Columbia College (Mo.) over the last five months has signed 12 players to e-sports scholarships, and beginning this fall the group will be split into "two competitive League of Legends teams," according to Christian Hardy of the K.C. STAR. The team "started as an idea" from school President Scott Dalrymple last October, and Columbia at that point became "just the fifth college to offer scholarships to League of Legends players." Dalrymple said, "It's a logical extension to add video gaming at the collegiate level. This generation is really into gaming, and if you're going to relate to them, you better know something about that world." Columbia e-sports coach Duong Pham said that the NAIA school "invested the same amount of money into the e-sports program as they would another sport." Hardy noted the team will "compete in the Collegiate Starleague." One of the players who signed on with Columbia is Connor Doyle, who is in the top .04% of the 67 million players who play League of Legends -- the multiplayer online battle arena game -- each month. Pham said, "Most people don't even know where we are. 'Columbia College, are you guys in New York? You in Chicago?' No, we're in Columbia, Missouri. This whole League of Legends has already helped put us on the map, and I don't think it's ever happened before. We've never got so much attention from any kind of media market at all like we have e-sports" (K.C. STAR, 7/6).