Now open in the Robert Bell Building, the Esports Center will act as a classroom, esports venue and community space for the campus.
Construction on the former testing center began in November 2020 after the contract for the renovation was given to Attlin Construction. When construction finished in March 2021, university staff furnished the space with various features ranging from gaming PCs players will use in competition to the production equipment for tournaments and other events.
The program for Ball State Esports was established with a budget of approximately $400,000, said Paaige Turner, dean of the College of Communication, Information and Media. Turner attended the ribbon cutting ceremony April 5 and spoke briefly about the options the space will provide the university.
“This space has several different components that will be used for every college and every academic unit across campus,” she said.
Turner said multiple academic colleges at Ball State have shown interest in the center for its capabilities as a classroom, including video production, marketing and animation.
The Department of Telecommunications also plans to add an esports production major, said Dan Marino, director of esports and Cardinal Esports head coach.
“I’m really excited for [the esports production major] because — not only will it give us more exposure — but it will get more students here that aren’t just interested in playing [esports], and are interested in the whole picture and the other related disciplines,” Marino said.
Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns also attended the ribbon cutting and said the Esports Center will offer resources to a variety of students in different disciplines.
Mearns said,“We want to instill in all of our students a sense of teamwork, problem solving [and] the discipline and determination that we know it will take to succeed in life thereafter.”
Contact Eli Houser with comments at ejhouser@bsu.edu.
Be the first to comment