ESL Collegiate partners with West Coast Conference

ESL has announced a partnership with the West Coast Conference (WCC) for ESL Collegiate‘s Fall 2019 season.

The West Coast Conference will join the BIG EAST Conference as the latest to join ESL Collegiate’s growing network.

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Yvette Martinez, CEO of ESL North America explained the importance of developing the collegiate sector of esports: “Collegiate esports is an essential part of the esports ecosystem. Through the addition of the West Coast Conference, we are growing esports communities on university campuses across the country and providing more opportunities for everyone to get involved in esports.”

Up until December 8th, participating WCC schools will join the ESL Collegiate 2019 Pre-season Invitational to compete in League of Legends. The collegiate conference will play weekly matches offline, with the playoffs and prospective finals being broadcast live on Twitch and YouTube. With the help of each conference, ESL hopes to “provide an opportunity to engage student esports communities on each participating campus” through the competition.

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Gloria Nevarez, Commissioner of West Coast Conference commented on the partnership: “ESL’s esports expertise, strong publisher relationships and experience in collegiate leagues make them an ideal partner to help build great esports experiences on the WCC campuses,” said Nevarez. “The ESL Collegiate 2019 Pre-season Invitational will provide a unique opportunity for our students to get involved in representing the WCC ethic of excellence in the evolving field of esports.”

Prior to the introduction of WCC, ESL had teamed up with Big Ten Network in a move to launch the BTN League of Legends season. In October, ESL found the first sponsor of its ESL Collegiate initiative in food delivery service Grubhub.

Esports Insider says: The inclusion of the West Coast Conference is a great addition to ESL Collegiate and is designed to support the overall collegiate esports space. With the rate ESL is bringing in new participating schools, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the rest of the major conferences following suit soon.

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