ESPN Events announces Collegiate Esports Championship

Olivia Richman Published 14/03/2019

ESPN Events has announced its ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship.

Hosted by Tespa and the Collegiate StarLeague, hundreds of North American colleges will compete in qualifiers for the chance to compete at a live championship in Houston come May. It’s a clear attempt by ESPN Events’ to make a further push into the esports industry while it’s still relatively early in the game.

“We are proud to be providing a platform for national exposure and recognition of some of the most talented players in collegiate spaces,” said John Lasker, vice president of digital media programming for ESPN.

Prominent esports titles including Overwtach, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Hearthstone, and StarCraft II are the first to be announced as part of the event. Lasker noted that collaboration with top publishers has played a major role in making an event of this scale a reality.

“ESPN has been a terrific collaborator with Blizzard Esports over the years, having created monumental esports moments together, and we couldn’t be more excited to team up again to provide our collegiate players the opportunity to finish out the spring Tespa season on the big stage,” said Todd Pawlowski, senior vice president for live experiences at Blizzard Entertainment.

This will be Blizzard’s first time having four collegiate championship events under one roof.

Street Fighter’s executive producer Yoshinori Ono also expressed excitement over the collaboration, as this is the first time the title has been played competitively at the collegiate level.

Tespa and Collegiate StarLeague will host the qualifying rounds for Blizzard’s titles and for Street Fighter, which will result in the Collegiate Esports Championship in May. Produced and staged by ESPN Events, the live championship will take place on May 10-12 at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

“The esports landscape is a growing and dynamic space, and will fit nicely into our lineup of ESPN-owned events,” Overby said.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

View full profile

Read Also

Twitch

Kai Cenat Announces He’ll Sue Reggie — Is This the End of Clover Boys? Khizar Mundia Popular content group Clover Boys, which is associated with Kai Cenat, may be heading for a breakup after members started leaving following drama between Cenat and Reggie. Reginald “Reggie” Travers made several very public accusations against Kai Cenat and other members of Clover Boys on September 26. Cenat initially stayed away from the drama, but other creators soon began reacting to the controversy online. Reggie then made further serious allegations ...

Esports Betting

WSCI Grand Finals: Solary vs T1 Esports Academy bets and predictions Wasif Ahmed After two weeks of competition, the World Star Challengers Invitational reaches its pinnacle as Solary faces T1 Esports Academy in the grand finals of the event. Solary has dominated DN Soopers Challengers in their semifinals, while T1 Academy made quick work of Galions. It’s now a battle at the top between the juggernauts of the LFL and of the LCK Challenger League. Here are our predictions for the WSCI grand ...

News

The Social Reckoning: Will Sequel Live up to the Original? Zachary Roberts The Social Reckoning is going to come out next weekend, the long-awaited follow-up to 2010's The Social Network, the Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg biopic. That is largely hailed as a masterpiece and considered one of the best biopics ever. But can the sequel match up? Kalshi traders are not convinced according to the current implied probability at the prediction market. Legacy sequels are hard, especially when the original movie is ...

Twitch

Lacy Turns Off Twitch Ads — Here’s What the Streamer Has To Say Khizar Mundia Nick “Lacy” Fosco announced in a recent Twitch stream that he wants his viewers to enjoy his content and is turning off ads from all his future broadcasts. Lacy was last in the limelight when he announced that he was leaving CORE, the streamer organization that was primarily comprising the ex-FaZe boys. He then hosted a gaming marathon with Marlon “Mar3lg” Lundgren Garcia in September, and now Lacy is going ...

Twitch

Dan Clancy Reveals Twitch Uses AI To Link Streamers With Brands Khizar Mundia Ad revenue is a major contributor to a streamer’s overall earnings, and Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has explained how the platform is using AI to match brands to creators. Advertising is a major part of Twitch’s business, but the platform also needs to ensure creators meet brands’ suitability criteria. Clancy discussed how Twitch uses AI to identify suitable creators and flag those who don’t match a brand’s requirements during a ...

Twitch

Will Kai Cenat Grow His Twitch Subscribers in the Remainder of 2026? Khizar Mundia Twitch streamer Kai Cenat is one of the most popular personalities on the platform, with his number of followers climbing with every new event that he announces. However, his subscriber numbers have been less straightforward. The American went on an unexpected break after shattering Twitch subscriber records with his Mafiathon 3, but eventually returned with Streamer University 2026. The creator did become the most-subscribed Twitch streamer after his return, but ...

Dota 2

Yandex to repeat?: BLAST SLAM VIII preview, predictions, and more Michael Hassall If you can believe it, we’re already on the eighth edition of BLAST SLAM, as BLAST SLAM VIII kicks off tomorrow (Sep. 29) pitting 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams against each other in what promises to be the first big challenge of this young season. Let’s face it: At PGL Wallachia, we were missing a lot of the heavy hitters. No TI15 champs, no PARIVISION, not BetBoom, ...