The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) 2025 Birmingham Major has seen quite a dip in viewership compared to last year’s events. The tournament, which ran from March 27th to 30th at the BP Pulse LIVE venue in Birmingham, just didn’t pull in the same crowds despite some fantastic gameplay.
Esports Charts data shows the Birmingham Major topped out at 287,987 viewers at its peak. That’s way down from last year’s Copenhagen Major, which reached 435,503 viewers – a drop of over 147,000 fans.
The event also recorded fewer watch hours (4.1 million vs last year’s 4.9 million) and lower average viewership (121,687 compared to 159,854), even though it ran for a slightly longer 33 hours.
French esports powerhouse Karmine Corp took home the trophy, beating out 15 other teams competing for the $351,000 prize pool. Their Grand Final match against North American team The Ultimates was the most-watched contest of the tournament.
Karmine Corp was clearly the fan favorite throughout the event, racking up an impressive 1 million watch hours across their matches. The Ultimates weren’t far behind with 896,200 watch hours, followed by FURIA (849,500), NRG (771,600), and Team Vitality (751,400).
What’s interesting is how consistent the viewership was across the top matches. The second most-watched series between FURIA and Karmine Corp drew 272,949 peak viewers, while even the fifth most popular match between Team Falcons and Geekay Esports still attracted a solid 213,213 viewers.
Despite the viewership decline, Birmingham still ranks as the 8th most-watched event in RLCS history. The all-time record holder remains the 2022-23 World Championship with 468,292 peak viewers, with the 2024 Copenhagen Major sitting in second place.
Several factors might explain the lower numbers, including changes to the 2025 season format. This year features only two Majors plus the World Championship instead of the previous three global LAN events. Some fans have also criticized recent rule changes like lowering the minimum player age from 15 to 13 and adjustments to the prize pool distribution.
The RLCS now looks ahead to the Raleigh Major, coming up June 26th to 29th in North Carolina. Like Birmingham, 16 teams will qualify based on their regional rankings as they continue collecting points toward the season Championship.
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