2016 eSports Review: eSports and College
2016 eSports Review: eSports and College (Photo: Career Intelligence)
TNL Take: As with anything related to eSports in 2016, there was a massive increase in colleges investing in the space.
Just yesterday, Lourdes University became the 16th to provide eSports scholarships.
Interesting to note that as a Catholic and Franciscan University, Lourdes will not participate in any First-Person Shooter games.
Here's how quickly the increase in scholarships occurred in 2016:
TNL Infographic 010 (Graphic: The Next Level)
What's even more interesting is the centralization of the programs in the heart of the country:
TNL Infographic 011 (Graphic: The Next Level)
The current 15 schools - now 16 - offering scholarships:
TNL Infographic 015 (Graphic: The Next Level)
There's also a huge opportunity for brands:
- Quest Nutrition Partners With Robert Morris University
- iBUYPOWER Announced Partnership With UC Irvine
So what's going to happen in 2017?
/01 The number of colleges offering scholarships will be 25+
/02 A conference will announce an eSports partnership
/03 A collegiate eSports tournament(s) will be broadcast on TV
/04 Major brands will sponsor in the college space
/05 Publishers will invest more
College is expensive and any help that can be offered to those that can't afford it is great. But there's something more important to me here.
College eSports offers a home and community to those that didn't have it in high school.