NACE approves new rules governing college esports programs

National Association of College Esport has approved several new rules, including the establishment of the Intent to Compete letter on Friday. Providing NACE

Sean Morrison (Espn. com)

Sean Morrison is a digital media associate from ESPN. com.

Harrisberg, Pennsylvani a-NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE ESPORTS (National University Esports Association) members have approved some small rules and changes on Friday.

The new guideline was executed in the NACE National Convention held this week at Harrisberg University. In this tournament, which was held from Tuesday to Friday, more than 120 NACE member schools gathered in Pennsylvania towns to discuss the rules and rules of the association.

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On the last day of the tournament, 42 members met together to create a "intention of participation", which was based on the basics of the NACE new board, the competition council, and the NACE's first qualification committee.

The membership value of the National Association (National Association of Intercollellegiate) and the vice chairman of the governance, Chesney Sallee, discussed the rules and constitution throughout the week. I did. NACE was born as a result of a survey project conducted by NAIA, and both organizations are still closely related-Nace is operated in NAIA offices in Kansas City, Missouri.

"NACE is operated at a NAIA office in Kansas City, Missouri. Because we are trying to make it correct, it is natural that many conversations are exchanged, "It is different for each campus. So everyone can take responsibility. I'm trying to determine something. "

This week, NACE has continued the process of becoming a supervised organization like NCAA, and has set a different policy from the most powerful university athletic association in the United States.

For example, members have modified the NACE detailed rules so that the schools can distribute the prize money acquired in a thir d-party tournament, regardless of the type of scholarship provided by the school. For the time being, NACE did not set up its own academic additional requirements for the time being, but instead, as a criterion for ESPORTS participation, the educational institution would obey what the educational institution demanded in the conventional sports program.

The independence of the school and the players is a theme throughout the meeting, and the approved terms and detailed rules are not intentionally mentioned in specific contents.

"It's easy to decide the rules and force everyone to the rules." It doesn't work for a particular educational institution. Nace has tw o-year and fou r-year system, undergraduate and graduate students. We are going to make completely different layers for all types of students and schools.

Since its launch in July 2016, NACE has risen from six founded members to nearly 150 members. This is the second national tournament this time, and it is the first time that all members have given the official opportunity to make a decision table.

"If you are bound by the history and rules of 80 years and 100 years, you will be bound by the rules." It's actually fun: NACE can build it well. But we learn from all the other things we have seen in NCAA and NAIA.

Despite rapid growth, Nace has not yet reached the number of members needed to hire developers such as Riot Games and Blizzard, but Nace Director Michael Brooks. Providing NACE

Intent to compete letter

This week was not all fun. The ITC letter is similar to the NCAA's nationwide intentions, and is the most important and hot discussion in this tournament, and almost all member s-only sessions will be held in this tournament. The most important decision was over the assigned time. < SPAN> For example, members have modified the Nace rules so that they can distribute the prize money acquired by the school in a thir d-party tournament, regardless of the type of scholarship provided by the school. For the time being, NACE did not set up its own academic additional requirements for the time being, but instead, as a criterion for ESPORTS participation, the educational institution would obey what the educational institution demanded in the conventional sports program.

The independence of the school and the players is a theme throughout the meeting, and the approved terms and detailed rules are not intentionally mentioned in specific contents.

"It's easy to decide the rules and force everyone to the rules." It doesn't work for a particular educational institution. Nace has tw o-year and fou r-year system, undergraduate and graduate students. We are going to make completely different layers for all types of students and schools.

Since its launch in July 2016, NACE has risen from six founded members to nearly 150 members. This is the second national tournament this time, and it is the first time that all members have given the official opportunity to make a decision table.

"If you are bound by the history and rules of 80 years and 100 years, you will be bound by the rules." It's actually fun: NACE can build it well. But we learn from all the other things we have seen in NCAA and NAIA.

Working with parties outside of NACE

Despite rapid growth, Nace has not yet reached the number of members needed to hire developers such as Riot Games and Blizzard, but Nace Director Michael Brooks. Providing NACE

NACE Board of Directors

This week was not all fun. The ITC letter is similar to the NCAA's nationwide intentions, and is the most important and hot discussion in this tournament, and almost all member s-only sessions will be held in this tournament. The most important decision was over the assigned time. For example, members have modified the NACE detailed rules so that the schools can distribute the prize money acquired in a thir d-party tournament, regardless of the type of scholarship provided by the school. For the time being, NACE did not set up its own academic additional requirements for the time being, but instead, as a criterion for ESPORTS participation, the educational institution would obey what the educational institution demanded in the conventional sports program.	The independence of the school and the players is a theme throughout the meeting, and the approved terms and detailed rules are not intentionally mentioned in specific content.
"It's easy to decide the rules and force everyone to the rules." It doesn't work for a particular educational institution. Nace has tw o-year and fou r-year system, undergraduate and graduate students. We are going to make completely different layers for all types of students and schools.	Since its launch in July 2016, NACE has risen from six founded members to nearly 150 members. This is the second national tournament this time, and it is the first time that all members have given the official opportunity to make a decision table.
"If you are bound by the history and rules of 80 years and 100 years, you will be bound by the rules." It's actually fun: NACE can build it well. But we learn from all the other things we have seen in NCAA and NAIA.	Despite rapid growth, Nace has not yet reached the number of members needed to hire developers such as Riot Games and Blizzard, but Nace Director Michael Brooks. Providing NACE
This week was not all fun. The ITC letter is similar to the NCAA's nationwide intentions, and is the most important and hot discussion in this tournament, and almost all member s-only sessions will be held in this tournament. The most important decision was over the assigned time.	Like NLI, the ITC letter is a contract that expresses students' intentions to play at the school, and is a binding contract between the school and the competitors. In the current form, ITC needs to be updated every year, and players have qualified for the 5th calendar since the first ITC signed. NACE has not yet been exempted from qualification, and it is like a red shirt that college football players can leave the competition for one year.
The voting for deleting the deadline from ITC was rejected by 22 to 19, and one was abstained. ITC is required by NACE competitors on August 1, 2020, and schools can start contracting with students on February 1, 2020. In the future, the Qualification Executive Committee will handle all cases involving the possibility of violating contracts between students and schools and violations of academic work.	Michael Jones, the University of Dolly University, is one of the 19 people who voted for the elimination of ITC's time limit. The measures failed, but he said he was very satisfied with the lon g-term legislation results.
"For a long time, NACE was basically provided as the secretariat staff." I still have discord. It's not completely unified, but I'm heading. Nace is the most democratic so far. It is a target organization, and all members have come to have the right to speak. "	ITC is also a binding agreement between NACE member agencies: NACE member schools are not allowed to recruit other NACE member school players if they sign to ITC. However, schools that are not member of NACE have no restrictions on recruitment, and Nace member schools will not be restricted in exchanges with schools that are not member of NACE.
Council member	School name
Ashley Jones	Park University
Sean Burn	St. Claire College
Michael Glover	ECPI University
Kevin Reyp	Missouri University

Joshua Young

Pennsylvania Institute of Technology

Samanga Amalashinha

Bell View University

Chris Huskel

Voyage State University

James McGee

Leadership

Randorf Macon College

NACE Competition Council

Eugene flyer	Texas Wesrian
Gym car	NAIA's highest executive officer
This point was often debated in discussions this week: NACE needs rules and enforcement to protect and support its members, but those regulations don't apply outside the organization. And Riot Games, which runs collegiate League of Legends tournaments, and TESPA, which runs Blizzard's collegiate esports events, don't have their own guidelines like that.	Despite its rapid growth, NACE has yet to reach the necessary membership to require developers like Riot and Blizzard to adopt policies, says NACE director Michael Brooks. Whether reaching 250 members will change that dynamic remains up for debate.
Unlike the NCAA, NACE cannot tell schools they're ineligible to play in a game as a penalty for breaking the rules.	Despite rapid growth, Nace has not yet reached the number of members needed to hire developers such as Riot Games and Blizzard, but Nace Director Michael Brooks. Providing NACE
NACE also needs permission from the owners of intellectual property to run tournaments for that game. Several veteran members of the organization expressed concern that the organization's lack of representation for Overwatch and League of Legends, two of the most popular games in collegiate esports, makes NACE membership less valuable. According to an internal NACE survey, 93% of members compete in League of Legends and 86% participate in Overwatch.	"I don't think anyone is defending NACE throwing its weight around to get Riot to hand over the keys to the castle," Jones says. "I would love to see us work with the Riots and Blizzards of the world to have our own tournament structure. Something that complements what they're already doing, maybe in the fall."
Much of NACE's value comes from the creation of its intercollegiate esports programs and the organization's ability to mentor schools through their first year. Now, NACE is trying to figure out how to add value to its multi-year membership, a job that will fall in part to its newly formed Executive Board and Competition Council.	Both the board of directors and competition council were approved by NACE members on Friday. Of the six founding NACE members, three of the most prominent NACE programs were absent: Maryville University, the collegiate League of Legends champion; Columbia University, a perennial competitor; and Robert Morris University, North America's first intercollegiate esports program, did not send representatives to the vote. Board Members
School Name	Michael Jones
Dorey University	Joey Gaulisiak
Shenandoah University	Triu Lai
St. Clare College	David Shapiro
Lebanon Valley College	Like NLI, the ITC letter is a contract that expresses students' intentions to play at the school, and is a binding contract between the school and the competitors. In the current form, ITC needs to be updated every year, and players have qualified for the 5th calendar since the first ITC signed. NACE has not yet been exempted from qualification, and it is like a red shirt that college football players can leave the competition for one year.

Central Methodist University

Adam Antall

Aquinas College

Chad Smeltz

Harrisburg University

• Joshua Buchanan
• Ashland University
• Joseph Rudy
• Coker College

Where Do Amateurs Go to Become Pros? A Comparison of the Current Competition Systems in Collegiate Esports to Traditional Collegiate Sport Environments

Joshua Myers

ECPI University

Only 42 NACE members attended Friday's voting session, just two short of the quorum needed to decide on the association's business. Given the timeline for the changes and the amount of preparation and distance learning on the issues that took place before the business meeting, the group voted to suspend the quorum and proceed as scheduled.

That may have left some big names out of the discussion, Jones said, but he assured that "their voices will be heard" as he and other elected members get to work. Drury said he's already been in contact with Maryville esports director Dan Clark and others across the country who couldn't attend.

"These three schools are doing a great job," he said. "We want everyone to participate, but we didn't have an elegant solution to get them to contribute remotely this year. That's something I'd like to see change in the future."

Competitive Structures

Traditional Sport Pipelines

What direction NACE takes next year will depend on these groups and the upcoming Certification Executive Committee.

"I think there's a lot of exciting things coming up for NACE," Drury said. "Frankly, I'm excited that now that we have these rules and government structures in place, it's going to be a more collaborative process of NACE members and NACE national office staff coming together to figure out next steps. They have the expertise. They understand how these rules apply to their campuses and their students."

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Researchers are interested in how the collegiate esports model can follow the talent pipeline of traditional sports. In this work, we attempt to conceptualize a manifestation of collegiate esports that is different from traditional sports, integrated into the higher education model. In the current esports ecosystem, game developers own all intellectual property related to the games and therefore run the leagues and tournaments themselves. Because of this, the pipeline as seen in traditional sports cannot be transplanted or imitated in the collegiate esports realm. As a result, it requires unique considerations for higher education administrators and coordinators in terms of player retention and recruiting players from other educational institutions and the professional world. This line of research will help lay the foundation for future research in collegiate esports and build the literature on the esports ecosystem. Researchers are interested in how the collegiate esports model can follow the talent pipeline of traditional sports. In this work, we attempt to conceptualize a manifestation of collegiate esports that is different from traditional sports, integrated into the higher education model. In the current esports ecosystem, game developers own all the intellectual property related to the game and therefore run the leagues and tournaments themselves. Because of this, the pipeline as seen in traditional sports cannot be transplanted or imitated in the realm of collegiate esports. As a result, it requires unique considerations for higher education administrators and coordinators when it comes to player retention and recruiting players from other educational institutions and the professional world. This line of research will help lay the foundation for future research in collegiate esports and build the literature on the esports ecosystem. The researchers are interested in how the collegiate esports model can follow the talent pipeline of traditional sports. In this work, we seek to conceptualize the manifestation of collegiate esports that is distinct from traditional sports, integrated into the higher education model. In the current esports ecosystem, game developers own all the intellectual property related to the game and therefore run the leagues and tournaments themselves. Because of this, the pipeline as seen in traditional sports cannot be transplanted or imitated in the realm of collegiate esports. As a result, unique considerations are required for higher education administrators and coordinators regarding player retention and recruitment of players from other educational institutions and the professional world. This line of research will help lay the foundation for future research in collegiate esports and build the literature on the esports ecosystem. In the past 10 years, I have seen the digital phenomena known as ESPORTS transcends from relatively niche unknown to the latest trends in big businesses and sponsorship (Cunningham et al.) Twitch. The competition video game field, which has emerged at the same time as a video game game streaming site, is expanding the market, and is now being redefined for the mainstream spectators and partners. ESPORTS's growth as an industry creates some aspects of research themes, one of which is the university Esports scene. This new ESPORTS research theme is a geographic area, which is located in the North American area, especially in the North American region, and has a long tradition of sports activities. With the emergence of university ESPORTS as an academic field, Funk (2018) will about many aspects of university ESPORTS experiences that require deeper surveys, such as toxicity in players and academic achievements such as establishment and diversification. I discussed. These issues converge on a more fundamental problem that the university ESPORTS is currently facing, that is, an unstable structure of competition esports in higher education. The relationship between the current ESPORTS ecosystem and the people involved is quite different from traditional sports. Like a pr e-study (eg, Ross & Amp; Fisackerly, 2023), which verifies similarity in various aspects of traditional sports and esports, there are currently the following needs: < Span> Most of the last 10 years have seen the digital phenomena known as ESPORTS from relatively niche unknown to the latest epidemic in big business and sponsorship (Cunningham et al. The competition video game game, which has emerged at the same time as video game streaming sites such as Twitch. TV, is expanding market size and is now being r e-established for the mainstream spectators and partners. ESPORTS's growth as an industry creates some aspects of research themes, one of which is the university Esports scene. This new ESPORTS research theme is a geographic area, which is located in the North American area, especially in the North American region, and has a long tradition of sports activities. With the emergence of university ESPORTS as an academic field, Funk (2018) will about many aspects of university ESPORTS experiences that require deeper surveys, such as toxicity in players and academic achievements such as establishment and diversification. I discussed. These issues converge on a more fundamental problem that the university is currently facing, that is, the unstable structure of competition esports in higher education. The relationship between the current ESPORTS ecosystem and the people involved is quite different from traditional sports. Like a pr e-study (eg, Ross & Amp; Fisackerly, 2023), which verifies similarity in various aspects of traditional sports and esports, there are currently the following needs: In the past 10 years, I have seen the digital phenomena known as ESPORTS transcends from relatively niche unknown to the latest trends in big businesses and sponsorship (Cunningham et al.) Twitch. The competition video game field, which has emerged at the same time as a video game game streaming site, is expanding the market, and is now being redefined for the mainstream spectators and partners. ESPORTS's growth as an industry creates some aspects of research themes, one of which is the university Esports scene. This new ESPORTS research theme is a geographic area, which is located in the North American area, especially in the North American region, and has a long tradition of sports activities. With the emergence of university ESPORTS as an academic field, Funk and others (2018) will have more aspects of university ESPORTS experiences, which require deeper surveys, such as toxicity in players' actions, establishment and diversification. I discussed. These issues converge on a more fundamental problem that the university ESPORTS is currently facing, that is, an unstable structure of competition esports in higher education. The relationship between the current ESPORTS ecosystem and the people involved is quite different from traditional sports. Like a pr e-study (eg, Ross & Amp; Fisackerly, 2023), which verifies similarity in various aspects of traditional sports and esports, there are currently the following needs:

The collegiate esports competitive sphere involves a full ecosystem of game publishers, vendors (sponsors and tournament organizers), and collegiate esports organizations (their administrators and players; DiFrancisco-Donoghue & amp; Balentine, 2018). In this system, game publishers can license the rights to organize leagues and/or tournaments for their titles to organizations or run the leagues and/or tournaments themselves. In collegiate esports, game publishers typically license lower-tier tournaments and run higher-tier tournaments themselves, such as with game titles like Rocket League (RL), Overwatch (OW), and League of Legends (LoL). Leagues like the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) and the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) run semester-based leagues for titles, but the winners of these tournaments are not considered official national champions by publishers for those titles. The structure of the collegiate esports competitive sphere is uniquely different from traditional sports, where there is no organization that owns the rights to organize athletic competitions. In this manuscript, we focus on competitive esports programs in higher education, including both four-year and two-year universities. In these programs, students are organized into teams based on specific titles and aim to represent their institution against other programs at different institutions. Collaborative

Unresolved university ESPORTS models present a system that has a unique context that can significantly change how practitioners will function in this field. Traditional sports activities, such as players' recruitment and competition scheduling, have a su b-text unique to ESPORTS. Game publishers own the intellectual property rights (IP) of the ESPORTS title, which is dominant in the execution of all competition participation, and the NCAA, which has a major number of ownership in sports, is fundamentally. Different (Peng et al.) NCAA is operated as a de facto monopoly in the elite competition, although there are competition with other organizations in the university space (SOUTHALL and others, 2023). As a result, eSports can be easily imitated by ESPORTS for high schools, universities, and professionals that can be found in traditional sports. Furthermore, these eSports pipeline ecosystems deal with unique considerations such as financial support and governance concerns that are not so systematized in traditional sports. Since players have a lot of opportunities to participate in the competition, the role of university ESPORTS creates an environment that functions as a settlement that functions as a destination after becoming a professional, not as the last jumping platform for becoming a professional. I am. Players can return to college competitions to continue their degree after ending or pause as a professional (eg, Andrew "CKG" SM < SPAN> Unresolved university ESPORTS model Presentation of a system that has a unique context that can greatly change how the practitioner works in this field, such as the recruitment of sports and sports. The unique su b-text is dominant in the execution of all competitions by owning the intellectual property rights (IP) of the ESPORTS title. Although NCAA is fundamentally different from NCAA with rights (Peng et al.) NCAA is operated as a de facto monopoly in the elite competition, although there is a competition with other organizations in the university space (Southall and others. ) Therefore, the eSports pipeline is not easily imitated in high school to universities and professionals. Sports have a lot of opportunities for players to participate in competitions, such as financial support and governance concerns that are not so systematized. Players have created an environment that functions as a destination after becoming a professional, not as the last jumping platform. You can return to university competitions (for example, Andrew "CKG" SM, unresolved university Esports models have a unique context that can greatly change how practitioners function in this field. The traditional sports activities, such as recruitment of sports and sports, have a sporty property right (IP). By doing so, it becomes dominant in the execution of all competition participation and is fundamentally different from NCAA, which has a majority of ownership in sports implementation (Peng et al.) NCAA is another university space. Despite the competition with the organization, it is operated as a de facto monopoly state of the elite competition (SOUTHALL and others, 2023). As a result, eSports can be easily imitated by ESPORTS for high schools, universities, and professionals that can be found in traditional sports. Furthermore, these eSports pipeline ecosystems deal with unique considerations such as financial support and governance concerns that are not so systematized in traditional sports. Since players have a lot of opportunities to participate in the competition, the role of university ESPORTS creates an environment that functions as a settlement that functions as a destination after becoming a professional, not as the last jumping platform for becoming a professional. I am. Players can return to college competitions to continue their degree after completing or pause as a professional (eg, Andrew "CKG" SM).

Collegiate Esports

In this manuscript, we aim to conceptualize the collegiate esports ecosystem and its role in the esports talent pipeline, considering how the context of both traditional sports and esports environments manifests. We begin by examining the traditional sports pipeline specifically in the context of collegiate competition in sports environments with (e. g., basketball and baseball) and without (e. g., American football) minor leagues. After establishing this context, we discuss the collegiate esports system, with a particular focus on how publisher IP ownership dictates the development of the competition. This sets the stage for a discussion of the current esports pipeline and how collegiate esports fits into each title's environment. The manuscript concludes with a consideration of how esports and traditional sports differ because of these pipelines, why collegiate esports may continue to be an epicenter of amateur development, and future avenues of research that should be undertaken to understand the collegiate esports competitive sphere and its implications for higher education and esports practitioners. An appropriate focus for this discussion is the current considerations in the collegiate esports ecosystem that impact the day-to-day operations of the programs and, as a result, the manifestation of the competitive esports pipeline.

North American sports tend to follow a linear path from amateur to professional, with little crossover or frequent movement between the two. To simplify the description of the collegiate sports ecosystem, this study focuses only on American football, basketball, and baseball. While there is no single entity that owns exclusive rights to each of American football, basketball, and baseball, monoponies that function in such sports certainly exist in collegiate and professional sports. Hockey and soccer are omitted from this conceptual analysis not because of any inherent misalignment with the context, but rather because of the large emphasis on international talent in these systems. This does not mean that international talent does not exist in the three sports mentioned in this manuscript, but rather that a national analysis of the talent pipeline is best suited to these three sports, as opposed to Major League Soccer (MLS) and the National Hockey League (NHL), which have a more extensive and global talent footprint and pipeline.

The NCAA is the primary talent stream for American football, basketball, and baseball (NCAA, 2020). The NCAA governs over 520, 000 athletes in North America (Media Center, 2022), a dwarfing number compared to the NAIA’s 77, 000 (NAIA, 2023) and the NJCAA’s roughly 60, 000 (NJCAA, 2023). Given the NCAA’s dominance in college sports, both in size and opportunities to play professionally, football, basketball, and even some baseball players must “choose” to play for NCAA member schools. As a governing body, the NCAA exists to foster, in their own words, “an environment that values ​​academics, fairness, and well-being across college sports” (NCAA, 2021). Players and educational institutions cede control to the member-driven NCAA, but have a say through committees and the legislative process.

American football players mostly compete at the youth and amateur levels in middle and high school. The National Football League (NFL) represents the echelon for players. While some players spend time in lower leagues such as the Canadian Football League (CFL), the majority of professional players follow a high school → college → professional pipeline. The NCAA (more specifically the Football Bowl Subdivision) serves as the primary feeder system for talent to the NFL. New leagues like the Extreme Football League (XFL) (which will launch for the third time in 2023) are attempting to bridge the gap between college and the pros, especially during the spring and early summer when American football is not played (XFL, 2022). As will be discussed later in this traditional sports section, the development pipeline is one-way, from college to the pros. It remains to be seen how the dynamics of the XFL will affect this system, but the NCAA's position on amateurism regulates player mobility in this area. The NCAA is the primary talent stream for American football, basketball, and baseball (NCAA, 2020). It governs over 520, 000 players in North America (Media Center, 2022), a dwarfing number compared to the NAIA's 77, 000 (NAIA, 2023) and the NJCAA's roughly 60, 000 (NJCAA, 2023). Given the NCAA's dominance in college sports, both in size and in opportunities to play professionally, some American football, basketball, and even baseball players must "choose" to play for NCAA-affiliated schools. The NCAA, the governance organization, exists to foster, in their own words, “an environment that values ​​academics, fairness, and well-being across college sports” (NCAA, 2021). Players and educational institutions cede control to the member-driven NCAA, but have a say through committees and the legislative process.

American football players mostly compete at the youth and amateur levels of competition in middle and high schools. The National Football League (NFL) represents the echelon for players. While some players spend time in lower leagues such as the Canadian Football League (CFL), the majority of professional players follow a high school → college → professional pipeline. The NCAA (more specifically the Football Bowl Subdivision) serves as the primary feeder system for talent to the NFL. New leagues like the Extreme Football League (XFL), which will launch for the third time in 2023, are trying to bridge the gap between college and the pros, especially during the spring and early summer when football is not played (XFL, 2022). As we will see later in this traditional sports section, the development pipeline is one-way, from college to the pros. It remains to be seen how the dynamics of the XFL will affect this system, but the NCAA's position on amateurism regulates player movement in this area. The NCAA is the primary talent stream for American football, basketball, and baseball (NCAA, 2020). The NCAA governs over 520, 000 players in North America (Media Center, 2022), a daunting number compared to the NAIA's 77, 000 (NAIA, 2023) and the NJCAA's roughly 60, 000 (NJCAA, 2023). Given the NCAA's dominance in college sports, both in size and opportunities to play professionally, American football, basketball, and even some baseball players must "choose" to play for NCAA-affiliated schools. The governing body, the NCAA, exists to foster, in their own words, "an environment that values ​​academics, fairness, and well-being across college sports" (NCAA, 2021). Players and educational institutions cede control to the member-driven NCAA, but have a say through committees and the legislative process.

American football players mostly participate in junior and senior high school youth and amateur level competitions. The National Football League (NFL) represents the echelon for players. While some players spend time in lower leagues such as the Canadian Football League (CFL), the majority of professional players follow a high school-college-professional pipeline. The NCAA (more specifically the Football Bowl Subdivision) serves as the primary feeder system for talent to the NFL. New leagues like the Extreme Football League (XFL), which will launch for the third time in 2023, are attempting to bridge the gap between college and the pros, especially during the spring and early summer when American football is not being played (XFL, 2022). As will be discussed later in this traditional sports section, the development pipeline is one-way, from college to the pros. It remains to be seen how the dynamics of the XFL will affect this system, but the NCAA's position on amateurism regulates player movement in this arena.

National Basketball Association (NBA) does not rely only on university systems to fully grow players. NBA's top nominated players can still play in professional top leagues, but the minor league systems can adapt to professional games at a small pace. This is especially true for some high school students who have transferred to the G League instead of participating in university games (DIVENS, 2021). In particular, in the 2005 "One Anddan" rule, the qualifications of participation had to be a player who had been in high school for more than a year (Zephyr, 2022). However, until the rules were eliminated, no direct paths from high school to professionals were open. The establishment of the overtime elite league may be useful for making pipelines from high school to professionals, and even pipelines from overtime elite to universities, but this league has just begun. The effect is not yet known (Drummond, 2023).

Esports Pipelines

Baseball has a strong minor league system, and its history dates back to the early 19th century the professional league was established in the United States (Cooper, 2019). Today, the player's minor league has four levels (Low-A, High-A, AA, AAA). Premature players can play in the minor league as they are, without going through a high school to a university system. Most high school students (as well as university players), who have been nominated by the major league (MLB) team, spend time in the minor league for growth (catania, 2020). In the ecosystem, the number of draft nominations has dropped dramatically, drafts have been reduced from 40 rounds to 20 rounds, and in the 2011 MLB draft, only 616 people were nominated (only 616 people (). Stross, 2013). In the 2022 MLB draft, 13 out of the firs t-round players were from high school, but only 118 of the 616 nominated players were from high school (Major League Baseball, 2022). Considering the large number of players (both universities and high schools) who abandon professionals in the draft first place, this figure decreases further. In most cases, university players who have been drafted by the MLB team will start playing in the minor league and proceed on the system.

Critically for the three sports mentioned above, there is no sustainable path between amateur level play and the professional realm. This model is true even in American sports with sustainable minor league systems, such as MLB with its minor league system and NBA with its G League. The NCAA prohibits players who turn professional in each sport from rejoining a collegiate league (NCAA, 2022). While the NCAA has competitors such as the NAIA, there are no collegiate leagues that match the level of competition found in the NCAA, so the NCAA serves as the de facto leader in this level of amateur competition. In this way, the NCAA serves as the de facto source of elite competition. Although the lower minor league systems are not representative of peak professional competition, all levels of those minor league systems are still professional, not amateur, leagues. Figure 1 is a simple sketch of the existing models for football, basketball, and baseball players to go from amateur to professional.

View fullsize

Figure 1

Competitive pipelines in traditional sports. NFL = National Football League, NCAA = National Collegiate Athletic Association, NBA = National Basketball Association, CFL = Canadian Football League, OTE = Overtime Elite, MLB = Major League Baseball, MiLB = Minor League Baseball.	Cited Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports 2, 1; 10. 1123/jege. 2023-0009	Researchers hypothesize that the sportification of esports has created an ecosystem similar to professional sports leagues, including agents, ticket sales, and media rights (Heere, 2018). In fact, the same attributes of scholarship athletes are drawn from the realm of competitive esports, from facilities, amenities, competitive seasons, and jerseys. Esports programs draw these attributes not only from the university's surrounding environment, but also from the professional leagues that operate on it. The growth of esports has penetrated the intercollegiate realm, building on its foundations and adapting to the model of sports organization and competitive amateurism inherent in American universities.	However, the function of traditional university sports exists without claiming ownership, so there is no limit to its function. Organizations that supervise sports can agree on a specific rules set, but NCAA can freely organize multiple sports and the conference and institutions participating there at their own discretion. However, in the case of ESPORTS, the videos that are in the competition mode are IPs of developers and publishers who have created it. These subjects manage how these video games are licensed and used. This is different from traditional sports, for example, cannot be banned from holding a soccer tournament for children. ESPORTS has all the IPs related to the games they control, so you can survive the tournament plug. For this reason, pipelines as seen in traditional sports cannot be transplanted or imitated in university space. In addition, not all publishers are interested in developing the environment of esports competitions. As a result, the university competition will be held on a cas e-b y-case basis. < SPAN> However, the function of traditional university sports exists without claiming ownership, so there is no limit to its function. Organizations that supervise sports can agree on a specific rules set, but NCAA can freely organize multiple sports and the conference and institutions participating there at their own discretion. However, in the case of ESPORTS, the videos that are in the competition mode are IPs of developers and publishers who have created it. These subjects manage how these video games are licensed and used. This is different from traditional sports, for example, cannot be banned from holding a soccer tournament for children. ESPORTS has all the IPs related to the games they control, so you can survive the tournament plug. For this reason, pipelines as seen in traditional sports cannot be transplanted or imitated in university space. In addition, not all publishers are interested in developing the environment of esports competitions. As a result, the university competition will be held on a cas e-b y-case basis. However, the function of traditional university sports exists without claiming ownership, so there is no limit to its function. Organizations that supervise sports can agree on a specific rules set, but NCAA can freely organize multiple sports and the conference and institutions participating there at their own discretion. However, in the case of ESPORTS, the videos that are in the competition mode are IPs of developers and publishers who have created it. These subjects manage how these video games are licensed and used. This is different from traditional sports, for example, cannot be banned from holding a soccer tournament for children. ESPORTS has all the IPs related to the games they control, so you can survive the tournament plug. For this reason, pipelines as seen in traditional sports cannot be transplanted or imitated in university space. In addition, not all publishers are interested in developing the environment of esports competitions. As a result, the university competition will be held on a cas e-b y-case basis.	Researchers hypothesize that the sportification of esports has created an ecosystem similar to professional sports leagues, including agents, ticket sales, and media rights (Heere, 2018). In fact, the same attributes of scholarship athletes are drawn from the realm of competitive esports, from facilities, amenities, competitive seasons, and jerseys. Esports programs draw these attributes not only from the university's surrounding environment, but also from the professional leagues that operate on it. The growth of esports has penetrated the intercollegiate realm, building on its foundations and adapting to the model of sports organization and competitive amateurism inherent in American universities.	However, this does not mean that NACE has negotiating power with publishers, and it must often follow guidelines created by publishers. There are also scenarios where winning a competition or league can provide additional competitive opportunities, although this varies by title. For example, Florida Southern College, winner of the 2022 Peach Belt Conference RL Championship, has not qualified to compete in College RL, the top collegiate league for the title. However, Converse University, the winner of the 2022 Peach Belt Conference LoL Championship, has qualified for the Collegiate LoL Championship. Collegiate esports organizations recruit players from a number of sources, including scholastic (high school) leagues, professional and amateur organizations, and their own school's student organizations.	Researchers hypothesize that the sportification of esports has created an ecosystem similar to professional sports leagues, including agents, ticket sales, and media rights (Heere, 2018). In fact, the same attributes of scholarship athletes are drawn from the realm of competitive esports, from facilities, amenities, competitive seasons, and jerseys. Esports programs draw these attributes not only from the university's surrounding environment, but also from the professional leagues that operate on it. The growth of esports has penetrated the intercollegiate realm, building on its foundations and adapting to the model of sports organization and competitive amateurism inherent in American universities.
For the purposes of this manuscript, professional esports ecosystems will be defined as only those with a substantial collegiate esports footprint in the form of publisher tournament organization and/or programmatic participation in titles (e. g., LoL, OW, RL). A survey of 127 collegiate competitive esports programs found that RL (87. 4%), LoL (81. 1%), and OW (78. 7%) were three of the top four games offered by collegiate programs, far higher than other titles such as Call of Duty (43. 3%) and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) (8%; Postell & Narayan, 2022). The three titles selected represent the majority of the competitive population and the transitional movement between amateur and professional. Additionally, in the Redbird Esports example, these three titles are often the titles of institutions that employ coaches. There is not "one" overall method that game publishers follow in organizing esports competitions. In college, there are numerous leagues, such as NECC and NACE, that organize leagues for multiple titles. These competitions may or may not have eligibility to larger competitions (such as national competitions).	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Unlike RL, the OW league consisted of numerous franchise teams from Asia, North America, and Europe. The OW Contenders League featured competition between professional academy teams and amateur organizations. Academy teams were like minor league teams in traditional sports, organized by professional teams to develop talent for the future. Academy teams' salaries were paid by the main organization and they had access to the same amenities as main-registered professional players. As can be seen in Table 1, OW has an overwhelming amount of movement between professional and college, with all college rosters transferring to professional teams at the end of the season. OW Collegiate is the top college competition run by Activision/Blizzard.	Table 1	—	—
Examples of players with both professional and amateur or college experience	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Type	Table 1	—	—
Type	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Hydron a	Table 1
College	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	S9MM a	Table 1	—	—
College	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Unlike RL, the OW league consisted of numerous franchise teams from Asia, North America, and Europe. The OW Contenders League featured competition between professional academy teams and amateur organizations. Academy teams were like minor league teams in traditional sports, organized by professional teams to develop talent for the future. Academy teams' salaries were paid by the main organization and they had access to the same amenities as main-registered professional players. As can be seen in Table 1, OW has an overwhelming amount of movement between professional and college, with all college rosters transferring to professional teams at the end of the season. OW Collegiate is the top college competition run by Activision/Blizzard.	Table 1
College	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Liner	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	—	—
College	Los Angeles Gladiators	Table 1	Rupal a	Illinois State	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.
Pro	Lukemino a	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	College	Table 1
College	Lukemino a	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Pro	Table 1	—	—
Academy	Liner	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Type	Table 1
College	Houston Outlaws	Table 1	Liner	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	—	—
College	Los Angeles Gladiators	Table 1	Liner	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.
College	Liner	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Halo	Table 1	—	—
Pro	Liner	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Prov1de a	Table 1	Pro	Illinois State
College	Liner	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Prov1de a	Table 1	Pro	Illinois State
Maryville	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Pro	Illinois State	Academy	Iconic b
Maryville	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Pro	Iconic b	Another important contextual note is the inclusion of OW in this discussion. When the OW league was released, OW esports was accepted by many people. However, recently, the league fell into controversy and financial difficulties, leading the league to release information related to the reconstruction of the professional league. At the time of writing this article, the only certainty surrounding the OW league is its uncertainty. This may give a sense of blockage to the discussion of its collegiate system, but this manuscript is an attempt to formally understand the ecosystem of collegiate esports, especially how it has already manifested. For this reason, the inclusion of the OW discussion is essential to understanding how the industry has developed. In fact, collegiate OW teams have continued to compete in numerous tournaments and leagues even after the league's reconstruction phase was announced. For this reason, the discussion of university OW systems and their role in the talent pipeline still applies to this manuscript, especially in the context of what has already been observed.	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.
Illinois State	Liner	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.	Academy	Illinois State
Amateur	Tempos b	Illinois State	College	Table 1	Liner	With the context of collegiate esports established, we can now discuss the ecosystem of the aforementioned esports titles. Competitions are primarily categorized as either franchised or non-franchised leagues. Esports titles with franchised teams (e. g. LoL and OW) tend to be smaller, lower-tier amateur competitions, as revenue caps are limited to the lower tiers of competitions they can play in. In the traditional sports world, closed leagues are the equivalent. The top five sports leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS) all operate as closed leagues, which limits the opportunities to compete at an elite level in these sports. Franchises provide stability for top organizations and allow for proper player compensation. However, non-franchised titles (e. g. RL) have no roof over their success, allowing amateur organizations to thrive (not necessarily profit, but proliferate). A single successful run in the qualifiers for a "major" (RL term for the tournament) catapults an organization into an environment where they can build their brand and establish connections and roots. The RL ecosystem is the only one of the three leagues covered here that does not use a franchise system. Organizations compete in regional qualifiers to qualify for international competition. Collegiate RL is the top-level collegiate competition run by Psyonix.

College

Spirax b

Maryville

College