Tespa (formerly Texas eSports Association) is a North American collegiate

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. ...

organization headquartered in the offices of

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

. Founded in 2012 as a collegiate gaming club at the

University of Texas, Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 20 ...

, Tespa expanded nationally in 2013 as an event support network for college gaming organizations. In 2014, the company announced an official partnership with Blizzard Entertainment, hosting online leagues for

Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a 2014 Online game, online digital collectible card game, digital collectible card video game produced by Blizzard Entertainment, released under the free-to-play model. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthsto ...

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

StarCraft II ''StarCraft II'' is a real-time strategy video game created by Blizzard Entertainment, first released in 2010. A sequel to the successful '' StarCraft'', released in 1998, it is set in a militaristic far future. The narrative centers on a galacti ...

Heroes of the Storm ''Heroes of the Storm'' is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Announced at BlizzCon 2010, it was released on June 2, 2015 for macOS and Windows. The game features various crossover ...

, and

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...

Early history

Tespa was founded in 2012 by classmates Adam Rosen, Tyler Rosen, and Chris Kelly as the Texas eSports Association, an on-campus gaming organization at the

. After gaining national attention with its Lone Star Clash tournament series for

StarCraft ''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance amon ...

and

in 2012, Tespa expanded first to other

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

gaming clubs, then nationally to colleges like

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

and

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

in 2013.

Blizzard partnership

In 2013, Tespa announced an official partnership with

to provide licensed ''StarCraft'', ''

'' and ''

'' in-game rewards to college gaming clubs. In early 2014, Tespa and Blizzard Entertainment hosted the $5,000 ''North American Collegiate Hearthstone Open'' series, culminating in a live grand finals event at the Twitch stage at PAX East and

PAX Prime PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Melbourne. Previously, it was also held in San Anton ...

Heroes of the Dorm

In early 2015, Tespa and Blizzard Entertainment announced a $450,000 championship series for the unreleased Blizzard game ''Heroes of the Storm'', offering a fully paid tuition for the winning college team. Over 6200 players from 462 schools participated in the online bracket, culminating in a live grand finals event at the

Shrine Auditorium The Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue in Los Angeles, California. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 139) in 1975, an ...

in Los Angeles, California. The tournament, named Heroes of the Dorm, was the first esports event ever broadcast live on a national television channel. Heroes of the Dorm generated widespread controversy on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and other social media sites, garnering vocal support and heated criticism from American sports teams, sports personalities, and news networks. On January 28, 2016, Tespa and Blizzard Entertainment announced a second season of Heroes of the Dorm, offering an increased scholarship prize pool and a return to ESPN's broadcast network.

Compete Tournament Portal

Compete is Tespa's proprietary tournament administration and support service, created in 2014 as the bracketing platform for the ''North American Collegiate Hearthstone Open''. Since its launch, Compete has evolved to support programs ranging from online qualifiers such as

Riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

's hallmark collegiate program, North American Collegiate Championship, and long-form leagues including the Collegiate Hearthstone Championship.

References

External links

* {{Esports College esports in the United States 2013 establishments in Texas