UC Irvine Announces League Of Legends Scholarship Program

By Jason Winter, News Editor March 31, 2016

In many cases, esports are still playing catch-up with more well-established sports, though that gap may have just narrowed a bit. Yesterday, the University of California, Irvine announced that it would be creating a scholarship program for League of Legends -- similar to programs for college football and basketball -- to start up in fall 2016.

As reported on Polygon, the four-year scholarships will be offered to 10 promising students. The program will also come with a new PC cafe on campus, partially financed by Riot Games. The cafe will be free for all students to use and will be "built in the model of Korean PC cafes and will offer a 'premium League of Legends experience,' though other games will be available as well."

The university hopes that the move will establish it as one of the most gamer-friendly colleges in the nation, while Riot Games hopes that it will serve as a template for other schools to adopt, to spread the notion of organized college-level esports. The League of Legends North American Collegiate Championship was launched in 2014 and has morphed into an ongoing 32-team league.

Now, why didn't they have a League of Legends scholarship when I was going to college?

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In this article: League of Legends, Riot Games.

About the Author

Jason Winter, News Editor
Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

lisz144 6 years ago

Wow

lost faith in humanity 6 years ago

What has the wprld become!? T.T
I'm done. bye earth!

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Derpina 6 years ago

Fat, cancerous and out of shape sports that demand adhd like brain = future athletes. I don't expect less from a nation with failing economy and clown presidents xD Yes. Go play games while my kid becomes a doctor. Filter out the schlok

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Smartass Douche 6 years ago

They didn't have a League scholarship when you went to college because back when you were in school, the Atari hadn't even been invented yet, let alone online PC games.

Satoru 6 years ago

eSports will be more popular than football, soccer, and basketball combined in about a decade, after we get true virtual reality, similar to sword art online.

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