Recruiting Today's New College Athlete: E-Athletes and E-Sports to Higher Education

With many universities seeking ways to grow their overall enrollment, administrators are exploring new ways to attract students to their campuses. Julie Seltzer of Inside Higher Ed reported in 2016 that the number of traditional-aged, college students eligible for post-secondary education is declining in many areas across the country as high school graduating classes are showing a downward trend in the overall number of graduates. As Susan Snyder points out in her 2019 Morning Call article, this dilemma of fewer overall recruits is creating a competitive market for universities as they try and find ways to distinguish themselves and attract more of the shrinking market to enroll at their institution. Today's recruiting techniques are adjusting to market to today's student and is beginning to identify other subpopulations of students that were not in existence in the past as a way to increase overall enrollment.

One subpopulation of students on the rise at many university campuses is e-sport gamers or “e-athletes.” Video gamers are giving a new definition to the traditional athlete and are attracting the attention of athletic administrators, who are willing to fund scholarships to attract today's top e-athlete. A.J. Willingham defines e-sports as competitive and organized video gaming (2018). The relationship between gamers and universities is beneficial to both parties as understanding who these students are and how they can help shape an institution is an exciting new frontier for many college recruiters and administrators.

E-athletes are in many ways related to traditional athletes in the fact they are highly skilled and talented individuals. They work hard to train at their sport and many e-athletes have a massive fan base and following (Lapastora, 2018). Thanks in part to streaming services such as Twitch, e-sports and gaming have grown in popularity over recent years. Gamers virtually play each other, as other individuals log on and watch every move these gamers take, much like traditional sports (Bettridge, 2018). The viewers are seeking new ways and ideas to achieve and conquer various video games. Video gamers range in age, with the largest (29 percent) age demographic being between 18 and 35 years old according to a 2018 survey conducted by Statista. This age range includes the traditional college-age students, as well as the rising college students. With its growing acceptance, this population of video gamers should be on the radar of every college recruiter who seeks to increase their traditional-age college student enrollment numbers.

Many college administrators are working with their recruiters to now include e-sports in their marketing and recruitment campaigns. Josh Moody of Forbes Magazine shared in a 2018 article several examples of how universities are marketing their e-sports to potential students. For instance, The University of Akron built in 2018 the world's largest e-sports facility to remain competitive with other universities that have facilities devoted to video gaming and e-sports such as the University of California, Irvine (the first public college to build a gaming facility), Boise State University, Tiffin University, and Robert Morris University, which was the first higher education institution in the US to launch e-sports in 2014. This leads to the question of whether the same notion of bigger, more advanced facilities will attract the premier e-athletes to institutions, in regard to the same tactics that have been used to attract traditional sporting athletes.

While many colleges and universities will not be able to build elaborate gaming hubs on their campuses, they need not ignore this new wave of college students making their way to their campuses. Many campuses are beginning to explore renovation projects in spaces that were not commonly used by students into hubs equipped to handle video gaming. For instance, Sullentrop reported in 2019 how Witchita State University recently renovated a space in their campus recreation center formally used for cardio workouts into a video gaming lab for students. Another example shared by Nick Williams of the Milwaukee Business Journal in 2019 was at Lakeland University, a liberal arts institution in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is renovating over a 3,000 square feet space on their campus to accommodate e-sport participants and spectators with an e-sports arena. With the funds and spaces being devoted to e-sports and video gaming on college campuses, it is no surprise that video gaming governance and policies have surfaced for the college level.

Over 50 colleges in North America have developed varsity collegiate e-sport teams and have organized a governing body known as The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE). Most of the universities currently involved with e-sports are recognized as Division II and III schools by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and have invested money into e-sport student scholarships. For example, according to NACE, over $9 million in scholarships and financial aid were awarded from NACE institutions to students in varsity e-sports programs in 2017. Participating NACE institutions will compete in video tournaments such as League of Legends, Overwatch, and Fortnite, which are some of the most popular video games on the current market (Grisham, 2015). These tournaments are now seen as potential recruiting venues for higher education.

College admission officers, along with other university administrators are interested in attending NACE's tournaments and hopefully convincing today's top gamers to sign up and play for their e-sports teams because it can be very lucrative for both the gamer and the university (Guzman, 2018). Many of these tournaments have huge cash prizes from sponsors that can be awarded to not only the video gamer, but their e-sport institution. These potential external sources of new funds have received the attention of many colleges and universities as they seek ways to find sources of revenue to balance high operating costs. With estimated numbers of over 165 million people worldwide who identify themselves as e-sports enthusiasts, college recruiters are starting to take notice of an untapped recruiting market of not only the actual video gamers, but their spectators, many of which are still in middle and high schools (Pankeet, 2018).

High school and middle school level gamers offer a population for targeted recruitment, much like traditional athletes have been in the past. The National Federation of State High School Associations has partnered with online gaming providers, to bring e-sports to high schools and state athletic associations (Garcia, 2018). High schools are finding ways to engage students who may not have been attracted to participate in traditional athletic events thanks to e-sports. In addition, e-sports typically have low startup costs, compared to traditional sports, so school administrators are intrigued and supportive of a low-cost after school activity. While the numbers of schools officially participating in organized video tournaments are low, growth is predicted as more interest surfaces from students, parents, and administrators to develop the programs in their school districts.

NACE has partnered with the Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) to provide recruitment strategies for e-athletes to get the attention of varsity e-sport teams. In many ways the steps video gamers take to be recruited are similar to the process followed by traditional sport athletes. It is very common for video gamers to complete a recruitment form and send video evidence of recorded gaming experiences to e-sport coaches that evaluate and make invitations to try out to those players of interest. Since e-sports are not formally associated with the NCAA, the academic eligibility requirements tend to be a bit more relaxed and vary from institution to institution. Many universities are working to pair academic and e-sport scholarships to lure this new wave of athletes to their campuses (NCSA, N.D). However, what is interesting to note is e-sports may not be housed under the athletic department as one might expect with a program with ‘sport’ in the title. As a matter of fact, NACE's executive director, Michael Brooks, stated last year in an interview with Anthony Hennen for a higher education nonprofit institute that approximately 50 percent of e-sport programs are under the division of student affairs, which is where most institutions have their campus recreation housed within the institution. This brings a new dynamic of university administrators into the recruiting arena. Again, much like traditional sports, not all video gamers may be selected to be on the varsity e-sport team, so college recruiters are promoting many of the club e-sport activities being offered on their college campuses as a way to lure these video gamers to remain active and engaged in their e-sport during their college career.

College recruiters are not the only ones interested in attracting this new type of college athlete. The military is seeking ways to motivate and recruit potential new soldiers through e-sports. The US Army failed to meet the recruiting target for the first time in 10 years, so new recruiting strategies to attract individuals, including traditional college-age students, are critical. The US Army has scheduled video gaming tournaments that will be open to active duty troops, reservists, and veterans. Winners of these tournaments will represent the US Army in international competitions, which have the lure of huge cash prizes. In addition, as reported by CBS News in 2019, the US Army announced an investment to bring mobile playing stations to college campuses across the country where college students can join in and play against current active military video gamers. The goal is that playing these video games in the virtual world might entice players to participate in actual warfare and combat.

In addition to video gaming garnering the attention of the military and recruiters, it is also gaining the interest of academic administrators as new college majors are being developed. New academic majors at the post-secondary level focused on game design, game development, or e-sports management are seeing steady growth at institutions such as Shenandoah and Caldwell Universities as students are seeking to learn more about how they can possibly turn video gaming into a career (Stoller, 2019). Video gaming and e-sports are of interest to both men and women as reported in the 2018 Pew Research Center report with 83 percent of teen girls report playing video games. Game developers recognize this fact and have created their games with both male and female characters to welcome more players. In addition, many video games are free-to-play, which are attracting both competitive and casual gamers. This widespread growth and interest in video gaming may be a factor influencing a long tradition on many university campuses which is physically attending sporting events.

A low number of spectators are attending the traditional sporting events on college campuses. In a recent 2020 article by Charlotte Wilder posted in Sports Illustrated, attendance at major football universities has steadily declined over the past four years and this trend is not expected to change any time soon. The rising costs of attending the event, the high price associated with concessions, and the inconvenience associated with a stadium (i.e. uncomfortable seats, dealing with weather conditions, parking, etc.) are all reasons reported for declining attendance in the Wilder 2020 article. Students are more interested in staying in the luxury of their own rooms and being an active participant in a video sporting game versus being a spectator in an actual game. As reported by Sarah Taylor with Athletic Business, some institutions are trying to lure more spectators to attend by offering free promotional items, reducing refreshment prices, focusing on creating a student “experience” that is social and engaging, and creating theme nights focused on topics of interest. It is unclear if these tactics will be successful in boosting attendance at these sporting events, but university administrators must do something if they want their athletic programs to be profitable. This new attitude and view for sporting spectators on college campuses is prompting athletic administrators and marketers to reexamine what is of importance to today's college students in regard to athletics.

So, what is the bottom line for higher education? E-sports are here to stay. Joe McAllister (2019), a reporter for EdTech, reported in 2018, 125 colleges and universities developed formalized e-sport programs and the number continues to rise. Looking to create dedicated spaces on campus equipped to handle video gaming should be a topic worth discussing as campuses work to adjust and greet today's students. A critical examination of the curriculum is also warranted as more industries want to hire professionals that can help them consider ways to incorporate gaming into their services and products to attract more consumers. Embracing and supporting video gaming just might be the innovative answer both college recruiters and students have been seeking as the culture of higher education continues to embrace and welcome the personality and interests of today's new college students.