Now that a vast majority of sports are no longer airing, eSports has taken center stage as many turn to their computers to play and connect with online communities. Nearly 8 million people log on daily to play eSports, and the number of players continues to grow.

As a major growth industry, eSports also provides an array of career opportunities. From shoutcasting and coding, to data science and analytics, students can apply their passion for sports in a new, digital-first framework.

Recognizing the opportunities in the field, this year the University partnered with Microsoft to bring teams of students not only into a major eSports competition, but also behind the scenes into the business side of the industry.

A team of SU students is participating in the April EGF Spring Collegiate Power Series competition. And students from the iSchool, Falk College, and Newhouse are also participating in a summit alongside the competition, bringing in well-known industry experts to speak on topics from eSports journalism, to accessibility, to the economics of the industry, and potential career paths. The summit is open to the public, and to date, there have been about 220,000 participants.

Some of the past panelists have included Mike Hume, a reporter for Launcher at the Washington PostTyler Shrodt, CEO of the Electronic Gaming Federation; and Leo Olebe, the Global Director of Games Partnerships at Facebook Gaming.

If you’d like to take part in the summit, you can attend live via the links below, or check out the recorded presentations on our YouTube channel

If you’d like to hear what our students have learned, join us May 7th for a presentation on data science in eSports from iSchool students Aarthe Jayaprakash, Deepak Sharma, Yash Kapadia, and Manan Meghani.