esports took another step toward the mainstream Thursday with an announcement that the Big Ten Network is working with Riot Games to produce a full season of collegiate League of Legends competition between 12 of the Big Ten's 14 schools.
The Big Ten Network and game maker Riot Games have partnered on a season-long League of Legends championship, according to ESPN, which will be broadcast on BTN2Go and watch.lolesports.com. The season will begin on January 30 and continue into March, culminating with the finals on March 27, which will air on the Big Ten Network and be held at Riot Games' facility in Los Angeles.
The winner of the Big Ten championship will advance to the League of Legends College Championship; League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle video game developed by Riot Games.
Participating schools include Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin, according to ESPN. Teams will be made up of six players each, and all players will receive a $5,000 scholarship.
There are currently 25 colleges that offer esports scholarships in the United States, according to ESPN. In 2014, Chicago-based Robert Morris University became the first college in the US to offer scholarships for students who compete in esports, which could total $19,000 a year, RMU Associate Athletic Director Kurt Melcher told Chicago Inno at the time.
esports has exploded in popularity recently, and the global esports market is expected to reach $1.1 billion by 2019. The Big Ten Network held an esports Invitational last year between Ohio State and Michigan State, and decided to further invest in the sport after it garnered a huge level of interest from fans. The Pac 12 is also considering broadcasting esports games, according to Bloomberg.
