NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES – October 18, 2018 – On the heels of a successful esports pilot program last spring, the BIG EAST Conference and ESL, the world’s largest independent esports company, today announced that the inaugural BIG EAST Esports season will begin play on October 21. Participating colleges will compete in Rocket League® by Psyonix in fall 2018 with additional competition taking place in spring 2019.
 
“ESL and the BIG EAST are working together with the universities and students to weave esports into the fabric of campus life through competition, research and curriculum,” said Craig Levine, Global Chief Strategy Officer, ESL. “We anticipate that BIG EAST Esports will help lay the structural foundation for the future of player and fan ecosystems in the U.S.”
 
In March of this year, the BIG EAST announced an esports pilot program with competitive gameplay in two game titles, culminating with the BIG EAST Esports Invitational Powered by ESL in April on ESL Play. Villanova was crowned champion for League of Legends, while Seton Hall was crowned champion in Rocket League®.
 
“We are very excited to partner again with ESL to build our platform in this rapidly evolving sector,” said Vince Nicastro, deputy commissioner and chief operating officer of the BIG EAST Conference. “We believe that competitive esports in the collegiate setting have considerable growth potential, and our inaugural competition will allow us to connect with a growing number of students that are actively engaged in esports on our campuses.”
 
Esports continues to grow on campuses of BIG EAST member schools.  “Since the launch of our esports program at DePaul last year, we’ve discovered that students from all across the university enjoy participating as fans, recreational players and serious competitors,” said Courtney James, director of student involvement at DePaul.  “Recreational esports competition throughout DePaul has proven to be fun and engaging for our students while enhancing important skills such as strategic thinking, teamwork, communications and discipline.”
 
Matches for the BIG EAST Esports season will be conducted online on ESL Play, with the top four teams from each game moving on to compete in the semi-finals, and then finals, to be streamed on Twitch.TV/ESL_rocketleague and the BIG EAST YouTube Channel.  Schedules and results for all upcoming competitions will be available on www.BIGEASTgaming.com, as well as the esports section of www.bigeast.com.
 
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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 ESL
ESL, a part of the international digital entertainment group MTG, is the world's largest independent esports company, leading the industry across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline competitions. It operates high profile, branded international and national leagues and tournaments such as the Intel® Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL National Championships and other top tier stadium-size events, as well as grassroots amateur cups, leagues and matchmaking systems. ESL covers a broad field of services in gaming technology, event management, advertising and television production, fully catering to the needs of the esports ecosystem. With offices in North America, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Spain, China, and partners in many other countries, it has a truly global footprint (www.eslgaming.com).
 
About Rocket League®
Winner or nominee of more than 150 “Game of the Year” awards, Rocket League is one of the most critically-acclaimed sports games of our generation. Boasting a community of more than 50 million players, Rocket League is a high-powered hybrid of arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem with easy-to-understand controls and fluid, physics-driven competition. Available on Nintendo Switch™, PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, Windows PC, Mac, and SteamOS via Steam, Rocket League includes more than 500 trillion possible customization combinations, a fully-featured offline season mode, multiple game types, casual and competitive online matches, and special “Mutators” that let you change the rules entirely.
 
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