University Offers Scholarships to Skilled League of Legends Players

I’ve got a newsflash for you all: Gaming is mainstream now!  We’re a target audience, gamers are supporting a multi-billion dollar industry on our backs and we have the attention of those people who decide what’s mainstream and what’s not.  That said, there are some parts of gaming that are defiantly less mainstream than other parts.  For example, the FPS is pretty darn mainstream—dating sims staring pigeons, decidedly less so.  E-Sports also lacks mainstream appeal, because even though electronic sporting events are big business and draws a lot of fans and money, most people still consider it ‘weird’ to treat video games as anything more than a mere distraction.

Back in 2013, the United States officially decided that E-Sports were as legitimate as any other sporting venture by giving professional players the same visas they give the players of other sports.  And now, Robert Morris University is throwing its hat into the E-Sports ring, offering scholarships to skilled League of Legends players in the hope of forming their own professional team.

It works the same way any other sports-based scholarship would work.  You go in, prove you’re good, you get 50% of your tuition and room and board paid for, and then you play League of Legends on your school’s team against other schools in the Riot's North American Collegiate Championship.  Winner of that gets $100,000 in scholarship money, so you can see why a school might be interested in getting a skilled team together.

"Robert Morris University has always been at the forefront of providing opportunities for a diverse student population with different interests and skills," Says Associate Athletic Director Kurt Melcher, "League of Legends is a competitive, challenging game which requires significant amount of teamwork to be successful."

Inspired words.  The school has already begun recruiting for the fall semester, but unless you’ve already proved your chops in another League tournament then your chances probably aren’t good.  Still, another step forward for the legitimacy of E-Sports!