EGF LAUNCHES BIG EAST AND POWER FIVE ESPORTS INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENTS
New York, NY (October 29, 2019) The Electronic Gaming Federation (EGF) today announced the launch of two preseason national collegiate tournaments for competitive Division 1 esports teams. The EGF BIG EAST Esports Invitational tournament will bring their traditional conference rivalries to the arena with esports teams from selected schools in the BIG EAST Conference on December 7-8, 2019 in NYC. BIG EAST schools scheduled to participate in this tournament are teams from Butler, DePaul, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova and Xavier.
The EGF Power Five Esports Invitational, held January 18-19, 2020 features schools from the athletic conferences of the SEC, ACC, Pac 12, Big Ten, and Big 12. Scheduled Power Five participating teams include: Florida State University, University of Illinois, Louisiana State University, Ole Miss, Washington State University, and more.
Four weeks of preliminary matches begin the week of November 3, 2019 to determine seeding. Both elite-level amateur tournaments will be held in New York City. Live coverage of the prelims and tournament play will be streamed on Twitch.tv/officialEGF. These tournaments are precursors to the 2020 EGFC League Season One, which kicks off on February 1, culminating in the final teams across all titles joining for the EGFC National Championship held in April 2020.
The BIG EAST and Power Five invitational tournaments will feature teams competing head to head in Rocket League. The 2020 EGFC League Season One plans to expand to include a variety of top tier esports titles across MOBA, RTS (Real Time Strategy), and sports titles (e.g. FIFA/Madden)
Founded in 2015, EGF is widely recognized as the leading national governing body for organized high school level and collegiate varsity esports leagues. In July, the EGF announced its collaboration with Walt Disney World® Resort to launch the EGF High School National Championships at Walt Disney World® Resort held in June 2020 at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Florida.
“EGF is building powerful things across the esports ecosystem. We are proud to host teams from the Big East, as well as selected teams from across the Power Five conferences in what will be just a taste of the 2020 EGFC League Season One held next Spring,” stated Tyler Schrodt, CEO of Electronic Gaming Federation..
“The member institutions of the BIG EAST Conference have been exploring the esports space for several years and this is a great opportunity for them to continue their development by working with the EGF team” said Chris Schneider, Senior Associate Commissioner for Sport Administration and Championships. “EGF is providing a unique opportunity for our teams, for the first time, to compete against each other in person. I know that the students are excited and we are looking forward to a great event here in New York.”
Esports is one of the fastest growing activities in the world. Industry analysts have estimated that today, over 2 billion people worldwide play or watch esports across all gaming titles. By 2022, the growth of esports from a competition and viewer standpoint is expected to exceed 300 million participants. Collegiate programs began in earnest in 2015 and now feature more than 150 collegiate programs. Division I schools are getting serious about esports with strong growth in official programs and the EGFC League national competition.
This rapid growth in participants and viewers makes EGF’s leadership key in growing opportunities for amateur esports’ industry professionals of the future. EGF’s high school and collegiate programs provide both elite level competition and a taste of the esports ecosystem to give young players experience in the business, production and competitive sides of the industry.
ABOUT EGF:
Founded in 2015, EGF is the first to establish unique platforms for youth, high school and Division 1 collegiate esports competitions. With students and education at its core, EGF’s youth, high school and collegiate leagues & programs were inspired by the best aspects of traditional sports to create opportunities for students and schools to engage and advance. Divisions of EGF include EGFY (Youth), EGFH (High School), EGFC (Collegiate) programs.
For more information or to inquire about collegiate participation, please get in touch through our contact page.
About the BIG EAST
The BIG EAST Conference is an association of 10 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 3,500 student-athletes on over 200 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 36 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.