This week sees one of the largest esports collegiate championships taking place in LA, as the LoL College Championships get underway with either of the best university teams squaring off from the NA LCS Studio. With State Farm coming in this year as presenting sponsor, competing schools include Maryville University, Columbia College, University of Texas, Western University, University of Ottawa, University of California – Irvine, University of Illinois and University of Maryland. Cynopsis caught up with Riot Games Collegiate Esports Director Michael Sherman to discuss university landscape, how schools are levering esports, and what we can expect from the championship.
Sherman on the 2017-18 school year: The 2017-18 school year was a big year in growth for the college space, largely fueled by the growth of education from a variety of different sources. University presidents are asking more and more what they should be doing with video games. Holistically, they hear about what’s going on and they see all the numbers but they aren’t sure how those apply to their school. I think that’s because school are really intrigued by the application across the board where they can engage with a large population of their students. They are also curious because of the academic interest and performance of these students, who are high-performing and taking on really challenging majors. So you have the strategy starting that is utilizing gamers across the board and we as a publisher are trying to drive that for schools who want to do and learn more.
On questions: I think the common question being asked is where universities should be starting. They are all approaching it differently as you will talk to one school which wants to drive enrollment in their engineering department over the next ten years and doesn’t know where to start. Another school will point to their low engagement rates and ask how they can utilize and reconnect with their students to be more functional. At a base level, a school wants to understand the types of games are being played, who is playing them and how they can get support.
On Riot’s role: In addition to organizing competitions and running the league, we support student clubs across the US. We see our role as largely facilitating conversations between students and their administrators. We want to create the best experience possible for gamers and if we can help create a dialogue and connect what’s already happening on campus.
On Riot’s year: This was our biggest year of competition yet. We had over 311 schools participating, up from 285 schools last year. We also had more schools register for our programs this year, as we had 30 at the start of the season, up from 14 last year and already we are hearing about numbers around 70-75 who will have programs next year. At the same time, we did our deal with Big Ten Network for two years and also signed with the Peach Belt Conference. Now, our focus is to continue to bring more conferences into the fold and support the way that universities in group and making an investment in esports.
On the championship: This championship is going to be the highest level of competition we ever had. Many of these players have held number ones on the ranked ladder at some point. Second, we continue to look at opportunities to put a college spin into what people traditionally think of as esports.
