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CIF ESPORTS INITIATIVE
CIF ESPORTS INITIATIVE
CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) Esports provides the official California state esports experience for CIF-member high schools only.
CIF Esports provides the opportunity for high school teams to compete for the California State Esports Championship title and bring state recognition to your campus!
The CIF Esports Initiative is partnered with NASEF and requires a registration fee for each school site (unlimited players)
Click to Learn More about CIF Esports
Non-CIF Member high schools or middle schools can still compete in esports through SBCSS Esports and our trusted partner, PlayVS.
Message from CIF Esports Initiative
Regarding 2027 Season
Esports Coaches, School Administrators and Athletic Directors-
The landscape has shifted in the last 6-8 months throughout the esports ecosystem. The free or low-cost infrastructure we've relied on for the past 6 years is no longer available to meet the needs and scale of the CIF Esports Initiative. Our goal is to maintain stability, cost effectiveness, and a high level of support for a quality season for all our CIF member schools to participate in esports.
After extensive research and discussion with our partners at NASEF, we've selected Fenworks as our platform partner for 2027 & 2028. Fenworks was built by state leaders, for state and scholastic leagues, and is partnered with numerous state associations as well as NACE for collegiate esports. It's a platform that has been developed and built with coaches and students in mind.
We chose Fenworks for numerous reasons, but mostly because it will allow us to support the league and all its nuances. We will have greater ownership and control over the platform and to predict costs of the league in the coming years. The updated fee of $200 per school for the 2027 CIF Esports Initiative League is significantly lower than the other options on the market.
For our 2027 season (Starts in January), we will be opening registration on October 5th. Teams will have until Friday, December 18th to register all their teams. Fees for this season will be $200 per school. There are of course challenges associated with moving into a new platform, but NASEF/Fenworks are ready to support our teams, our coaches, and our players.
Keep an eye out for an email inviting you to one of our two onboarding calls for this upcoming season, Wednesday, October 21 and December 14 from 4:30 – 5:30 PM.
We will continue to provide updates and information as it is available, including the start of registration. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to James Wood (NASEF) at james@nasef.org, or Chris Fahey (CIF) at cfahey@cifstate.org.
Thank you,
The CIF Esports Initiative
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