Esports

The Esports Marketing Challenge

The growth of esports has increased exponentially over the past five years. What was once considered a fun pastime for teens and twentysomethings has now turned into a highly competitive extracurricular at the high school and college levels.

Esports has competitors in hundreds of high schools and universities throughout the United States. Many schools are now offering college scholarships for esport gamers just as that same college would offer an All-American high school quarterback a scholarship to a major university. In the 2018-2019 school year, 200 colleges offered $16 million in esport scholarships. The money went to 65,000 players in 1,700 high schools across the US.

Even with the growth of esports, many high school students don’t know that this is a viable extracurricular activity or even if their own high school has a team. If the high school does have a team, it is most likely the best-kept secret in the school.

The challenge will be in two parts.

1. Each two-person team will write a marketing and communications plan of no more than 15 pages that will introduce and promote their high school’s esport program.
2. The team will present the findings and recommendations to the Esport Challenge Board.

Prize

The winning team will receive a scholarship for the Maryville University Sport Business Management Summer Institute ($900 value per student).

Timeline