On panel after panel, college officials told attendees at the Learfield Intercollegiate Athletics Forum that they either were not sure yet what to do about esports, or that esports is not sports and should not be a concern of college ADs. But at the end of Day 2, the esports community had its say, including Rutgers AD Pat Hobbs, who supports the emerging movement on his campus. Hobbs said that when donors tell him that they do not want any department resources going to esports, he just opens Twitch and shows them how even a player just practicing a game can get 50,000 viewers. “I get the skepticism, and the issues folks raise,” Hobbs said. “But you need to be open-minded.”
Riot Games Head of Collegiate League of Legends Michael Sherman cited participation in video games across the college landscape as proof esports has a chance to thrive in the coming years. “There’s not thousands of people going and playing pickup basketball on (college) campuses,” Sherman said. Read more from the panel and the final day of the conference in today’s issue of THE DAILY.
