By: Mason Campbell, Caleb Miller & Austin Moehn
Esports has been captivating audiences from around the world. It displays its competitive nature, strategic depth, and intense nature. No matter which side of the debate you lie on, the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay (UWGB) Esports club is now an entire team, as they will join the NECC for this upcoming season.
In February of 2022, the Esports lounge opened its doors for the first time. Students were excited as they were able to explore the Esports lounge and play their favorite games. According to the university website, “[t]he lounge includes 18 top-of-the-line PCs and two Nintendo Switches. Games include Fortnite, Overwatch, League of Legends, Roblox, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros. and more.” (UWGB, n.d.). In less than a year, they turned this area’s entire pool tables into a functioning game arena.
As the enhancement of video games increased, so did the popularity of competitive gaming. So much to the point, it was realized people would be willing to pay to watch these talented gamers compete. The University of Wisconsin Green Bay recognized the growth of Esports. When the Esports lounge first opened up in February of 2022, Ryan Krumrei, a student manager of the lounge spoke about the growth of Esports, “Esports are going … nowhere but upward.” Krumrei added, “It’s something that’s been growing for a while, since 2010, and finally, a lot of the school systems are catching on to it.” (Phelps, N).
The current team’s manager for the Esports Lounge, Jonah Zuehls, is a junior but started his first year on campus this last fall semester. According to Zuehls, UWGB took the next step in joining the NECC because they’re worth it, “The NECC is a large organization that has universities from across the country – it includes universities of all sizes; there are mid-sized schools like UWGB, as well as Ivy-League institutions. There is a large range of skills and opportunities across all major game titles. It was important that UWGB students be given the opportunity to play against the best of the best and prove their worth.”
This isn’t an easy task, and it takes hours of work and commitment. Zuehls takes his job as the teams manager very seriously, “My role as the teams manager encompasses a variety of things – there are a lot of logistics, I ensure that all of our teams and players are registered across various competitions correctly, I schedule all events for each team, and I run tryouts, just to name a few things off the top of my head.” His job also includes providing scouting, tryout hosting, and competitive school program analysis. His job is to make sure that the team stays as competitive as possible. This includes competitive Esports practice, where they host weekly scrimmages against other schools and review game footage to improve strategy. One issue Zuehls has found is gauging how competitive applicants are, “Since the caliber of play is so high, the most challenging part from my perspective has been gauging how seriously our students want to take their respective teams.
Becoming successful in these leagues is not a walk in the park – it requires a huge time commitment to produce tangible and meaningful results,” Zuehls continued, “Some students that have participated so far have taken the whole experience more casually, which is fine as we are able to field teams across many divisions of skill, but it has been a challenge ensuring our top-level teams consist of the most committed players.” Some of the games they compete in within the NECC include League of Legends, Valorant, and Rocket League. Still, according to Zuehls, they are looking forward to expanding their competitive field, “We will be adding a Counter-Strike 2 team in the Spring. There is some mild interest in adding teams for Call of Duty and Rainbow Six Siege, so if you’re reading this and want to jump in on this, please reach out to me! We could also compete in Super Smash Bros. However, none of our current players have expressed interest in doing this.”
If students are competitive enough, they have the chance to reap the financial rewards. According to Zuehls, their current plan is to reimburse students who win prizes across various tournaments in the form of tuition reductions. Unfortunately, they do not offer significant scholarships for participants within the program, but they’re hoping that if the program continues to grow within the UWGB community, they will eventually get to that point. Zuehls mentioned, “It depends mostly on the value that the program brings to the school, which is done in traditional sports through spectator events, so be sure to follow our teams on social media once our live streaming platform is up and running! The sky is the limit.”
After joining the NECC, the Esports lounge at UWGB is looking to expand and grow. They plan on increasing the number of computers in the lounge by 66% in the next six months, as well as getting a broadcasting service set up to stream games. The Esports lounge has a lot of potential, but Zuehls makes it clear that there is no guarantee what will happen, “I think the interest in the lounge and our Esports program, in general, has been growing at a really impressive pace. It’s hard to say what we will look like in, say, two years from now. Most universities have set up Esports programs (or are currently in the process of getting programs off the ground), which will make the competition even denser, which will, in turn, force us to innovate and continue to improve.”
Anyone on the UWGB campus who is interested in joining any of the Esports teams or just wants to have some fun playing video games with peers can join their Discord page, where they post all kinds of news and updates regarding UWGB Esports.
The growth of UW-Green Bay’s Esports department is noticeable as they have recently joined the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC), which began sponsoring Esports in the fall of 2020. The conference prides itself on being a respectful and inclusive environment for the collegiate gaming community. Esports has seen a large increase in revenue and viewership since 2020. According to Statista, the global revenue of Esports was $1.8 billion, and as of 2023, revenue has grown to $3.8 billion USD. As the Esports industry grows, the person leading the NECC is Jacob VanRyn, who has been commissioner of the conference since September 2019.
UW-Green Bay isn’t the only school to have joined the conference this fall, as the NECC now has almost 500 members. VanRyn stated that the conference doesn’t select schools based on enrollment, location, or prestige. “We’re open to working with all programs. Our goal is to work with as many schools/programs as possible,” said VanRyn. In regards to UW-Green Bay joining the conference, VanRyn stated that he and the NECC are excited about the addition. “With any of our schools, we are excited to work with and support their communities as best we can.”
The conference has already established a footprint in the state of Wisconsin as schools like UW-Platteville, UW-Eau Claire, and Lakeland are members of the NECC. By having such a strong presence in Wisconsin, VanRyn is optimistic about the events that can be done in the future, stating, “We have a tremendous footprint in the Wisconsin area, so we’re excited to see that continue to grow, and it certainly does allow us the opportunity to potentially explore more in person efforts and things like that going forward.” Because the nature of the NECC is comparable to a club or collegiate athletes, they are asked to meet the minimum requirements for the student-athletes at their school by having full-time enrollment and meeting academic standards. Schools of all types are members of the NECC, which means the conference has members ranging from Alberta, Canada, and Alabama to California and Connecticut.
Due to the large range of geography and differing enrollment, the conference tries its best to create evenly distributed divisions. VanRyn explained, “Our divisions are based upon skill or what we call ‘compete level’ first and then based on geography. Ideally, we have 10 teams within the same division within the same region for scheduling, ping issues, potential in-person competition, etc.” UWGB competes against schools nationwide and some of its fellow Wisconsin colleges in the NECC. Conference competitions are live-streamed on Twitch and YouTube and can be seen on ESTV and all of their distribution channels and OTT apps.
The NECC still has things the conference is working on to improve. One of these aspects is crowing their National Championship. VanRyn stated that there was room for improvement in how they have gone about their championship in the past and are still trying different things. Mr. VanRyn described how teams qualify for the NECC’s championship as “…a qualification process similar to more traditional sports.”
Although there are championships and nationwide competitions, the conference’s core is to allow students to have a platform to enjoy Esports. The gaming community is made up of all demographics, age groups, and personalities, which is acknowledged and held in regard amongst the NECC. “Honestly, it’s a truly wonderful community to be a part of. I think there are some really awful perceptions or stereotypes that exist, but the collegiate Esports community is really a warm, inclusive community by and large, and it’s really special to be a part of it.” Stated VanRyn. As Esports evolves, having platforms like the NECC for schools like UWGB to compete on is mutually beneficial for the school and the conference.
Esports is a rising trend in the sports world. With UWGB joining the NECC, they show their dedication to this new sport. This collaboration sets the stage for a promising future, offering advantages to both the UWGB’s programs and the NECC as a dynamic collegiate sports platform. Together, they embark on a journey full of potential, fostering an environment where dedication, passion, and sportsmanship shape a future that holds promise and opportunity.
Resources:
Bouchard, K. (2022, March 1). UW-Green Bay Esports part of the NECC. Inside UW-Green Bay News. https://news.uwgb.edu/phlash/announcements/08/23/uw-green-bay-esports-part-of-the-necc/
Esports. UW. (n.d.). https://www.uwgb.edu/union/esports
Pischkes. (2021, November 17). Video and photos: Esports Lounge, opens Feb. 9, 2022. Inside UW-Green Bay News. https://news.uwgb.edu/phlash/news/02/08/video-and-photos-esports-lounge-opens-feb-9-2022/
Phelps, N. (2022, February 25). Press play: UW-green bay opens esports lounge in Union. Spectrum News. https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2022/02/22/uwgb-launches-esports-lounge
