HBCUs and ESports: A Perfect Match?

My name is Herb Seward, and I'm a gamer. Video games have been part of my life since I was blessed enough to get my hands on an Atari 2600 console. I'm also a product of an HBCU (Historically Black College and University). Video games, much like everywhere else, became part of the cultural fabric of this country during the last decade or two. We've seen video games grow from two player games like Pong, to a multi-billion dollar industry where really proficient players are plying their trade at both the collegiate and professional level. E-Sports has become a global phenomenon in a pretty short period of time. Professional teams and players in a variety of gaming genres are front and center in the media eye at an increasing pace. There's also a vibrant and growing collegiate E-Sports scene that's starting to take root here.

Where do HBCU's fit into this growing landscape? Are there any designs on creating E-Sports industry-specific programs at our institutions? How can we translate cats playing Madden in between classes into a viable E-Sports presence on our collective campuses? If the last two years has been any indication, we're well on our way to see that kind of presence evolve and grow into a modern part of the HBCU experience. Recently, Johnson C. Smith University, Hampton University, and Texas Southern University all have made investments in either E-Sports related degree programs, or infrastructure related to the business of E-Sports in general. It's a pretty awesome start to the process of building a collective E-Sports presence on our campuses. Degree programs for folks to get into the industry are in rare supply. Seeing these three schools take the lead in that sense is a huge step in the right direction for overall interest for HBCU schools collectively.

The other pathway for that presence to develop organically at our schools has more to do with the students that actually play. Creating a competitive space for HBCU's to take advantage of organized E-Sports is the next big hurdle for folks that want the industry to flourish on our space to clear. Organizations like NACE (The National Association of Collegiate E-Sports) and TESPA are at the forefront of Collegiate E-Sports in the United States. they form a governing framework for competitive play for a good bit of the existing Collegiate E-Sports landscape. This is a bit different than what you'd see with sports associated with the NCAA or the NAIA. What would it take for HBCU's to tap into this competitive infrastructure? Better yet, how do we go about creating our own framework for competition between conferences that will attract the entities that power growth in the E-Sports industry? The SWAC (South Western Athletic Conference) has taken the step of partnering with the United States Air Force in an attempt to bring E-Sports in an individual tournament format to the conference.

It's not the fully integrated vision of teams and E-Sports programs dotting the HBCU landscape just yet, but it's still an extremely encouraging beginning. It's definitely the next necessary step that needs to be made if we want HBCU schools to really embrace the opportunity that participation in E-Sports represents. In the interim, what can students and supporters that want E-Sports on HBCU campuses do? Starting an E-Sports club is the first major action that can be taken to bridge that divide:

1) Create a collective community of gamers that share the same will to compete at a higher level. It can be Madden, Call Of Duty, Dragonball Z Fighters, etc. If it can be played, odds are that you'll be able to create a competitive framework among people within your own collegiate circle. Get enough like-minded players and you'll have a club team.

2) Contact your respective Student Governments and school administrations about the idea of creating an E-Sports presence on your campus. that could be a degree program, sponsorship for an E-Sports team or facilities, etc. The key is getting the word out to these administrations on how lucrative the industry is, and ho it can benefit the visibility of HBCU's as a whole to a genre of student that would be drawn to those kinds of programs.

The opportunity for extra revenue and appeal is there for our institutions, if enough embrace the industry. I'd LOVE to see a SWAC/MEAC E-Sports Challenge, or a CIAA/SIAC E-Sports Challenge. Better still, how about an HBCU Inter-Collegiate E-Sports League, with sponsors like the USAF, or Google, or Microsoft, or any number of sponsors out there. Is it ambitious to think that big? Possibly...It's still an EXTREMELY ATTAINABLE ambition to have, IF we can collectively embrace the opportunity that the E-Sports industry represents to our institutions collectively. In a time where HBCU's need to be creative in order to diversify their streams of revenue for survival, an investment in the E-Sports phenomenon seems to be a sure-fire bet to take a chance on.

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