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ETSU Varsity Esports

Esports is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing industries in the world today. Competitive gaming has moved far beyond early arcade games and Atari consoles. The first gaming event took place at Stanford University in 1972 with a year-long subscription to Rolling Stone magazine as the top prize. Last year, the League of Legends World Championship had more than 100 million unique viewers while the Super Bowl reported 98 million viewers. Esports provides an engaging viewing experience to an audience no longer tied to traditional media. Twitch, the ESPN of esports, promotes online viewership of esports and tournaments. This has propelled the massive growth in esports viewers and audience numbers. Today the best esports athletes make millions and the industry is backed by big names in traditional sports. As a result, 2019 is expected to be the first billion-dollar year for esports.

Varsity esports began a few years ago as an interesting trend and has transformed into an exciting global phenomenon. Collegiate esports has seen growth that rivals professional gaming since the first esports scholarship was awarded by Robert Morris University in 2014. Now, more than 200 universities are members of the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) which governs varsity collegiate esports. The proliferation of esports arenas across the country illustrates the amount of resources colleges and universities have committed to esports. Currently the largest esports arena in the country is in Florida. Full Sail University has created an 11,000 square foot esports arena with room for 100 simultaneous gamers and 500 spectators.

ETSU has a significant gaming community that competes through our student organizations. It is a logical progression that we continue to develop the trend started by our students. Our vision for the future must recognize, incorporate, and embrace a new, modern athlete. To develop this vision an ETSU Esports Advisory Task Force was formed to plan, develop, implement, and sustain a viable and successful esports program. The task force was developed through a partnership between multiple units across campus. The task force includes representation from (1) Facilities Management, (2) Information Technology Services, (3) Student Life and Enrollment, and (4) the Center for Global Sport Leadership to provide oversight and strategic direction for the development of this initiative. The task force is chaired by Chief Information Officer. This task force will develop any required policies and procedures related to ETSU Esports. Once the work of the task force is complete, the CIO will provide ongoing oversight and strategic direction with consultation from the ETSU Esports Advisory Committee.

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Mission:Support the ETSU gaming community including esports clubs, competition, and varsity teams.

Goal:Establishment of a nationally ranked ETSU Varsity Esports team with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.

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Plan, design, and develop the ETSU Esports Varsity Team facility utilizing state-of-the-art hardware, network analytics, organization and performance training for our players.

Plan, design, and develop esports tournament configuration.

Determine esports team organizational structure.

Determine organizational job descriptions and processes for hiring esports team employees.

Establish player and coach recruitment plan.

Establish team and tournament streaming capabilities

Determine revenue management model and policies.

Develop scholarship awards for esports recruits.

Establish initial and ongoing budget and potential funding sources.

Establish membership with collegiate organizations such as NACE and ECAC.

Establish and enact policies, procedures, and guidelines related to ETSU Esports.

Establish a marketing plan.

Create a state of the art esports arena for tournaments and gathering area for students.

Create a business model to sustain the ETSU Esports program.

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National Association of Collegiate Esports Member Institution

Eastern College AthleticConference (ECAC)

Hosts a comprehensive esports program. In 2019 approximately fifty schools will field over 200 teams in eight different games. ECAC also conducts a comprehensive awards program and conference each year to support intercollegiate athletics and esports. ECAC sponsors the top eight competitive video games.

TESPA

A collegiate esports organization in Irvine, California to support college gaming organizations and competitions. A partnership with Blizzard Entertainment limits Tespa competition to Blizzard published games.

NACE is a nonprofit membership association organized by member institutions. Members develop the structure and tools needed to advance collegiate esports in the varsity space. NACE provides the governing body and ground work for student eligibility, path to graduation, competition, and scholarships. NACE is the only association of varsity esports programs at colleges and universities in the United States.

No later than June 1 each year, active member institutions shall be required to submit a declaration of intent to participate in all NACE sponsored esports to the NACE National Office. Declarations apply to the academic year following the June 1 deadline.

Collegiate Organizations and Memberships

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GamesCollege League of Legends, created by Riot Games, is a five versus five Multiplayer Online Battle Arena in which two teams compete in a tactical and skill-based battle to take down the opposing team’s nexus base. Players create a team that works together in order to win the game through the use of unique abilities and playstyles.

Overwatch features objective-focused combat where two opposing teams of six players each select a hero with unique abilities and roles. Ranging from offense, defense, support and tanks, the game encourages adaptation so that players are allowed to switch characters mid-game to counter their opponents.

TournamentsNAC Esports is the governing body that sets rules and standards for varsity esports teams to follow. Their rules cover items such as player eligibility, team behavior, and streaming media rules. ECAC is the Eastern College Athletics Conference located in the Eastern US with tournaments spanning the eight most popular games on college campuses. They provide the tournament framework and organization in which all member schools compete including bracket tournaments, rankings, and conference championships. They are an independent organization similar to SOCON. TESPA is another tournament organizer similar to ECAC but they have deep ties to Blizzard Entertainment who is the publisher of the game Overwatch. They organize tournaments all over the country for games made by Blizzard and have their own tournament schedules and championships limited to Blizzard produced games.

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ETSU Varsity Esports will be located under the supervision of Information Technology Services. The CIO will provide oversight and direction for the staff dedicated to esports. An esports director will provide operational oversight and leadership while a coordinator/head coach will provide essential functions of constructing a team and obtaining coaches for official ETSU games. One additional esports position will provide the team with media and marketing expertise as well as serving as the team announcer during tournaments. Additional staffing considerations may be required as the program grows.

a. Administrationi. Director/Head Coach

1. The esports director will provide leadership to the esports team with regard to education, monitoring, enforcement, and maintenance of a comprehensive esports program. Effectively coordinate the recruiting of esports students. Provide leadership in responding to student needs. In accordance with NACE standards, ETSU Esports will include a Head Coach/Coordinator dedicated to support esports. Assistant Coaches for each team specializing in the particular game will be included in the organization.

2. 2. Director/Head Coach and Assistant Coaches will be in accordance with NAC Esports standards and guidelines.

3. 3. ITS will incorporate the Director/Head Coach position into an existing ITS Analyst position.

ii. Announcer/Media/Marketing1. Establish the ETSU Esports presence on Twitch.tv2. Support streaming, broadcasting, and hosting/announcing services. 3. Provide oversight of ETSU Esports social media4. Provide marketing for ETSU Esports5. Esports will provide the funding for the Announcer/Media/Marketing position.

b. TeamETSU Esports is required under NAC Esports rules to designate our participation in at least two (2) games upon joining the organization. ETSU has selected League of Legends and Overwatch to begin our team. It is anticipated that additional games will be added as the program grows and develops. The target number for recruitment in the first year of varsity competition would be 20 players total (10 per game).

1. League of Legends requires a minimum of five players per team.2. Overwatch requires a minimum of six players per team.

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a. Esports Team SpaceThe teams will require a dedicated space with access to the facility for the purpose of scheduled team and individual practice sessions. The practice space identified in the new Culp Center will be available in Fall 2020. The designated team space will provide secure storage for ETSU Esports Varsity team computers and peripherals.

In order to be prepared to scale this program, additional space for practice outside of official team practice is critical. Assembling a new team will require considerable planning and work. We need a space to prepare the team so they will be ready for competition in Fall 2020. Nicks Hall room 436 has been requested for the ETSU Esports team lounge as the Department of Computing has relocated a computer lab from that space and it has ample power and networking to support team preparation.

Additional computers will be provided for the additional practice space so that while a varsity League of Legends is practicing in the designated team space in Culp, Overwatch team members still have the opportunity and a place to meet and practice informally. Computers in this area will consist of specifications adequate for esports competition but will not be equivalent to varsity competition machines.

b. Official Team Practice and Tournament SpaceA Video Wall will be installed on the stage in the Cave area of the Culp Center. The wall will cover a 32’ x 12’ space with seamless LED video screens and a 1.8mm pixel pitch (smaller pixel pitch increases image quality).

Gaming Equipment1. Computers: Alienware Aurora with 9th Gen Intel i7 processor, NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti,

64 GB Ram, and 512 GB solid state drive. 2. Monitors: Alienware 25” Monitor, G-sync, 240Hz, 1ms. 3. Peripherals: HyperX Keyboard specialized switches; Razer DeathAdder Elite Mouse;

Sennheiser G4ME Headset. 4. Furniture: Alienware S5000Gaming Chair; Arozzi Arena Gaming Desk.

Streaming of Video on Demand (VOD) clips of game action or entire games will be critical to promote the ETSU Esports team in the worldwide esports community environment. Regular VOD releases and live streaming practice sessions on commercial streaming applications is a critical component of a successful esports program. A minimum of 9 hours of streaming content per month is required to maintain the Twitch partnership tier.

Establishment of the ETSU Esports website will be critical in providing information to potential recruits and coaches. ETSU Esports has purchased the etsuesports.com, etsuesports.net, and etsuesports.org domains. Our website will be created using the ETSU template and published to etsuesports.com.

Website navigation and content is in progress. Initial content will include the details of the Culp Arena and the computer specifications, the games in which we will compete, and an inquiry form.

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Facilities and Equipment

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Culp Renovation

Proposal Announce

Request Practice Space

Proposal Review/Revise

Temporary Analyst to Prepare for Recruitment and Team Practice

Revenue Model and Procedures

Order Practice Equipment

Recruitment

Tuition Discount Procedures

Hire Director/Head Coach

Order Equipment and Uniforms

Team Practice

Hire Individual Game Coaches

Install Equipment in Culp

ETSU Esports Timeline 2019 - 2020

FebruaryNovember December January March2019 2020

September OctoberApril May June July August

1 15 22 30 1 15 22 31 1 15 22 31 1 15 22 28 1 15 22 31 1 15 22 30 1 15 22 31 1 15 22 30 1 15 22 31 1 15 22 31 1 15 22 30 1 15 22 31

Culp Renovation

Proposal Announce

Request Practice Space

Proposal Review/Revise

Temporary Analyst to Prepare for Recruitment and Team Practice

Revenue Model and Procedures

Order Practice Equipment

Recruitment

Tuition Discount Procedures

Hire Director/Head Coach

Order Equipment and Uniforms

Team Practice

Hire Individual Game Coaches

Install Equipment in Culp

ETSU Esports Timeline 2019 - 2020

FebruaryNovember December January March2019 2020

September OctoberApril May June July August

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