The University of Kentucky (UK) has joined forces with multinational esports organisation Gen.G to host an invitational competition involving other universities.
The University of Kentucky Esports Invitational will see a total of nine universities compete in League of Legends, Rocket League, and VALORANT tournaments.
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Running from March 12th until March 14th, student casters will provide commentary for the tournaments which will be broadcast on the University of Kentucky’s Twitch channel.
Heath Price, Chief Information Officer at UK, spoke on the news in a release: “Our students continue to be passionate about esports, so we are thrilled to be able to invite other schools to participate in hopes of providing a unique way to level up their competitive skills.
“We always look forward to providing exciting opportunities to our students, and now more than ever, we hope this invitational provides a platform to continue connecting with each other around the country.”
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Alongside being broadcast on Twitch, each of the three tournaments will contain a $1,000 (£723.17) prize which will be awarded to the winning teams.
UK and Gen.G have worked together since the two parties entered into a partnership in October 2019. The deal saw the organisation build a gaming and esports programme to open up a variety of internship and career opportunities for students.
Chris Park, CEO of Gen.G, also commented on hosting the tournament: “We’re excited to host our first major invitational with UK with some of the top esports universities participating. Remaining connected and unified in the community while at home during the COVID-19 pandemic is a top priority for us, and we look forward to bringing a world-class experience to students around the country. It’s amazing to see the continued buzz around esports in the college ecosystem.”
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Esports Insider says: In the two years since Gen.G entered the partnership with UK, the two parties have created several avenues for students to learn and build a potential career in esports. The hosting of a tournament is another significant milestone in the ongoing partnership and could well be the start of other universities hosting tournaments of a similar nature.