RLCS Boston Major 2026 preview: teams, format, schedule and more

The RLCS Boston Major kicks off on February 19th with the Group Stage, before wrapping up with the Grand Finals on February 22nd, 2026.

The major will take place at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts, US, with teams competing in front of a live crowd on the final two days of the event. The RLCS makes its long-awaited return to Boston after two years, last holding a tournament in the region during the 2022-2023 Spring Split Major.

The tournament will once again be hosted and produced by BLAST, an esports organiser known for hosting international events for other competitive titles. In 2024, BLAST secured a multi-year partnership deal with the racing games owner, Epic Games.

Fans will watch 16 teams go head-to-head in the RLCS Boston Major. Teams from across the regions will gather in the Agganis Arena, featuring organisations from Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East and North Africa, Oceania, Asia Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

14 organisations qualified directly through the regional rankings, which are shaped by points earned through the three RLCS Boston Major Open Cups held in each region. Teams climb the leaderboards by securing as many points as possible, earning more the higher a roster places in each Open.

However, there are some exceptions for the RLCS Boston Major. Geekay Esports qualified by sharing the same score as Man City Esports on the EU leaderboards. The former eventually won 4-2 against the rival team in the region’s tiebreaker.

French organisation Karmine Corp also qualified for the major after winning the RLCS Kick-Off Weekend, the first LAN of the 2026 season.

Some major organisations have also entered the competition after signing teams that already qualified for the event. Virtus.pro recently announced that it has signed the trio of Rocket League players that previously represented REDACTED. The same is true for TSM after acquiring the Project Delacruz roster.

These are all the teams competing in the event:

There are several top teams worth keeping an eye on throughout the tournament. Mainly, the spotlight will be on NRG as the winners of the RLCS 2025 World Championships, with many fans wondering if the team can record another historic run in 2026.

However, the major could also sway towards the underdogs. Five Fears entered the Rocket League esports scene last November after signing the no name team roster, and went on to win two of the three SSA Boston Major Opens. Undoubtedly, though, the early favourites will be Karmine Corp, as the winner of RLCS’ last LAN event.

The RLCS Boston Major will unfold across two stages, the Group Stage and the Playoffs, before deciding a victor in the Grand Finals.

The Group Stage is scheduled to take place behind closed doors from February 19th (4PM GMT) to 20th. 16 teams are split into groups of four, with each group competing in a single round-robin format. All matches be best-of-five, and the stage will conclude once all teams play three games each.

These are the groups that will kickstart the RLCS Boston Major:

The top-performing team of each group will then be seeded into the Upper Brackets of the Playoffs. The runner-ups will advance to the Lower Brackets, while the rest are eliminated from the RLCS Boston Major.

The Playoffs will run from February 21st (4PM GMT) to 22nd (10PM GMT), 2026, and teams will compete in front of a live audience in the arena. The second stage of the major features best-of-seven matches and the AFL Final Eight System. This system gives the top four teams from the Group Stage a second chance if they lose early, while teams ranked fifth to eighth are eliminated after one loss.

For fans who were unable to acquire tickets to the RLCS Boston Major 2026, the matches will be broadcast live throughout the event.

Fans can tune into the RLCS Boston Major through the official Rocket League Esports YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch channels. Additionally, viewers can earn Twitch Drops and Tik Tok rewards, which include Player Titles, Wheels, Decals, and more.

The RLCS Boston Major features a $345,000 (~£250,570) prize pool, the highest offered in the 2026 season so far. This will be distributed based on a teams placement by the end of the tournament. Each team will also earn RLCS circuit points for participating in the tournament, with 30 points offered to the best-performing team. These points play a significant part in qualification for the RLCS World Championship later in the year.

Here is how the prize pool and points will be split:

Once the tournament concludes, teams will once again compete across multiple regional Opens to reach the Paris Major in May, 2026. Each win brings a team one step closer to reaching the RLCS World Championship, where a team can cement itself in Rocket League esports history as the champions of 2026.