Riot Games announces governing body for collegiate LoL

League of Legends publisher Riot Games has announced the launch of a governing body to handle their collegiate and high school esports.

As per prior reports, The Riot Scholastic Association of America (RSAA) is comprised of an advisory board of six leaders in the college esports space, who will work in tandem with a dedicated Riot Games team.

The announcement came via Riot Games’ Head of College, Michael Sherman on Twitter, with the RSAA’s website citing the reason behind running a publisher-backed governing body as giving them the freedom and “resources to continue investing in college League of Legends without the need to charge membership fees, raise outside capital, or chase down challenging/nascent business models”. 

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The RSAA has outlined three key pillars to its governance, being students first, developing long term stability, and upholding competitive integrity, and has listed their primary goal as “Govern varsity competition for Riot’s games and foster the development of gaming as a meaningful and complementary part of the high school and college experiences.”

This morning we announced the Riot Scholastic Association of America, the governing body for College League of Legends. Learn more about what this means and why we’re doing it on https://t.co/1jojsQUQml pic.twitter.com/lY6EGcRMop

— Michael Sherman (@RiotSherman) May 22, 2019

The RSAA’s board of advisors includes UC Irvine Director of Esports, Mark Deppe, Big Ten Network Vice President of Marketing, Erin Harvego, as well as Kurt Melcher, Executive Director of Esports at Intersport and Robert Morris University. 

SEE ALSO: Big East partners with Riot Games for collegiate competition

In addition to outline the governing body and the board, the RSAA also have an informative FAQ’s section which can be catered for schools new or unfamiliar with League of Legends esports, parents who wish to find out more about how collegiate LoL works, and students who want to participate or foster competitive LoL at their college or school. 

Esports Insider says: The founding of this governing body is a positive step towards standardising competition at this level. The Riot Scholastic Association of America’s mission statement and pillars indicate a focused purpose for the body, but how it all functions remains to be seen. It will be interesting to see how the RSAA interacts with other amateur organisers that have a handy presence in the college scene, such as Upsurge Esports. The FAQ section is also a great touch to provide clear and relevant information catered to audiences within and outside the scene. 

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