Esport MeRLCS 2027 shake-up: Epic Games launches 20-team Club Championship system
Rocket League's esports circuit scraps its old structure for 2027, handing 20 partner organisations direct LAN invites and a $1,300,000 Club Points prize pool, Esports.gg News reports.
Epic Games has replaced the long-running RLCS structure with a new Club Championship system for 2027, inviting 20 esports organisations to become official partners of the circuit, according to Esports.gg News.
The 20 partner clubs receive automatic invitations to major LAN events and compete for a dedicated $1,300,000 Club Points prize pool, spread across tournaments throughout the year.
Non-partnered rosters are not shut out entirely. Esports.gg News reports that regional open qualifiers remain part of the circuit, giving unsigned teams a route to offline events alongside the invited organisations.
The season opens with the Kick-Off event, running as regional qualification series from 4 November across four regions, before the LAN finals are held in London from 9 to 13 December. That event will crown three separate champions, covering 3v3, 1v1 and 2v2 Rocket League.
After Kick-Off, the Club League phase runs throughout 2027 across seven official regions, with winners and the highest-placed teams earning direct qualification to the season's centrepiece event, the Club Finale.
The Club Finale functions as this cycle's alternative to a World Championship, built around a Swiss stage feeding into hybrid playoff brackets, per Esports.gg News's breakdown of the format.
Scheduling detail is still incomplete. Esports.gg News lists Kick-Off qualifier windows for several regions - including 6 to 15 November and 13 to 22 November dates - while Club League dates across regions such as Asia-Pacific, Oceania and Sub-Saharan Africa remain marked as TBD.
Roster movement has been significant heading into the new season. Esports.gg News reports that NRG, Team Vitality and Karmine Corp have all undergone complete roster overhauls compared with their 2026 Split 2 line-ups.
Several of the 20 partner slots, including NRG Esports and Geekay Esports, are flagged by Esports.gg News as not yet officially confirmed, with specific player moves such as Daniel 'frosty' Walz and Dylan 'Wahvey' Thanus to NRG still described as unconfirmed rumours rather than settled transfers.
Confirmed partner organisations named in the North America and Europe groupings include Shopify Rebellion, Spacestation Gaming, Gen.G Mobil1 Racing, FUT Esports, Gentle Mates, Team Vitality, Karmine Corp, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Manchester City Esports and All Gamers Global, though final 2027 rosters for most of these clubs remain listed as TBD pending official reveals.