Game on: University of Evansville launching collegiate esports
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The University of Evansville is launching a collegiate esports program to offer students engagement opportunities on campus and transferable skillsets for careers. Renovations began in June in the Schroeder Residence Hall to create a center for competitive play that’s expected to open sometime during the fall semester.
Samuel Henderson, UE’s esports coordinator and head coach, told Inside INdiana Business players will initially compete in three games. “Rocket League [soccer with cars] and Valorant [tactical shooting] are for sure,” he said. “The third has yet to be solidified. We’re doing research on what the students would want to get involved in as well as the recruiting aspects of getting people into UE for that game.”
Dr. Rachel S. Carpenter, vice president of student affairs and dean of students at UE, served as chair of the Esports Task Force, which recommended bringing the program to campus. “We were watching some trends of some up-and-coming collegiate programs, and esports was one of them,” she said. “So I formed a task force, and we looked into the possibilities.”
UE’s ‘dream and mission’
Esports is much more than people getting together to play a video game—it’s organized, competitive, multiplayer video gaming. Like other sports, esports has spectators. Fans can attend competitions in person or watch live-streamed events online. “Players are competing with the best-rising talent or the best talent in the nation to win some kind of specific prize or merits,” said Henderson.
Collegiate esports has two levels (club and varsity) and two seasons (fall and spring). Henderson said most collegiate clubs and varsity teams compete in both seasons. Unlike other sports where the top players see most of the action on the field or court, esports has room for more players to get in the game.
“In football, if you’re second string, you might never play the entire season,” Henderson said. “But in esports, you can have multiple teams per collegiate school. If you have enough to fill two rosters, they both compete at the same time in the exact same tournament.”
Carpenter said one of the motivators behind bringing esports to UE is to increase student engagement in a way that’s not currently present on campus. “There’s no kind of tech engagement, esports kind of gaming,” she said. “An entire population of students just isn’t represented in an official way.”
Another reason for the new program is the growth of high school esports since 2018 when the National Federation of State High School Associations acknowledged it as an official sport. “If there are high school students who are getting this experience, we need to be looking at that from a college perspective,” said Carpenter.
As UE began the search for an esports coordinator, Henderson was exploring his options within the field. He was working as an esports coach at St. Ambrose University in Iowa when he discovered UE was looking for someone to lead its program.
“I contacted them and had a lot of conversations about their dream and mission for esports in their space,” he said. “I really connected with how they were wanting to do esports versus other different colleges.” Carpenter added, “He has just hit the ground running.”
Developing the program
While the new esports center is being built, Carpenter said there will be a temporary space for practice and competition. “We’ll be hiring students who can help run operations,” she said. “We’ll be looking for marketers and broadcasters so we can get them ready once we are in competition mode. They’ll be able to commentate on the games.”
Meanwhile, Henderson is building a foundation for the program, compiling a student handbook with clear expectations and accountability measures. Plus, he’s recruiting players by attending online competitions and executing marketing initiatives. “Making media kits,” he said. “Making apparel for our students like jerseys, hoodies, crew necks, T-shirts. And getting the club team [Game Players Society] involved.” GPS hosts various gaming events on campus once a week.
Next summer, UE will host its first esports youth camp. In addition, Carpenter said plans for intramural competitions and open play are in the works. “So if you just want to come to the center on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon, just for the UE community, we’ll be developing that as well,” she said.
Henderson expects to add more coaches for other games in the future. He’d also like to see UE organize a large-scale event. “My big plan is to host a tournament at the Ford Center,” he said. “That’d be super cool to have this big space where Butler University, Indiana University and Purdue University all come together to play.”
Sports and STEM skills
The skills that esports players pick up from competition are the same skills that other sports provide, such as communication and resilience. “If you’re going to send your student to a football camp because you want them to learn teamwork, camaraderie and reliability, all those positive outcomes, it’s the same thing in esports,” Carpenter said.
However, esports also offers science, technology, engineering and math skills that can be used in other careers. Dr. Maxwell Omwenga, program director of the department of computer science and engineering at UE, listed several fields that feature esports skills, such as data science, software engineering, artificial intelligence, user experience design and augmented reality/virtual reality development.
“One of my research lab members came up with an AR/VR project that helps people living with a missing limb,” Omwenga said. “The goggles can simulate whole body posture, then moving the existing limb infers the missing limb. It can help them psychologically feel like they are moving the other limb so they can keep training and improving body posture and muscles.”
Carpenter added that the esports industry requires the same roles found in other sectors. “Esports needs event managers, risk managers, lawyers, talent representation, coaches, nutrition and fitness people, marketing and business folks, sound engineers and network engineers,” she said. “Whether you’re running a stadium, a hospital or a university, there’s a whole village of folks—and that’s what esports needs as well.”
Part of the UE’s plan for the program includes focusing on academic integration, career development opportunities and networking with esports programs across the country.
“Looking at the different majors, and how somebody who is a marketing major or communication major, and they love esports, and they want to be in that industry, how do we get them internships?” said Carpenter. “How do we get them interviews with other companies that are either esports or they have divisions of esports?”
Esports outlook and outcomes
From a global perspective, the outlook for esports as a profitable industry appears optimistic. According to Statista, revenue will reach $4 billion worldwide in 2023 and $5.4 billion by 2027. Most revenue is generated in the U.S., with a projected market volume of nearly $1.1 million this year.
According to Henderson, professional esports players are doing well financially, receiving solid and steady paychecks. “Some of these players who are competing get $60,000 a year just for playing, and others get $250,000 a year,” he said. “That’s not on top of winnings, brand deals or partnerships they get exclusively to them.”
Henderson believes the industry will hit another boom in five years, mainly because of the new generation of players. “Eventually, what I see is the professional level becoming higher than it is already, the college level becoming how the professional level is, and then the high school level will soon be at that wild west level where everyone’s trying to figure it out,” he said.
Carpenter acknowledged while some top video game companies have downsized their esports divisions, other video-gaming businesses are growing. She noted another sign of the industry’s endurance: the inaugural Olympic Esports Week. In June, more than 100 athletes from around the world competed in 10 virtual sports in Singapore.
“The fact that now the Olympics has got on board is an indication internationally that the global reach of esports is going to continue, even if there’s some doubt within the United States for some companies that may be indicating esports is not the direction they’re going to go in,” she said.
Omwenga believes the accessibility and acceptance of esports will likely play a role in its longevity. “There’s diversity in terms of not limiting anybody. You don’t have to have a degree. You can just play. And you don’t have to move physically to a location to do that,” he said. “The younger generation will feel much more comfortable with gaming and being a field that’s being celebrated to a point where you can not only play games but also use it as a career path.”
According to Carpenter, UE students will get outcomes from collegiate esports far beyond the competitions. “If you are a student who works in the esports center, if you are a captain, if you are a player, if you’re a broadcaster, these are students who are going to learn actual skills, whether they’re technical or teamwork or communication,” she said.
“Seeing esports being discussed and having a future that it will be part of our program is hope,” Omwenga added. “Just to see our students coming from not knowing so much about this and just becoming self-driven is so revealing, so refreshing.”