankings last year and finished bottom failed to maintain their position and so will now be appearing in this lower league instead. The winner of the Rocket League Rival Series took their place. The teams in the upper places of the Rocket League Rival Series were then eligible for the play-offs, where the competed against the lower teams in the Rocket League Championship Series last year.

This year’s event is slightly different due to the fact that there were two more teams allowed in the Rocket League Championship Series year, bringing the total number up to 10 teams per North America and Europe. As such, there were two extra spots up for grabs this year. These final two teams in both were decided in the playoffs. As mentioned, eligibility for the playoffs were based on the two teams who qualified for the playoffs from the Rocket League Rival Series Season 8, and those who were forced to play in the playoffs due to a poor performance in the Rocket League Championship Series Season 8. The winners in these playoffs were then either promoted or regained their position for season 9.

Tournament format

Both the respective Rocket League Championship Series’ for the season have the same format. It begins with a group stage where the teams participate in a Round Robin Bo5, with points accumulated or lost by either winning or losing these matches. In the case of a tie, then there is a game differential in operation as the primary tiebreaker. Depending on where teams finish, it will reflect on whether they progress further into their respective region’s Rocket League Championship Series’ and maintain their position in the series, whether they will have to participate in the play-offs for their spot in the Rocket League Championship Series 10, or whether they will be automatically relegated to Rocket League Rival Series Season next year. This is how the spots will determine this:

• 1^st and 2^nd place go directly to the finals.
• 1^st-6^th place will go on to the Regional Championship  
• 7^th maintain their position in the next year’s Rocket League Championship Series but will not continue onto the regional championship.
• 8^th and 9^th place will have to compete in the Promotion Playoffs in order to maintain their position in the Rocket League Championship Series 10 next year.
• 10^th will automatically go down to the Rival Series.

Those who are in the top 6 places will then go on to the playoff stage which sees a Bo7 format be implemented. Here your performance in the group stage will be reflected too. This is because 5th and 6th placed in the groups will play each other first in the Lower Bracket in a Lower Round 1 Stage, hoping to qualify for the Lower Quarterfinals. While 3rd and 4th will do the same but be placed directly in the Upper Bracket Quarter Finals. Both of these are in a double-elimination bracket. The rest stands as a Single Elimination Bracket to determine seedings.

The top teams will then be already in two separate semi-finals, lower and upper. With the winners of the lower quarter-finals playing the top team in the group stage, while the winner of the upper quarter plays against the second spot in the groups. The winners of these will then qualify for the Grand finale, while the 3^rd place is determined via League Play tiebreakers. The Grand Finale winner will then be crowned regional Champion and win the top prize of $44,397.36. The rest of the prize pool will be subsequently be distributed thus,

 2^nd – $39,397.36               

 3^rd– $32,397.36 

 4^th– $32,397.36   

5^th – $30,397.36 

6^th – $29,397.36 

7^th – $26,397.36 

8^th – $26,397.36 

9^th -$26,397.36  

10^th – $26,397.36              

List of Teams

Rocket League Championship Series America Teams:

• eUnited
• Ghost Gaming
• NRG Esports
• Pittsburgh Knights
• Rogue
• Spacestation Gaming
• Susqueshanna Soniqs
• Flight
• G2 Esports
• Cloud 9

Rocket League Championship Series Europe Teams:

• FC Barcelona
• Dignitas
• Mousesports
• Team Reciprocity
• Renault Vitality
• Veloce Esports
• As Monaco Esports
• Endpoint
• Team SoloMid
• Team Singularity

Schedule List

Group Stage – February 1st – March 21^st

Regional Championship – March 28^th

Streaming Platform List

Streams for the matches can be found on either Twitch or YouTube. However, as there are two respective leagues from two countries and with numerous matches happening per event day, you will be hard pushed to catch all the group stage matches live. This should be less of an issue when the Regional Championships begin though. As such, your best bet would be to select the games you definitely want to watch and then search out these in particular. Online sports betting sites are a good option for this as you can usually watch the sports you also bet on specifically.

Streaming on esportsguide.com

One of the best sites for watching the game. The perfect guide for users that are new or already into esports. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.

• Watch the Rocket League Championship Series S9 North America here
• Watch the Rocket League Championship Series S9 Europe here

Predictions

With so much quality in the two regional series,’ it will tough to call an outright winner in either because as previous seasons have shown, those on paper as the best can sometimes struggle in the season. Notably, G2 Esports, who is considered one of the best teams in the Rocket League struggled in the North America league last year and had to compete in the playoffs, while NRG Esports stormed home last year to victory. It could be that NRG Esports retain their title but it is still very early to know for sure. In Europe regional, it is even tough as Europe Number 1, PSG, aren’t competing which means that series is particularly open for anyone to claim a top spot. With a grueling list of fixtures in both leagues, this competition is all about longitude and it won’t be until the group stages are over that we really know who is going to be in with the chance to win it outright.