As of 2015, the video game market in the U.S. was worth about $16 billion, and the e-sports market is close to $143 million in North America. LSU needs to get in on the cash action.
E-sports are, by its most simple definition, competitive gaming. With an audience of over 134 million viewers worldwide in 2015, e-sports are just as popular as other sports.
LSU should get ahead of the crowd by offering gamers student athlete status. This is going to happen eventually, and it’s enjoyable to destroy other colleges year after year by having a head start on recruitment.
Colleges in South Korea already accept gamers as student athletes, and if this could occur in the United States, we would be even closer to having standardized national competitions.
While America has a large population of professional gamers, there is little structure to e-sports nationwide. Usually tournaments and competitions are held by different companies or private groups with little standardization among the different host.
If the NCAA picks up e-sports and offer competitions and tournaments, it allows for a new generation of professional gamers to emerge. Let’s not forget the money either.
E-sports offer a new way to earn money for colleges and athletic associations through the use of digital tickets. Not everyone is going to want to sit in a crowded room full of hot computers and persperating gamers.
Selling stream access to the matches or games will allow anyone in the world to watch the games and e-sportscasting. Even at only $5 a ticket for regular matches and $10 a ticket for championship matches, e-sports can become extremely profitable.
With the unstandardized system, tournament hosts made $4.5 million in ticket sales. In 2005, South Korea held a StarCraft tournament, and it attracted 120,000 spectators.
If this type of standardization comes to America, imagine how much more money the industry could make.
There should be no concern for the athletes and what they shall do out of college. If e-sports continue to grow as quickly as it is, there will be plenty of room for professions and sponsorships.
Tournament champions in StarCraft, DOTA 2 and FPSs bring in from tens of thousands up to a million dollars from winning tournaments. Making money for playing games sounds great but gaming on their level is demanding.
People do not realize the time and dedication it takes to master games and compete on a competitive level. Anyone can play a game, but the professionals spend hours each day every day honing their skills and learning how to improve, often making it a job instead of a hobby.
LSU has a chance here to offer gamers a way into the professional gaming world while seeking an education. The cost of starting a program would not likely be expensive because it would just require a bunch of computers and games.
LSU can even host tournaments to decide who will be department heads or coaches of each different competitive genre. Maybe it can even be student-run at first. If LSU gave me its support, I would be willing to start it up myself.
With the potential for enormous profit, national attention and destroying Alabama at StarCraft, there is much to gain and little to lose for LSU.
Garrett Marcel is a petroleum engineering senior from Houma, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @Gret419.