ESports are settling into national television broadcasts more than ever. ESPN is finding huge success with its mainstream eSports coverage and its Heroes of the Dorm tournaments, and TBS will soon air a series devoted to Counter-Strike competitions. And soon, Big Ten Network will be getting in on the action.
Yahoo Esports has reported that the network will air a tournament between two top League of Legends teams next Monday, after it takes place this weekend at PAX East.
Ohio State and Michigan State will take on one another in front of live fans at PAX East, and the Campus Series semifinals and finals will also take place. This means greater exposure for both Riot Games’ hit title League of Legends, and the collegiate eSports gaming scene in general.
Michael Sherman, collegiate lead for Riot Games, explained why the partnership was so ideal: “The reason we went with the Big Ten, because of the 14 schools in the conference, 13 of them have League teams, and five of them made it into the Campus Series. As a partner, they were an obvious choice.”
However, instead of prepping players more for pro league play, Sherman explained how Riot was focused more on the collegiate competition itself. “We view this as a parallel to (the Challenger Series). Collegiate by no means feeds into LCS or Challenger and isn’t meant to replace Challenger. Collegiate is just another level of play. There are students who want to take competitive play seriously, but really want to drive home on their degree. This is their opportunity to do so.”
“I think the actual details of how this folds into each other is something that we’re going to be working out over the next couple of years,” he added. “I think what this really is is a continuation of driving League of Legends as a sport. Conferences being involved and collegiate sports being involved as a whole is just another level of play that drives League to being a sport.”
Whether or not this will lead to more eSports-related programming on Big Ten has yet to be seen, but it’s an excellent start.
Those that wish to tune in sooner can do so, as the tournament will be aired all weekend long, starting on April 22nd at noon EDT on both BTN2Go and Lolesports.
