NEW YORK -- The DePaul esports team defeated Seton Hall in the Electronic Gaming Federation (EGF) – BIG EAST Esports Invitational tournament on December 6-7 at OS Studios in New York City. DePaul and Seton Hall went head to head in Rocket League. DePaul defeated Seton Hall, 4-3.
Esports teams from Butler and Xavier were also semifinalists which competed on championship Sunday. Seton Hall defeated Xavier 4-0, while DePaul knocked out Butler, by the same score.
Pool play determined who would move on to the semifinals. The top two teams in each pool advanced. There were 11 rounds of pool play. In Pool 1 was Butler, Georgetown, Providence and Seton Hall. In Pool 2 was DePaul, Marquette, St. John’s, Villanova and Xavier.
The tournament was streamed on Twitch.tv/officialEGF. For more details on the championship weekend, follow tweets from the @officialEGF.
Four weeks of on-line preliminary matches began Nov. 3 to determine the set-up for the Pool Play Stage.. Seeding was based on win-loss differential. Going into the championship, the Butler Esports squad was the top seed with Marquette in second. Seton Hall was ranked third, Xavier fourth, DePaul fifth with St. John’s, Providence and Villanova rounding out the standings. Butler and Marquette came into the weekend 4-0. The Bulldogs earned the top seed advantage with a 10-game win-loss differential. Marquette had lost five of their 12 games played.
Esports is one of the fastest growing activities in the world. Industry analysts have estimated that today, over 2 billion people worldwide play or watch esports across all gaming titles. By 2022, the growth of esports from a competition and viewer standpoint is expected to exceed 300 million participants. Collegiate programs began in earnest in 2015 and now feature more than 150 collegiate programs. Division I schools are getting serious about esports with strong growth in official programs and the EGFC League national competition.
This rapid growth in participants and viewers makes EGF’s leadership key in growing opportunities for amateur esports’ industry professionals of the future. EGF’s high school and collegiate programs provide both elite level competition and a taste of the esports ecosystem to give young players experience in the business, production and competitive sides of the industry.
The BIG EAST will continue with esports competition in the spring with a continued partnership with ESL, the world’s largest esports company, and RIOT Games conduction competition in League of Legends. Like 2019, Spring 2020’s season will lead in to the Collegiate League of Legends competition. Prior to last weekend’s EGF competition, the BIG EAST has partnered with ESL since spring of 2018 when the Conference launched its pilot program.
For more on the BIG EAST esports programs, visit www.BIGEAST.com/esports.
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About BIG EAST
The BIG EAST Conference is an association of ten nationally prominent colleges and universities that foster healthy athletic competition, community service and the pursuit of excellence in academic environments. The athletic programs of BIG EAST institutions provide national-caliber participation opportunities for more than 3,727 student-athletes on over 180 men’s and women’s teams in 22 sports. Established in 1979 and headquartered in New York City, the BIG EAST’s members are located in seven of the country’s top 35 largest media markets and include Butler University, Creighton University, DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence College, St. John’s University, Seton Hall University, Villanova University and Xavier University. For more information, visit www.bigeast.com.
ABOUT EGF:
Founded in 2015, EGF is the first to establish unique platforms for youth, high school and Division 1 collegiate esports competitions. With students and education at its core, EGF’s youth, high school and collegiate leagues & programs were inspired by the best aspects of traditional sports to create opportunities for students and schools to engage and advance. Divisions of EGF include EGFY (Youth), EGFH (High School), EGFC (Collegiate) programs.