Kent State and the University of Akron are among a dozen founding members of a new conference for esports. The Mid-American Athletic Conference (MAC) has created the Esports Collegiate Conference to organize competitions beginning next school year. The conference will operate independently of the MAC.
As the current national champions in two games, the University of Akron is excited about the new conference. UA Esports director, Nathan Meeker, who refers to the conference as e-collegiate says the conference will draw new fans to esports and allow the participating schools to build rivalries.
"Because it ultimately gives us a known factor when we’re playing against some of these other schools, which is going to be very beneficial to not only our program, but the other programs that are in e-collegiate as well” says Meeker.
With the current pandemic, some schools and their participants will be playing from their dorm rooms, homes, and on-campus. The competition will feature two games; Overwatch and the League of Legends.
Besides the University of Akron and Kent State University, the other founding members of the Esport Collegiate Conference are Ball State University, Bowling Green State University, University of Buffalo, Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Miami University, Northern Illinois University, Ohio University, University of Toledo and Western Michigan.
