What Should The College Esports Season Look Like?
As we often lament on Checkpoint XP On Campus, keeping track of it all is a prodigious task. So internally we asked ourselves “If we had the power, how would we organize college esports”? So Norris and Jacob gave their opinions on how they would organize a college esports season. Both plans approach the Fall semester totally different but are shockingly similar in the Spring. So let’s take a look at how our hosts planned their dream season.
Norris’ Plan
- August: Team Selection and Scrims
- September: 2 Invitationals
- October: 2 Invitationals
- November: 2 Invitational
- December: Champions Invitational
- Top 12 teams face each other in double elimination brackets for claim of the Fall Semester Champions.
- January-April: TESPA, CLOL, CF1, RLCS Regular Seasons
- May: Playoffs
- June: Grand Finals
Norris opted for simplicity in most of the Fall semester. The invitational model makes it so spectators can get a look at as many schools as possible. The HUE and UCLA Invitationals were great looks for some of the top schools like Maryville and Harrisburgh. However, invitationals are also a way for other teams to rise to the occasion. Northwood University comes to mind, with its Overwatch team’s stellar performance at HUE last month.
What makes this format unique is the Champions Invitational at the end of the Fall Semester. Closing the calendar year with a big tournament with the Invitational champions and runners-up could create massive appeal. You could see certain storylines emerge through the fall to culminate in that big December event. The Spring would function more like a traditional sports season. Now that students have spent more time on campus, having that extra time to gel and the better part of 5 months for fans to pick a team to follow.
Jacob’s Plan
- August: Team selection and Scrims
- September: An 8 week tourney (7 weeks of play and 1 week of playoffs/finals) and 1 invitational
- October: September tourney and 1 invitational
- November: An 8 week tourney (7 weeks of play and 1 week of playoffs/finals) and 1 invitational
- December: November tourney and 1 invitational
- January- April: TESPA, CLOL, CF1, RLCS Regular Seasons
- But they NEED to do a better organizational job (mainly TESPA)
- May: Playoffs
- June: Grand Finals
Jacob took a stance that emphasized storylines and consistency. He was very impressed by the UMG Overwatch Collegiate Clash. That event was a multi-week mini-season that helped give a comprehensive look at a number of teams. Over the course of that event, we got to see that Utah was absurdly consistent and easily a top 5 school in OW. But we also saw the emergence of UNLV and UT Dallas as good teams. While one-off invitationals have a very “anything can happen” feel to them, these mini-events provide context. It’s much easier to understand who is actually great over a number of weeks as opposed to who had a good weekend, or who understands that meta.
One thing that both our hosts agree on is that the Spring semester should be saved for a more regular-season style format. They’ve said that while the fall is important for play, the true prize comes in the June Grand Finals.
What is your idea for the perfect college esports season? Let us know on Twitter!
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