Joining legions of colleges and universities around the nation, Northwest College is gearing up to launch its own esports team. Guided by the college’s athletic department, gamers will have the opportunity to compete with their fellow joystick warriors from the comfort of a brand-new facility built in an unused classroom.
“We’re hoping by April we can have it up and running for current students,” said athletic director Brian Erickson, who will also coach the esports team.
Northwest is joining a long list of higher education institutions to offer esports. Inter-collegiate esports competition has been around since at least 2016. In the area, Boise State University and the University of Montana both have competitive teams and the University of Wyoming offers esports as a club activity. NWC will join 64 other schools that offer esports in the National Junior College Athletic Association.
Esports have become a multi-billion dollar industry, with the top gamers raking in millions of dollars every year from streaming their games to fans through services like Twitch, prize pools in tournaments and sponsorships. According to esportsearnings.com, a site that tracks tournament pools and players alike throughout the world, more than $10.3 million in prize money has been paid out in 2021 as of March 9.
Northwest, for its part, sees bringing esports in as a recruiting tool more than a way to make money.
“Most people know the history of NWC and enrollment going down, and it’s not just Northwest, around the country enrollment is going down,” Erickson said. “We thought it was a great opportunity to recruit students with no budget.”
Grant funding bought the computers for the esports lab and TCT donated new network infrastructure to give the team its own separate network to game on. The telecommunications company is also donating $2,500 each year for upkeep and has earmarked $17,000 from its scholarship endowment for esports.
Erickson is working with the NJCAA to create letters of intent for the prospective esport athletes, following a similar model for athletes in more traditional sports. The college found some interest in an esports team through a survey last year, when the team was initially supposed to start. Some 35 students said they’d be interested in participating, and while those students are mostly gone now, Erickson is hopeful he’d still be able to muster a sizable team through recruitment in and out of the college.
“Our goal is to get 40 students on the team,” he said. “We’ve been going through this for a year and a half. We were thinking it was going to start last year, but now seeing all the computers in there, it’s exciting to see what the future is for esports.”
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