Cal just won the Overwatch Collegiate Championship for the second year in a row, sweeping Irvine and their undefeated record.

Is it time we take esports seriously and award scholarships?

http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/22484659/cal-golden-bears-beat-uc-irvine-anteaters-3-0-wins-fiesta-bowl-overwatch-collegiate-national-championship

'The Fiesta Bowl Overwatch Collegiate National Championship was held in a packed arena at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, and live-streamed to millions of viewers via the Twitch channel.

The tournament received close to 14 million views overall"

http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/02/17/cal-overwatch-championship/

Sebastabear said:

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Been talking to Cal about this for years. It was even widely discussed at the meeting between the Chancellor and some athletic donors last summer. Every time I have the conversation Cal acts like I'm suggesting we get into competitive carrot peeling.

If you want to talk about the decline in attendance at college football this is part of that. Ask the average group of teenage boys what sports they follow and esports will beat out all the others and it's not close.

League of Legends, etc are outdrawing the NBA finals and the World Series. We may not like it but this is the future and we should figure out how to be part of it.

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Agreed. Simply, I think Cal should take advantage of whatever it can and whatever it's good at. If this is one of those things, and we appear to be pretty damn good, we need to take it as seriously as possible.

Sebas, if donors straight up give money to some sort of esports endowment, Cal pretty much has to take it right? Can we just force their hand on this?

socaliganbear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Been talking to Cal about this for years. It was even widely discussed at the meeting between the Chancellor and some athletic donors last summer. Every time I have the conversation Cal acts like I'm suggesting we get into competitive carrot peeling.

If you want to talk about the decline in attendance at college football this is part of that. Ask the average group of teenage boys what sports they follow and esports will beat out all the others and it's not close.

League of Legends, etc are outdrawing the NBA finals and the World Series. We may not like it but this is the future and we should figure out how to be part of it.

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Agreed. Simply, I think Cal should take advantage of whatever it can and whatever it's good at. If this is one of those things, and we appear to be pretty damn good, we need to take it as seriously as possible.

Sebas, if donors straight up give money to some sort of esports endowment, Cal pretty much has to take it right? Can we just force their hand on this?

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It's tough. You really need some level of coordination from Cal to make this work. Even if you're willing to fund them you need to Cal to designate some internal resources. Some of the conversations I've been in have involved the developers of major video game franchises and they've ranged from open to the idea to vocally enthusiastic, but Cal athletics isn't biting.

I get it on some level - when your house is on fire you don't worry about the paint peeling. Just feels like a wasted opportunity to be at the vanguard of the next big thing. Cal is really ideally suited culturally, geographically and financially to ride this wave.

Gotcha. I think the fact that Irvine already has scholarship players should serve as a clear indicator that this is something Cal should be on top of as well.

Next will be Mario Cart championships.

You don't need to play the game if you control the rules.

I'm excited. Let's encourage our kids to sit on their behinds and play video games all day. Will the ncaa regulate? Will they impose time limitations on team practice? We could pay off Memorial in no time if we add more big screens and show the match live. Promise that one hot girl will show up and it'll be a sellout.

I think it already has taken off given the massive audience and the fact that the freaking Fiesta Bowl sponsors the damn championship. As they sign on more sponsorships, athletic departments will have a hard time turning away money.


Also, this made me LOL:
http://www.dailycal.org/2018/02/17/cal-preview-overwatch-collegiate-national-championship/

Toronto comes in to the tournament looking for revenge for last year's embarrassment. The team will also have a chip on its shoulder as the only non-California team, essentially representing the entire collegiate "Overwatch" community outside of the state. "We really want to beat them," said Toronto's Marco "Funanah" Chu. "Personally, I really want to beat them. We'll either beat them or make them earn the spot to get into the finals."

On the other hand, Cal doesn't really see Toronto as a threat.
"The general consensus is that we're going to beat Toronto," said Cal's Alexander "PaiGwut" Dam. "We're going to 3-0 them. We're very confident that we're going to win."

socaliganbear said:

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Cal just won the Overwatch Collegiate Championship for the second year in a row, sweeping Irvine and their undefeated record.

Is it time we take esports seriously and award scholarships?

http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/22484659/cal-golden-bears-beat-uc-irvine-anteaters-3-0-wins-fiesta-bowl-overwatch-collegiate-national-championship

'The Fiesta Bowl Overwatch Collegiate National Championship was held in a packed arena at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, and live-streamed to millions of viewers via the Twitch channel.

The tournament received close to 14 million views overall"

http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/02/17/cal-overwatch-championship/

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You can't be serious with this ****.

I clicked the link, and the coach of Irvine looks like an obese Jon Luvitz. What a joke.

Here is UCI's eSports Arena

https://esports.uci.edu/arena/

Cal is in a good position to be the Notre Dame/Ohio State/Alabama of ESports.

socaliganbear said:

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Here is UCI's eSports Arena

https://esports.uci.edu/arena/

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I've toured that, it's impressive.

e-sports is big...

https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/E-sports-arena-set-to-open-in-Las-Vegas-10966708.php

Bear70 said:

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I'm excited. Let's encourage our kids to sit on their behinds and play video games all day. Will the ncaa regulate? Will they impose time limitations on team practice? We could pay off Memorial in no time if we add more big screens and show the match live. Promise that one hot girl will show up and it'll be a sellout.

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I heard the girl doesn't even have to be hot. She just has to play video games and she'll be littered with gifts from gamers. I know someone's sister that has gotten marriage proposals and gifts before even meeting some guys.

I would find this exciting and interesting if the final was played out on the field at the Rose Bowl

Scholarships? Sure. IF UC Berkeley makes a net profit on the team. Let's be clear here. This is a business. If it makes money, then it is worth investigating whether Cal Athletics should invest in that business (by offering scholarships, paying for coaches, etc.). If it doesn't make money, then I don't give a rats ass whether it is tennis, esports or competitive masturbation - Cal Athletics can't afford it.

So here's a question - did Cal Athletics get any revenue from that esports event? I'm betting they didn't get a cent. So why should Berkeley offer scholarships in that sport?

Of course this just came across my feed: https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/esports-ecosystem

Anyhow, Cal has an advantage in a growing market, it should take advantage of that advantage. Especially when donors are willing to put up that money.

Or we can wait around for USC, UCLA or Oregon to take our spot, invest, and then come back to BI in 5 years and complain and moan about how Cal IA is so behind the big guys.

socaliganbear said:

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Of course this just came across my feed: https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/esports-ecosystem

Anyhow, Cal has an advantage in a growing market, it should take advantage of that advantage. Especially when donors are willing to put up that money.

Or we can wait around for USC, UCLA or Oregon to take our spot, invest, and then come back to BI in 5 years and complain and moan about how Cal IA is so behind the big guys.

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I promise to never complain. Cool?

socaliganbear said:

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Cal just won the Overwatch Collegiate Championship for the second year in a row, sweeping Irvine and their undefeated record.

Is it time we take esports seriously and award scholarships?

http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/22484659/cal-golden-bears-beat-uc-irvine-anteaters-3-0-wins-fiesta-bowl-overwatch-collegiate-national-championship

'The Fiesta Bowl Overwatch Collegiate National Championship was held in a packed arena at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, and live-streamed to millions of viewers via the Twitch channel.

The tournament received close to 14 million views overall"

http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/02/17/cal-overwatch-championship/

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Where can I buy the "Cal -- Fiesta Bowl National Champions" T-shirt? Thanks!

Some competitive teams have their training houses in the Bay Area. The only real big problem with E-Sports is that games have high turnover -- unless you run into an anomaly like CS:GO, games run their course in 5-6 years, so you'll have to constantly evolve your teams and guessing which game is next up is a bit of a crapshoot. But the risk is worth the reward when you think about Cal's population and the surrounding population.

Chapman_is_Gone said:

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socaliganbear said:

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Of course this just came across my feed: https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/esports-ecosystem

Anyhow, Cal has an advantage in a growing market, it should take advantage of that advantage. Especially when donors are willing to put up that money.

Or we can wait around for USC, UCLA or Oregon to take our spot, invest, and then come back to BI in 5 years and complain and moan about how Cal IA is so behind the big guys.

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I promise to never complain. Cool?

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I have zero interest in esports and it is mind boggling to me that anyone else does. However, they do. It is a hot field and is growing. It is tailor made for Cal's student body and with no help from the admin we've had national success. It would take minimal investment on the part of the school to cultivate this at this point. It is frankly stupid and short sighted not to. We could be the Alabama of esports and be ensconced before other schools know what hit them. There is a very good chance that this becomes a big deal that can be seriously monetized. If it doesn't, you haven't given up much.

There was a time when few cared about football. That is how it is with new things. The writing is already on the wall with this. It is stupid to miss out because we are too stodgy to care about things that are important to a new generation because they aren't important to us.

The response from Cal is quite frankly TypiCal.

Cal would not be able to monetize their participation in esports unless it owns the facilities. Once you realize that, you have a better understanding of who Cal's competition would be in that space. It is not USC, Stanford or Oregon. It is the existing esports leagues - which own their facilities because they understand that is the effective gatekeeper to being able to charge for seating, advertising and video feeds.

Now on the one hand, that is an opportunity. If Cal built their own facility, and none of the other P12 schools did (a likely outcome), Cal could jumpstart a P12 conference league for multiple titles (PUBG, Overwatch, LOL, etc.) and gain a disproportionate share of conference revenues. There would be two hurdles - first would the P12 network have preemptive ownership of the resulting videofeeds? If so, Cal would need figure some way of cutting the P12 network off at the knees. Second, who is going to pony up the money to pay the arena? Cal Athletics doesn't have the money. And after the football stadium fiasco, it doesn't have the pedigree to ask investors/the university to invest in such a scheme.

There's really only one logical entity that could fund such an endeavor. Namely football. If football was run as a BUSINESS and given discretion over its own revenues (subject to the restriction of funding an equivalent number of female athletic scholarships), then it could redirect its excess cash flow into improving its football business and investing in esports. Such a move would of course gut the entire non-revenue sports program at Cal. Do you think the powers that be at Cal Athletics would agree to such a move? Would you?

Cal84 said:

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Cal would not be able to monetize their participation in esports unless it owns the facilities. Once you realize that, you have a better understanding of who Cal's competition would be in that space. It is not USC, Stanford or Oregon. It is the existing esports leagues - which own their facilities because they understand that is the effective gatekeeper to being able to charge for seating, advertising and video feeds.

Now on the one hand, that is an opportunity. If Cal built their own facility, and none of the other P12 schools did (a likely outcome), Cal could jumpstart a P12 conference league for multiple titles (PUBG, Overwatch, LOL, etc.) and gain a disproportionate share of conference revenues. There would be two hurdles - first would the P12 network have preemptive ownership of the resulting videofeeds? If so, Cal would need figure some way of cutting the P12 network off at the knees. Second, who is going to pony up the money to pay the arena? Cal Athletics doesn't have the money. And after the football stadium fiasco, it doesn't have the pedigree to ask investors/the university to invest in such a scheme.

There's really only one logical entity that could fund such an endeavor. Namely football. If football was run as a BUSINESS and given discretion over its own revenues (subject to the restriction of funding an equivalent number of female athletic scholarships), then it could redirect its excess cash flow into improving its football business and investing in esports. Such a move would of course gut the entire non-revenue sports program at Cal. Do you think the powers that be at Cal Athletics would agree to such a move? Would you?

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What in the world? Why would Cal need an arena? They're not starting their own league. UCI outfitted an existing space for 250k. It's basically a computer lab. You don't need an arena. The program already exist. All it's missing is scholarship money and sanctioned space on campus, with some additional support staff. Given that one of Cal's big young donors is in the esports business league, I don't think money would be an issue.

Additionally, the feeds don't belong to the pac 12 or the ncaa, they belong to private sponsors.

The point is we're already good at it, let's give them some help because it's growing.

The endeavor already exists.

Folks, April Fools Day is still a month away.

Did I miss something?

Football, MBB, WBB are the only Cal sports I pay any attention to.

Sebastabear said:

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Been talking to Cal about this for years. It was even widely discussed at the meeting between the Chancellor and some athletic donors last summer. Every time I have the conversation Cal acts like I'm suggesting we get into competitive carrot peeling.

If you want to talk about the decline in attendance at college football this is part of that. Ask the average group of teenage boys what sports they follow and esports will beat out all the others and it's not close.

League of Legends, etc are outdrawing the NBA finals and the World Series. We may not like it but this is the future and we should figure out how to be part of it.

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Would there be Title IX implications if Cal added an esports team (which I am guessing is entirely male)? Would adding those male athletes throw us out of compliance?

GoldenBearofCalifornia said:

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Sebastabear said:

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GBeen talking to Cal about this for years. It was even widely discussed at the meeting between the Chancellor and some athletic donors last summer. Every time I have the conversation Cal acts like I'm suggesting we get into competitive carrot peeling.

If you want to talk about the decline in attendance at college football this is part of that. Ask the average group of teenage boys what sports they follow and esports will beat out all the others and it's not close.

League of Legends, etc are outdrawing the NBA finals and the World Series. We may not like it but this is the future and we should figure out how to be part of it.

---

Would there be Title IX implications if Cal added an esports team (which I am guessing is entirely male)? Would adding those male athletes throw us out of compliance?

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Yeah, that's definitely a concern. I think there's a path that involves using club status. Was in a meeting where someone gave a half hour monologue about how to make this work. But to be honest my eyes glazed over at some point and I started thinking about how we were going to address our issues in the secondary. I'm ashamed to admit that I find the nuances of Title IX simultaneously stultifying and incomprehensible,

GoldenBearofCalifornia said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Been talking to Cal about this for years. It was even widely discussed at the meeting between the Chancellor and some athletic donors last summer. Every time I have the conversation Cal acts like I'm suggesting we get into competitive carrot peeling.

If you want to talk about the decline in attendance at college football this is part of that. Ask the average group of teenage boys what sports they follow and esports will beat out all the others and it's not close.

League of Legends, etc are outdrawing the NBA finals and the World Series. We may not like it but this is the future and we should figure out how to be part of it.

---

Would there be Title IX implications if Cal added an esports team (which I am guessing is entirely male)? Would adding those male athletes throw us out of compliance?

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This is an interesting question as it's not a male sport. It's co-ed, that the roster is all male is not by rule. So how do you get around that?

socaliganbear said:

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GoldenBearofCalifornia said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Been talking to Cal about this for years. It was even widely discussed at the meeting between the Chancellor and some athletic donors last summer. Every time I have the conversation Cal acts like I'm suggesting we get into competitive carrot peeling.

If you want to talk about the decline in attendance at college football this is part of that. Ask the average group of teenage boys what sports they follow and esports will beat out all the others and it's not close.

League of Legends, etc are outdrawing the NBA finals and the World Series. We may not like it but this is the future and we should figure out how to be part of it.

---

Would there be Title IX implications if Cal added an esports team (which I am guessing is entirely male)? Would adding those male athletes throw us out of compliance?

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This is an interesting question as it's not a male sport. It's co-ed, that the roster is all male is not by rule. So how do you get around that?

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I think that gets at a larger societal issue surrounding gaming frankly.

I've been playing Overwatch with my kids (9 and 10). It's a lot of fun and highly addictive. Yes, my kids have caught me in the basement playing after our screen time was up. Very embarrassing.

We watched a live Overwatch competition once and it was fun. I don't think it would make sense if you haven't played though. With all the hours I've spent watching other people play sports I can't knock watching esports. It's all watching somebody else perform.

btw, my daughter plays a mean D-Va. Maybe she'll get a scholarship someday.

Sebastabear said:

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GoldenBearofCalifornia said:

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Sebastabear said:

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GBeen talking to Cal about this for years. It was even widely discussed at the meeting between the Chancellor and some athletic donors last summer. Every time I have the conversation Cal acts like I'm suggesting we get into competitive carrot peeling.

If you want to talk about the decline in attendance at college football this is part of that. Ask the average group of teenage boys what sports they follow and esports will beat out all the others and it's not close.

League of Legends, etc are outdrawing the NBA finals and the World Series. We may not like it but this is the future and we should figure out how to be part of it.

---

Would there be Title IX implications if Cal added an esports team (which I am guessing is entirely male)? Would adding those male athletes throw us out of compliance?

---

Yeah, that's definitely a concern. I think there's a path that involves using club status. Was in a meeting where someone gave a half hour monologue about how to make this work. But to be honest my eyes glazed over at some point and I started thinking about how we were going to address our issues in the secondary. I'm ashamed to admit that I find the nuances of Title IX simultaneously stultifying and incomprehensible,

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Fair enough. I do not know enough about Title IX, but it seemed like it might be a concern. That would be great if there is a way around it by using club status.

socaliganbear said:

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GoldenBearofCalifornia said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Been talking to Cal about this for years. It was even widely discussed at the meeting between the Chancellor and some athletic donors last summer. Every time I have the conversation Cal acts like I'm suggesting we get into competitive carrot peeling.

If you want to talk about the decline in attendance at college football this is part of that. Ask the average group of teenage boys what sports they follow and esports will beat out all the others and it's not close.

League of Legends, etc are outdrawing the NBA finals and the World Series. We may not like it but this is the future and we should figure out how to be part of it.

---

Would there be Title IX implications if Cal added an esports team (which I am guessing is entirely male)? Would adding those male athletes throw us out of compliance?

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This is an interesting question as it's not a male sport. It's co-ed, that the roster is all male is not by rule. So how do you get around that?

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I know enough to spot that potential issue, but not enough to know whether it is an actual issue. I think your point about it being a co-ed sport is a good one. It would surprise me if Cal could either be in compliance or out of compliance depending on the make-up of the team in any given year. That does not seem like a logical way to write a rule, so I would think the rule is written differently. That said, I am not aware of another co-ed college sport. However another poster said that having it be a club sport could be a way around the Title IX issue, so perhaps it would not end up being an issue.

dajo9 said:

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I've been playing Overwatch with my kids (9 and 10). It's a lot of fun and highly addictive. Yes, my kids have caught me in the basement playing after our screen time was up. Very embarrassing.

We watched a live Overwatch competition once and it was fun. I don't think it would make sense if you haven't played though. With all the hours I've spent watching other people play sports I can't knock watching esports. It's all watching somebody else perform.

btw, my daughter plays a mean D-Va. Maybe she'll get a scholarship someday.

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I think this is more common than you'd think. Video games are a great way to bond with your kids - particularly the MOBAs and other games where you can be on the same team. It's just a new way to find things they want to do anyway and this generation will happily do with their parents.

I've tried all of these with my boy. The only one I'm halfway decent at is League of Legends, and there only because I can main one champion and use my experience to offset my old man reflexes (professional gamers tend to retire in their very early 20s or sooner - that fraction of a second slowdown on the reflexes makes it impossible to perform at the highest levels otherwise).

Realize of course that this parenting tip has absolutely zero appeal for most of you, but if you can swing it it's a great way to stay connected with your kid. I can't tell you the number of insights I've gotten into what is going on with my son while chatting with him over Discord during a game.