College esports in the United States

College esports in the United States began around 2009. Various schools began forming esports clubs to play any number of video games in collegiate tournaments. While there are thousands of schools that participate in collegiate esports competitions, in 2018, there were at least 73 college varsity esports programs, and by 2019 over 130 college varsity programs.[1] College esports is often viewed as a starting path for gamers that aspire to go professional. Although popular, companies are finding it hard to monetize collegiate esports, especially with the recent Covid-19 situation. On December 9, 2020, North American collegiate partner of Activision-Blizzard’s esports system, Tespa announced that it is closing down. [2]

An esports arena at an American university.

Riot Games Collegiate League of Legends

In 2016, the NACC became the University League of Legends (uLoL) Campus Series, run by CSL, after IvyLoL and NACL stopped functioning and many of their staff were hired as Riot Games employees to orchestrate their collegiate activities.[3][4][5] In the Fall of 2017, Riot Games announced that it would rebrand again as College League of Legends and switch official partners from CSL to Battlefy.[6] In May 2019, Riot Games announced the formation of the Riot Scholastic Association of America (RSAA) as the governing body for collegiate and high school esports for League of Legends.[7]

Esports Collegiate Conference

A conference created on June 10th, 2020 by member institutions of the Mid-American Conference.[8]

PlayVS

PlayVS was founded in 2018 and started as a high school esports platform. In January 2020, PlayVS announced they were expanding to the collegiate scene by offering Fortnite. [9]

List of colleges and universities with esports teams
Colleges and universities with esports teams
School Location
University of Colorado: Boulder[10] Colorado
Albright College[11] Pennsylvania
Ashland University Ohio
Arcadia University Pennsylvania
Averett University Virginia
Ball State University Indiana
Becker College Massachusetts
Bellevue University Nebraska
Benedictine University at Mesa Arizona
Bemidji State University Minnesota
Boise State University Idaho
Bowling Green State University[12] Ohio
Brescia University Kentucky
Bryant & Stratton College Virginia
Campbellsville University Kentucky
Central Methodist University Missouri
Centralia College Washington
Cincinnati Christian University Ohio
Coker College South Carolina
College of St. Joseph Vermont
Columbia College Missouri
Concordia University (Nebraska) Nebraska
Concordia University (Texas) Texas
Cottey College Missouri
Culver-Stockton College Missouri
Daemen College New York
Defiance College Ohio
DeSales University Pennsylvania
Dickinson State University North Dakota
DigiPen Institute of Technology Washington
Eastern Michigan University Michigan
ECPI University Virginia
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Arizona
Fairfield University Connecticut
Ferris State University Michigan
Full Sail University Florida
Fontbonne University Missouri
Florida Southern College Florida
Florida State University Florida
Georgia Southern University Georgia
Georgia State University Georgia
Grand View University Iowa
Harrisburg University Pennsylvania
Hawkeye Community College Iowa
Henderson State University Arkansas
Illinois College Illinois
Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois
Indiana Institute of Technology Indiana
Kansas Wesleyan University Kansas
Kent State University Ohio
King University Tennessee
Kutztown University Pennsylvania
Lackawanna College Pennsylvania
Lambton College Ontario
Lebanon Valley College Pennsylvania
Lees-McRae College North Carolina
Lourdes University Ohio
Marietta College Ohio
Maryville University Missouri
McPherson College Kansas
Menlo College California
Miami University Ohio
Midland University Nebraska
Missouri Baptist University Missouri
Monroe College[13] New York
Morningside College Iowa
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology New Mexico
Niagara University New York
University of North Alabama Alabama
Northeastern University Massachusetts
Northern Essex Community College Massachusetts
Northern Virginia Community College Virginia
Northwest Christian University Oregon
Northwood University Michigan
Oakland University Michigan
Oregon Institute of Technology Oregon
Pratt Community College Kansas
Principia College Illinois
Randolph-Macon College Virginia
Robert Morris University Illinois Illinois
Robert Morris University Pennsylvania
Schreiner University Texas
St. Louis College of Pharmacy Missouri
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology South Dakota
Southern Virginia University Virginia[14]
Southwestern College Kansas
Southwest Baptist University Missouri
St. Ambrose University Iowa
St. Clair College Ontario
St. John's University (New York City) New York
St. Mary's University San Antonio, Texas
St. Thomas Aquinas College New York
St. Thomas University Miami Gardens, Florida
Stephens College Missouri
Stevenson University Maryland
SUNY Canton New York
Tennessee Technological University Tennessee
United States Air Force Academy Colorado
University of Texas Dallas Texas
Texas Wesleyan University Texas
Tiffin University Ohio
Trine University Indiana
University at Buffalo New York
University of Akron Ohio
University of Arizona Arizona
University of California-Berkeley California
University of California-Irvine California
University of Central Oklahoma Oklahoma
University of Jamestown North Dakota
University of Missouri Missouri
University of New Haven Connecticut
University of New Mexico New Mexico
University of North Dakota North Dakota
University of North Texas Texas
University of Pikeville Kentucky
University of Providence Montana
University of Oregon Oregon
University of Oklahoma Oklahoma
University of Southern California California
University of South Carolina-Sumter South Carolina
University of Utah Utah
West Virginia Wesleyan College West Virginia
Western Kentucky University Kentucky
Yavapai College Arizona

References
  1. "List of varsity esports programs spans North America". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  2. https://www.esportstalk.com/news/tespa-blizzards-collegiate-partner-is-closing-down/
  3. "uLoL Campus Series - North America's League of Legends Collegiate League". dotesports.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  4. "UCI announced LoL scholarship". polygon.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  5. "Collegiate Starleague partners with Riot to run uLoL Campus Series Tournament". esportsobserver.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  6. "Riot Games announces new partnership, format for College Season". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  7. "Riot Games establishes governing body for college, high school programs". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  8. "Dozen MAC schools create separate conference for esports". RoyalOakTribune.com. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  9. https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/22/playvs-brings-fortnite-to-high-school-and-college-esports-tournaments. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. "ATLAS Student Groups:CU Gaming Club". http://tam.colorado.edu/. December 1, 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2020. External link in |website= (help)
  11. "eSports to be added as Albright varsity sport". Albright College. October 1, 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  12. "Esports". Bowling Green State University. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  13. "Monroe College Announces Addition of Esports to Mustangs Athletic Program". Monroe College Athletics. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  14. https://esports.svu.edu/
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