College students at the Skillshot esports analyst desk comment on the Georgia Esports League competition between rivals Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia in the game Rocket League.
Skillshot Media, a leading esports production company, and Ghost Gaming, the Atlanta-based professional esports and lifestyle organization, today announced a partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Georgia Film Academy, and founding partner universities across Georgia to launch the Georgia Esports League (GEL).
The league is the nation’s first comprehensive statewide initiative covering esports competition, curriculum, and workforce development to serve the videogame, esports, and digital entertainment industry.
The announcement comes at a time of increasing live esports event activity across the state. In May Skillshot, EsportsU, and the Collegiate Sports Management Group (CSMG) produced the Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup (CECC), the largest ever national collegiate esports live event, at Gateway Arena in College Park Georgia which delivered a $1.7 million local economic impact. This October Riot Games will bring the Worlds 2022 League of Legends semifinals to State Farm Arena, and in November the global gaming festival Dreamhack returns to the Georgia World Congress Center with an expected attendance of over 40,000.
The Georgia Esports League, open to all 2-year and 4-year colleges in Georgia, will offer numerous titles starting with Rocket League, which is played across Georgia in middle school, and high school as a sanctioned varsity sport. It is also played at the collegiate and professional level. Atlanta-based Ghost Gaming has a top professional Rocket League team. The tournament platform provider and sponsor for the 2022-2023 season of Rocket League is UGC
“Esports is education,” said Todd Harris CEO of Skillshot Media and Ghost Gaming. “We’re excited to build out skill development that goes well beyond just playing games. Our partnerships in Georgia allow us to engage with students starting in middle school with STEAM exposure and social-emotional learning all the way through college competition to careers playing esports professionally, becoming a gaming creator on YouTube or Twitch, or working in the broader game and digital entertainment industry behind the scenes as a programmer, artist or designer.”
GEL Final matches will be produced and live-streamed by Skillshot out of their newly announced Atlanta esports campus, with students involved in every aspect of the production.
“Gaming and digital entertainment are key industry initiatives for Georgia,”, said Asante Bradford of the Department of Georgia Economic Development. “The Georgia Esports League will help attract college students across our state to this growing industry, so we can continue to fill the jobs posted by the many tech and digital media companies relocating to Georgia.”
Georgia has seen a host of gaming and tech companies announce major expansions in the last 12 months including a Microsoft corporate campus on 90 acres of land on the west side of Atlanta, Meta’s data-center expansion in Georgia valued at $42 billion, and Google’s 500,000 square-foot expansion in Midtown Atlanta. More broadly, the global corporate and VC investment into metaverse companies was over $120 billion in the first half of 2022 according to a McKinsey and Company report. The metaverse industry is projected to reach $5 Trillion by 2030, with a $108 - $125 billion impact specific to the videogame industry.
Georgia is leading this new digital entertainment economy, building off the success of the film industry, which saw a direct spend of $4 billion dollars in Georgia last year. A key partner for the newly announced Georgia Esports League is the Georgia Film Academy, which has already trained over 10,000 Georgians through 28 public universities and technical colleges.
“Building off our success in film, Georgia’s next workforce initiative is gaming, esports, and digital entertainment”, said Jeff Stepakoff, Executive Director of the Georgia Film Academy. “We are thrilled to partner with industry experts Skillshot Media and Ghost Gaming to build out the curriculum, deliver hands-on experiences with industry tools, and engage students via Georgia Esports League competition, events, and live-streaming. Georgia now has a full ecosystem around the world’s fastest evolving creative economy.”
The Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup held on May 6-8, 2022 at the Gateway Center Arena created a $1.78 million economic impact on the Atlanta Airport District Convention and Visitors Bureau. The “May Madness” of college esports also supported 358 jobs and nearly 900 total hotel room nights for the region while welcoming more than 2,600 ticket holders.
Powered by CSMG, ESPORTSU, and Skillshot Media and presented by CDW and Microsoft, CECC was the largest and most inclusive (Division I, II and III schools and Junior Colleges participated) collegiate LAN event ever held. The festival welcomed 64 teams and 480 athletes and coaches who competed in Overwatch (the Overwatch Collegiate Esports Commissioners Cup), VALORANT, Rocket League and Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.
“CECC was driven by the collaboration among our diverse and inclusive partners in traditional sports, tech, gaming, non-profits and consumer brands. We are committed to shaping and scaling a sustainable framework for collegiate esports, and this event set a solid foundation for our student athletes, the fans and brand partners,” said Michael Schreck, CEO of Collegiate Sports Management Group.
CECC sponsorships and onsite activations included Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta FaZe, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Reign, Barbasol (who presented the CECC Smooth Skin Selection Show on May 3), College Park Skyhawks, CTRL – A Meal Replacement, Cxmmunity, Fanaply, Futures First Gaming, Generation Esports, Ghost Gaming, Hawks Talon GC, Init Esports, High School Esports League, HomeTown Ticketing, Init Esports, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), McDonald’s, Neustreet, North America Scholastic Esports Federation, Oakley, PCGz, Skullz, the*gameHERS, U.S. Air Force and Zonebreakers. Fans also enjoyed a recruitment fair, cosplay costumes and local food trucks.
CECC kicked off on May 6 with the red carpet experience where student athletes received their personalized, commemorative CECC jerseys and then officially competed in the CECC tournaments on May 7-8. Atlanta Esports Alliance and AXR Edge hosted an Open House to welcome CECC and celebrate the gaming community in the region.
“Atlanta was honored to host this inaugural national collegiate esports event that employed more than 350 people and unlocked over $1 million in direct economic impact”, said Todd Harris, Chair of the Atlanta Esports Alliance. “Events like the Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup, and the enthusiastic support of so many local partners from both inside and outside the gaming industry, continue to advance Atlanta’s reputation as the esports capital.”
CECC crowned Bay State College (Boston) in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Illinois State University in Overwatch®, Northwood University (Midland, MI) in Rocket League and San Jose State University in VALORANT.
About CSMG
CSMG is an integrated sports and entertainment media company focused on esports and traditional sports in the new creator economy. We are an experienced, trusted results-driven team with a lens on what’s next. The focus of our business verticals – CSMG and ESPORTSU – is rooted in intellectual property rights management, acquisition, and development through media rights, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), valuation services, licensing, and sponsorship sales. We offer expertise in developing communities through brand building, original content, and event production & management. We drive our partners’ success at the crossroads of tech, sports, entertainment, and video games. To learn more, visit us at https://collegiatesmg.com/.
About Skillshot Media
Skillshot connects leading brands to engaged gaming fans while delivering positive social impact. We provide a turnkey esports solution for leading competitive titles, including online and offline tournament organization, industry-leading esports production, active community management and authentic brand integration and consulting for partners. Skillshot has more than five years of deep esports experience – hosting thousands of global competitors, paying out millions in tournament prizing and serving more than one billion esports views to date. www.skillshot.com.
The road to the Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup has begun and will culminate with a live event May 7-8, 2022 at Gateway Center Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Select partners include Barbasol, Neustreet, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, CTRL, Reveal Suits, Futures First Gaming, and HomeTown Ticketing.
All CECC ticket holders will automatically be entered to win one of the spectacular experiences, including access to the Big Football Game in Glendale, Arizona February 2023, Atlanta Hawks Opening Night 2022, or an All-Expenses Paid Trip to Hawaii. Ticket holders must be present at the event to win a prize.
Produced by CSMG, ESPORTSU, and Skillshot Media, tickets to CECC are available now at www.cecc.gg for $15 weekend packages or individual day passes for $10 each. Prices increase after May 1. For more information, visit https://www.esportsu.gg, and follow on Instagram and Twitter @CeccEvents.
The esports tournament will feature 64 schools and 480 esports athletes from across the country competing in Overwatch® (the Overwatch Collegiate Esports Commissioners Cup), Rocket League, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Valorant and NBA 2K. As various season playoffs and qualifier events continue across the nation, multiple participating conferences already include ECAC, NECC, NJCAAE, ECC and Peach Belt, among others. In all, up to twenty conferences will receive bids for their winning teams to be announced in the coming weeks during the CECC “Selection Show”.
“This event will feature the most diverse and inclusive list of endemic organizations, conference partners, schools and sponsors participating in the premiere event in the history of collegiate esports,” said Angela Bernhard Thomas, EVP of ESPORTSU at CSMG. “To have this many stakeholders who share a common vision for creating a framework for the growth and sustainability of collegiate esports programs and the industry as a whole points to the importance of this event.”
CECC serves as more of a homecoming celebration of gaming rather than a stand-alone esports tournament, and will give attendees a unique festival experience featuring food trucks, live music, a career fair, professional networking, a cosplay costume contest and interactive onsite activations. CECC provides collegiate esports athletes, fans and academic institutions an annual platform for competition, career opportunity, and community.
“What March was for college basketball, May is for college esports!”, said Todd Harris, CEO of Skillshot Media. “Collegiate Esports is on the rise in the eyes of the general public, game publishers, distribution networks, sponsors and pro-team owners, as well as the universities themselves. With this year’s CECC, the nation’s top collegiate esports programs come together to compete across the most popular games.”
The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), a nonprofit membership association and the only governing body of collegiate esports in North America, today announced their strategic partnership with Skillshot Media, esports infrastructure provider and agency, to offer collegiate competition, event production, and rights commercialization.
NACE is the association of college varsity esports programs, with over 200 member universities contributing over $16 million annually in esports scholarships. Skillshot Media has produced and licensed esports competition and events in North America for over 5 years, across numerous titles and genres, with over 1 billion video views.
“Skillshot Media powered our initial collegiate competitions for CS:GO, Smite, and other titles. After hearing our member school appetite for more competition, we considered many partners, and Skillshot was the clear choice for a strategic partner based on shared vision and capabilities,” said Michael Brooks, NACE Executive Director. “We are thrilled to offer more game titles and more live events, including collegiate Fortnite this spring and many more games to come in the fall.”
Todd Harris, Skillshot CEO, added, “NACE member schools are the true pioneers and thought leaders in collegiate esports, the schools who are committing scholarship dollars, coaches, and facilities, and are committed to positive and balanced outcomes for their student-athletes. We're excited to partner with NACE to scale esports to colleges nationwide – more schools, more game titles, more events. With our infrastructure, production capability and publisher relationships we aim to provide value to participating schools, the competing teams, and also importantly our partnered game publishers. Beyond competition, together we are also developing governance and internship opportunities for students wishing to enter the esports industry.”
NACE and Skillshot announced that the Spring 2020 collegiate competition includes both Fortnite and CS:GO with an invitational finals to take place at MomoCon in Atlanta, May 23rd, a festival that draws over 35,000 unique attendees.
About NACE
The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) is a nonprofit membership association organized by member institutions and is the only governing body of collegiate varsity esports in North America. NACE works on building the structure and providing the tools for students needed to advance at varsity-level in collegiate esports. Areas of focus include areas such as: Eligibility, Path to Graduation, Competition & Scholarships. NACE currently includes over 200 varsity esports programs of its members, accounting for nearly 90% of all varsity programs across North America.
