01/08/26 – KHSAA/PlayVS Esports Spring 2026 Enrollment & Schedule Information

January 8, 2026 Athletic Department Blog Updates

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Below is information regarding enrollment and schedule information for our Spring ’26 Esports Season.  Note that participation in Street Fighter 6 in its inaugural season was low.  We need to increase participation to maintain our state league status. 

League of Legends enrollment is also open. As enrollment draws to a close, we will evaluate whether it remains in the Central League or can be reinstated to the State League.

Here are important dates for the Spring ’26 season:

• Spring ’26 Enrollment opened 10/6/2025
• The enrollment deadline for all state leagues is 2/6/2026 11:59 PM League Time
• Preseason:  Weeks of 1/26/26 & 2/2/226
• Regular Season: Weeks of 2/9/26 – 3/30/26
• Playoffs:  Weeks of 4/6/26 – 4/13/26 (see important information at the end of this post)
• Spring In-Person Championships: Thursday, April 23

Match Times (4:00 PM CT / 5:00 PM ET)*

• Mondays: Practice Day!
  • Global Practice Day Scrimmage Queue is open for all titles from 3 PM –  PM – 10:00 PM ET
  • Coaches and players will receive in-app notifications, and coaches will be able to join the practice queue.
  • Chess Solos (recreational league only)
  • Heathstone Solos (Eastern/Central Regional Leagues only)
  • Pokemon UNITE (Eastern/Central Regional Leagues only)
• Tuesdays:
  • League of Legends (enrollment open and evaluating Spring State League Interest, otherwise would fall again to the Central Regional League)
  • Splatoon™ 3
  • Street Fighter 6 (enrollment open and evaluating Spring State League Interest, otherwise we may have to move to the Central Regional League)
• Wednesdays:
  • Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate
• Thursdays:
  • Rocket League
  • Madden 26
  • Mario Kart™ 8 Deluxe

Note:  If two Eastern Time Zone schools want to play at 4 p.m. ET instead of 5:00 p.m. ET, they can reschedule their match five days in advance to play at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Reminder:  There can be no Esports matches/practices before 4:00 PM CT / 5:00 PM ET for schools on the Kentucky Department of Education’s K-12 Network.

~Important Playoff Information

The playoff weeks will potentially overlap with Spring Break Weeks this season.  Depending on the bracket, schools will have a 48-hour window to reschedule before the next round begins, or, if our KHSAA State Leagues do not have enough participation to have a 64-team bracket, we can potentially start playoffs the following week without conflicting with their Spring Breaks.

Schools need to be aware of their Spring Break dates ahead of time and to plan accordingly if they do qualify for playoffs.  Plans would include making preparations ahead of time to compete remotely (i.e., playing from home) or coordinating with school administrators to compete from school during that week.

Here is the complete playoff breakdown:

Day	Date	Title	Bracket
Monday	4/6/2026	TBD	Top 64
Tuesday	4/7/2026	TBD	Top 64
Wednesday	4/8/2026	TBD	Top 32
Thursday	4/9/2026	TBD	Top 32
Friday	4/10/2026	TBD	Top 16
Monday	4/13/2026	TBD	Top 16
Tuesday	4/14/2026	TBD	Top 8
Wednesday	4/15/2-26	TBD	Top 8
Thursday	4/16/2026	TBD	Top 4
Friday	4/17/2026	TBD	Top 4

For planning, this was the breakdown of this past season’s playoff brackets based on Fall enrollment:

• Kentucky KHSAA Madden NFL 26:  32-team bracket
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 32-team bracket
• Rocket League: 16-team bracket
• Splatoon 3: 8-team bracket
• Street Fighter 6: 4-team bracket
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 64-team bracket

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