Esports Collegiate (ESC) Partners with eFuse to Produce the 2021-22 Academic Season

eFuse To Produce, Stream, and Coordinate 280 Total Competitive Matches for Conference’s 14 Teams Across the Three-Month Season

CLEVELAND, Ohio ( SEPT. 23, 2021) – Esports Collegiate (ESC) and its marketing rights holder, JMI Sports, announced today a partnership with eFuse, the esports platform where gamers get discovered, to produce, stream and showcase ESC events throughout the 2021-22 academic year. After adding two new programs during the 2021 offseason, the conference now hosts 14 teams, many of which compete nationally against other elite programs.

“We are very excited to welcome eFuse as a part of Esports Collegiate,” said ESC Executive Director Bob Gennarelli. “We believe this partnership opens up tremendous possibilities for the students of ESC both during and after their tenure in the league.“

Operating and streaming large-scale esports events requires extensive production experience and an intense investment in multimedia capabilities, teams, and scheduling. Under its “eRena” production platform, eFuse regularly hosts major events for top-tier partners including Atlantic Records, Activision, Misfits Gaming, and other notable brands. During the 2021-22 academic season, eFuse expects to produce 280 total games and welcome 166 players across intense round-robin weekend formats. Events will also be streamed live on eFuse’s official Twitch channel and recorded to its YouTube on-demand library.

“Helping organizations like Esports Collegiate is what eFuse eRena is built to do, and we can’t wait to help elevate their competitive experience this year,” said Matthew Benson, CEO of eFuse. “These players are among the best in the country, and they deserve to have the proper platform to shine.”

In addition to producing top-tier events, eFuse serves as a discovery platform for gamers seeking a path to becoming a pro. The eFuse “Pipeline” is gaming’s most-objective ranking of college-eligible players and with an industry-leading directory of gamers, it stands as gaming’s top recruitment tool. eFuse will operate events for four titles including “Rocket League,” “Valorant,” “Overwatch,” and “League of Legends.”

All 14 esports collegiate member schools will compete in the “Rocket League” and “Valorant” fall season that began in the first week of September. Following the culmination of the regular season, playoffs for each game title will determine the ESC champion. Previous champions include University of Akron in “Rocket League” and Northeastern University in “League of Legends.” Four member organizations, including 2020 ESC champion Miami University, were invited to Blizzard Entertainment’s National Collegiate Overwatch Spring Tournament earlier this year.

For more information and updates, please follow the ESC at esports-collegiate.com and on all social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, and Facebook.

About Esports Collegiate
Officially founded in 2020, Esports Collegiate (ESC) is the governing body for 14 member universities across seven states, committed to esports competition in the collegiate space. ESC is currently participating in official “Rocket League,” “Valorant,” “League of Legends,” and “Overwatch” seasons and sponsors ESC championships for each game title.
Current member institutions include University of Akron, Ball State University, Bowling Green State University, University at Buffalo, Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Kent State University, Miami University, Northeastern University, Northern Kentucky University, Northern Illinois University, Ohio University, University of Toledo, and Western Michigan University. The conference office is based in Cleveland, Ohio.

About eFuse
As the “LinkedIn for Gamers,” eFuse is solving esports’ talent development problem by helping gamers get discovered. Be it connecting top talent with elite collegiate programs or finding a path to pro, eFuse has provided the platform rising stars need to compete at the next level. 600,000 users actively count on eFuse to showcase recent performance, compete in big-dollar, high-production tournaments and engage with career-making organizations. Powered by a proprietary technology stack dedicated to identifying, spotlighting, and connecting rising stars, eFuse has launched dozens of competitions off its purpose-built eRena event production service, published the industry’s most objective ranking of top college-eligible players via its new “Pipeline” product, and will soon launch a premium toolset to help creators produce the unique content they need to shine. eFuse hosts 45 employees from its Columbus, Ohio, headquarters, has secured $7.4M in total funding from Ohio Innovation Fund, Odell Beckham, Jr. (Cleveland Browns), Ezekiel Elliott (Dallas Cowboys), among others.It was founded in 2018 by Austin May and Matthew Benson, a Forbes 30 under 30 alum.