Gaming and Collegiate Sports Collide to Form Varsity eSports
Every once and a while we come across a data point that we even we shake our heads at and today is one of those days. We know gaming is a key aspect of our Content is King investing theme, but we were surprised to learn the Universty of Utah created a varsity sports program for gamers. With Madison Square Garden and other high profile venues selling out so on-lookers can watch gaming competitions, perhaps we shouldn’t be all that surprised. We will be on the lookout for data to see if this offering is followed up bother by others schools and if so what it may mean for our Fattening of the Population investing theme.
The University of Utah announced Wednesday that it had created a college-sponsored varsity “esports” program through its Entertainment Arts & Engineering video game development program.The program, the school claims, is the first for any college in the five so-called “power conferences,” which include the Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast, and Southeastern conferences.
Each of the team’s 35 members will be eligible to receive a minimum of a $1,000 scholarship each year. Eventually, the school plans to offer students full-rides through marketing and scholarship deals.
Utah’s esports team will play Riot Games’ League of Legends and compete in Riot’s collegiate league which includes more than 750 university club teams and 200 official varsity programs.
Source: One Major University Now Offering Scholarships For Gamers – Consumerist