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Collegiate Esports is expanding throughout the world as hundreds of colleges are now introducing this new athletic. It first started in 2014 at Robert Morris University in Illinois. They were the first college to introduce a formal esports program and soon many colleges followed in their footsteps.

In 2019, more than 100 colleges across the nation could be found to have a formal esports program. Within the past year, that number has grew up to 200 and recently Uni Esports Group has directly helped 50 schools start their esports program.

As these colleges add esports to their list of sports, scholarships come with it. The amount of money has increased significantly. From the 2015-2016 academic year, a total of 2.5 million dollars had been given out as scholarships to college students. Moving to 2019, that number is up 600% and is a total of 15 million dollars.

As an entire industry, Esports has a projected total of 29.6 million viewers in 2022. This number is predicted to increase in the future. This statistic will help colleges give more money back to students through scholarships, new equipment, or jumpstart new programs.

Currently, there is not a major college organization like the NCAA that is organizing competitions, but the Esports scene is traveling the nation. Many colleges are starting to create Varsity teams but must compete through different organizations such as NECC or GG leagues. Colleges have started hiring full time coaches and established arenas for these players. In the college’s eyes, Esports is seen as legitimate as the football team.

While the NCAA is lacking on the Esports wagon, many new organizations are here to take its place. NACE (National Association of Collegiate Esports) was created to fill the void of the alternative NCAA. NACE started off as a six-team organization, but immediately within a year, NACE had grown to a total of 42 teams. Meetings have been held by the NCAA discussing the matters and have not come to a decision, but by the time they do, it could be too late.

Competitive gaming on campus is not new to many, as companies like the Collegiate Starleague and Tespa would organize tournaments or season long competitions. “We just wanted to create some sort of community on campus where gamers could get together and compete” said Adam Rosen who is the cofounder of Tespa. As these events would be professionalized and crowds would grow, prize money would start to give gifted to those who win, and many started to respect those who competed in Esports.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/college-esports-2022/