How the College Pickleball Point System Works:

The College Pickleball Tour is launching a points-based ranking system for the 2026-27 season. Points determine 16 of the 64 bids awarded to The Nationals. The bigger the tournament and the deeper your run, the more points your school earns.

• Only your school's top 5 tournament performances by points count.
• Only your school's top 5 dual match performances by points count.
  
  • These categories are tracked separately. Dual match points do not count as tournament performances.
• Multiple teams from the same school can gain points at the same tournament (2nd team, 3rd team, etc.)

Tournament Point Tiers:

Each tournament is assigned one of four tiers (100/200/300/400) based on the number of participating teams. The tier number equals the maximum points the winner can earn.

Bid Distribution:

Of the 64 total bids to The Nationals, 16 are awarded based on the points leaderboard. These bids are handed out across four weekly cutoffs in March 2027:

• March 8, 2027: 4 bids awarded
• March 15, 2027: 4 bids awarded
• March 22, 2027: 4 bids awarded
• March 29, 2027: 4 bids awarded

The Nationals take place April 8-11, 2027.

At each cutoff, bids go to the schools with the most points that do not yet hold a bid.

‍Tiebreaker Rules:

If two schools are tied on total points, the tiebreaker works as follows:

• The bid goes to the school with the higher score from their single best event.
• If still tied, compare the second-best event, then the third, and so on.

Dual Matches and Points:

Dual matches are being upgraded so that they also earn points for your school! Only your top 5 dual match results per season apply, and dual match points are tracked separately from tournament points.

Dual Match Rules:

• Can only play a particular school once in a semester
  
  • You can do more, it just won’t count for points for either team
• Can gain up to 20 points from playing a school in a semester
  
  • Get 10 points from one team beating another team (Ex. 1st team beats the other 1st team)
  • We only count the top two teams playing each other
  • A maximum of 20 points are given out at a dual match. Each school could gain 10 points if one team wins the 1st team matchup and the other team wins the 2nd team matchup.
• Your 5 best dual matches are counted in a season, which means a max of 100 points you can gain each season from dual matches
• The fall semester is from August 1st to December 31st 2027, and the spring semester is from January 1st to March 28th 2027
• The home team records the dual match results in their DUPR Digital Club. They will also submit the scores to DUPR to be counted towards the leaderboard. If time is of the essence (late March), both teams should verify with DUPR that the scores have been submitted and received.
• Showcase dual matches at PPA events are worth 20 points for the 1st team matchup.

‍Season Points Champion Reward:

By March 29th, 2027, the school with the highest point total will receive free registration for all of their teams to The Nationals! 

• Only a school’s top 5 tournament performances and top 5 dual match performances in a season will count towards their points total
• This reward includes registrations for the challenger bracket and singles as well

Updated Tournament System:

With the new point system, we have updated our tournament structure to provide a more cohesive experience. Read more below to see the new changes and terminology! 

Guaranteed Bids at Tournaments:

16 bids will be given out on the basis of points. The remaining 48 bids not given out by points will be guaranteed bids given out at 27 different tournaments in the 2026-27 season.

Pathway Event Types: 

College World Championship

• 6 guaranteed bids awarded to top U.S. teams
• Guaranteed Tier 400 tournament
• Run by the College Pickleball Tour

Super Regionals (8 total)

• 3 guaranteed bids per Super Regional
• Minimum Tier 300, can upgrade to Tier 400 with enough teams
• Run by the College Pickleball Tour

Regionals (18 total)

• 1 guaranteed bid per Regional
• 100/200/300/400 point tournaments team count
• Run by Community Organizers

Point Tournaments

• 0 guaranteed bids, points only
• No limit on the number of point tournaments per season
• Run by Community Organizers

What Happened to Campus Regionals?

Campus Regionals have been upgraded into Regionals and Point Tournaments! With high demand from organizers wanting to run a Campus Regional, we changed how they work to allow college pickleball to keep growing.

There are a finite number of bids to The Nationals (64 total), so we could only approve so many Campus Regionals in the old system without overpromising available bids. Introducing a point system opens up far more tournaments to be pathway events to The Nationals!

Tournament Naming Convention:

Every CPT tournament has a three-part official title:

• Tournament name
• Designation: Super Regional, Regional, or nothing
• Point tier: 100, 200, 300, or 400

Examples:

• University of Alabama Regional 200: Regional designation, Tier 200
• Boston Pickleball 100: No designation (points only), Tier 100

How to Run a Point Tournament or Regional:

Here is the link to the application to run a Point Tournament in the 2026-27 season. Before submitting the application, please read through the entire College Pickleball Tour organizer agreement! With this new system, we have room for an unlimited number of point tournaments, so this is a great way to establish your organization as a part of the College Pickleball Tour!

Pathway Fees

Organizers keep 100% of registration revenue and can bring in their own sponsors. The College Pickleball Tour charges a pathway fee based on tier:

• 100 point tournament: $250
• 200 point tournament: $500
• 300 point tournament: $750
• 400 point tournament: $1000

If you want your tournament to be a Regional, it will be an additional $250 on top of the pathway fee if you are approved to run a Regional. Only a select few tournaments will be chosen to be Regional.

If you would like to pay a lower per-year fee and establish a long-term partnership with the College Pickleball Tour to run a pathway event for multiple years, contact us at college@mydupr.com 

Geographic Protection:

Each tournament tier will have a certain amount of driving distance protection from other CPT tournaments that same weekend.

• 100 point tournament: 4 hours
• 200 point tournament: 6 hours
• 300 point tournament: 8 hours
• 400 point tournament: 10 hours

‍Key Organizer Requirements:

• All tournaments must follow the official CPT format. You can run other events alongside the CPT tournament.
• All Point Tournaments must use Pickleball.com as the tournament management platform. Ball choice is up to you.
• After the event, submit all scores and player results to DUPR to update power rankings and the leaderboard.
• First-time organizers (no prior Campus Regional history) must start with a 100 or 200 point event.
• You are expected to hit the minimum teams for your registered tier. If you do not, you will have to run a successful tournament at the next lowest tier before you can apply to run the higher tier tournament again. 
• For 200, 300, and 400 point tournaments, if you are more than 2 teams short of the minimum, the tournament will be demoted to the next lower tier. For 100 point tournaments, all points will be voided if you are below 8 teams.

These are the main rules, please read the College Pickleball Tour organizer agreement for the full rules around running a Regional or Point Tournament.