College esports in the United States began around 2009. Various 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, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

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. 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 Tespa (formerly Texas eSports Association) is a North American collegiate esports organization headquartered in the offices of Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine, California. Founded in 2012 as a collegiate gaming club at the University of Texas, A ...

announced that it is closing down.

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. 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

A conference created on June 10, 2020, by member institutions of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

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. PlayVS has since expanded its title offering to include Rocket League, League of Legends, Overwatch, FIFA and Madden NFL.

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

PlayVS

National Association of Collegiate Esports

List of colleges and universities with esports teams

References

External links