The Rise of E-Sports
E-Sports aren’t going away, and it’s time we start embracing it
In my line of work, you get to see a lot of college campuses. It’s one of my favorite aspects of the job because it lets me indulge in my vice of travel, and my wife doesn’t hate the excuse to get out of the office either. On one of my recent campus tours, I saw something that I had never seen before.
An E-Sports facility inside of the rec sports center.
Admittedly, unique attributes on college campuses are harder and harder to come by these days. When your job encourages you to visit 30-50 campuses a year, things will inevitably start to blur together and the differentiating factors outside of campus location start to get more and more specific.
As I toured the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas I was struck by the large windowed room that sat across the hall from a massive rock climbing wall and cardio station. It houses 10 gaming PCs and serves as the headquarters for UNT’s E-Sports team.
I have seen E-Sports setups at other schools, but never one that was built specifically for the sport itself. Arguably more surprising, it was housed in the same facility as other athletics on campus. I have heard more and more schools mention E-Sports clubs, but this showcased a new level of investment from the college itself which I personally love to see.
A short time after my visit to UNT, I read an article about an Arkansas high school student that recently earned a scholarship to compete in E-Sports at Oklahoma Christian. While it may not be NCAA regulated at this moment, this is unquestionably an athletic scholarship.
In an era where Twitch streams dominate second monitors and E-Sport tournaments provide bigger purses than some major sports organizations, it’s not surprising that this new avenue of competition has gained this level of popularity at the collegiate level.
I feel like every time E-Sports are mentioned in any kind of synonymous fashion with “traditional sports” there is an immediate pushback. Historically, there’s been a physiological expectation for who we define as an “athlete” and that expectation isn’t necessarily a requirement in the E-Sports community.
That said, the competition between teams is still fierce and those individuals are competing at a level that most gamers can only dream of achieving.
Gaming has traditionally been classified entirely in the leisure activity sector. It is more sedentary than many other classic sports, but it has grown a competitive arm that can’t be ignored any longer.
When you look at the midday ESPN stream schedule, it’s hard to argue that E-Sports can’t thrive in a sports setting when competitive cornhole dominates the weekday ratings in July.
E-Sports are on the rise, and there’s no reason for it to slow down now. Will it surpass football as the most popular American sport?
Probably not, but it doesn’t have to.
The evolution of competitive E-Sports and Let’s Play Streams have proven the market for this kind of entertainment, and sports are all about entertainment.
