Intersport To Advise NCAA In Ongoing Consideration Of Role In Esports

The NCAA has chosen Chicago-based Intersport to advise its ongoing consideration of a possible role in esports. Intersport was chosen from an August RFP seeking outside help after the NCAA BOG began discussing esports earlier this year. Intersport’s esports group is led by Kurt Melcher, who previously founded one of the earliest collegiate esports programs as Associate AD at Robert Morris Univ.

The RFP asked the winning agency to “provide options for the NCAA to activate within the esports landscape in a manner that aligns with the organization’s values.” Those options were to include a proposed timeline, partnerships, investments and financial commitments that would be required to execute any plan. The NCAA faces deep skepticism from the world of esports, which believes its bureaucracy and amateurism rules would be a bad fit with competitive gaming.