College esports in the United States is played by teams of amateur

student-athletes Student athlete (or student–athlete) is a term used principally in universities in the United States and Canada to describe students enrolled at postsecondary educational institutions, principally colleges and universities, but also at sec ...

at American universities and colleges. In the late 2000s, schools began forming

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

clubs to play video games in self-organized collegiate tournaments. The first officially recognized varsity esports program was created at

Robert Morris University Robert Morris University (RMU) is a private university in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1921 and is named after Robert Morris (financier), Robert Morris, known as the "financier of the American Revolution". It enr ...

in 2014. 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. College esports is often viewed as a starting path for gamers that aspire to go professional.

Riot Games Collegiate League of Legends

In 2016, the North American Collegiate Championship (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. 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. 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.

Esports Collegiate Conference

The Esports Collegiate Conference was created on June 10, 2020, by member institutions of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

, to facilitate esports competitions.

National Association of Collegiate Esports

The

National Association of Collegiate Esports The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) is a North American collegiate esports association founded in 2016. It is a nonprofit membership association organized by and on behalf of its members. With its members they are developing stru ...

, otherwise known as NACE or NAC Esports, was founded in 2016. As of 2021, its membership includes over 170 colligate organizations. The organization offers competition in Rocket League, League of Legends, Overwatch, and other titles.

Riot Games Collegiate League of Legends

Esports Collegiate Conference

National Association of Collegiate Esports

List of colleges and universities with esports teams

References

External links