Esports is coming to Northern Kentucky University as a varsity sports program. The program starts this fall and will compete in the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), the nation’s largest varsity esports league. The team will compete in NACE’s Rocket League, an arcade-style game that blends soccer and “vehicular mayhem.”
The team will compete in and broadcast from a new innovation lab called “The Sandbox,” which will also serve as a practice facility. The new varsity team emerges from a highly successful esports club, which began at NKU in 2016 and has attracted nearly 600 students. As part of the program, NKU plans to develop classes and other academic programs focused on the esports industry. It also hopes to someday offer scholarships to recruit esports student-athletes.