Events DC, the District of Columbia’s official convention and sports authority, has renewed its partnership with Game Gym to launch the Mid-Atlantic Esports Conference for collegiate esports in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.
Starting this month, the inaugural season will see twelve colleges and universities compete in League of Legends, Rocket League and Overwatch for cash prizes, scholarships, and donations of computers and gaming peripherals.
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Gregory A. O’Dell, President and CEO of Events DC, commented: “Events DC is proud to support our regional collegiate esports community by partnering with Game Gym to launch this new Conference.
“Washington, DC is a vibrant and dynamic hub for sporting and cultural events that can’t be found anywhere else – and esports is an increasingly important component of that ecosystem. We look forward to expanding our engagement with the esports community through our partnership with Game Gym and our role as Co-Founder of the Mid-Atlantic Esports Conference.”
According to the release, the goal of the conference is to ‘create local rivalries, foster friendly competition amongst area universities and support the development of esports programmes’.
Josh Hafkin, Game Gym’s CEO, commented: “The Mid-Atlantic Esports Conference will raise the level of competition here in the region and help support the growing esports programmes at colleges and universities throughout DC, Virginia and Maryland. We are proud to launch this Conference in partnership with Events DC.”
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Additionally, the conference will develop and manage other programmes to support esports at participating schools. This includes the creation of an online clearinghouse for available internships, an esports job fair, and a ‘College Combine’ for high schools students to learn more about the esports programmes at participating schools,
“It is great to see the formation of an independent esports conference for institutions of higher education starting here in the Mid-Atlantic area,” said Joey Gawrysiak, Director, Esports at Shenandoah University. “We are looking forward to increased competition and professional development opportunities around esports, as we all continue to build up esports and make the Mid-Atlantic region a leader in the collegiate esports space.”
Peter Parker, Student President of GMU Esports at George Mason University, added: “We readily anticipate the rivalries and competition the Mid-Atlantic Esports Conference will bring to the area. What a great initiative!”
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Esports Insider says: Forming a local conference that creates friendly competition among universities, whilst also mediating internships and jobs for students, is a great way to support the development of collegiate esports.