Indianapolis-based private university Butler University has announced esports tournament platform Challonge as the first tenant of its ‘esports park’ area.
The platform, acquired by Logitech in 2019, will operate within the esports park which acts as a facility open to the Butler community.
For the past 12 months, Challonge has operated out of a temporary space on the Butler campus and will relocate when the esports park opens in August.
According to a release, the university received an anonymous donation of $1m (~£830,350) to assist with the construction of the esports park which will be open in time for Autumn classes.
The Challonge platform enables tournament organisers and players to run tournaments. Due to its application programming interface (API), the platform can be integrated into various applications and websites.
Butler currently fields Rocket League and League of Legends rosters and competes across a range of North American collegiate esports circuits. Moreover, the university joined forces with esports infrastructure company Nerd Street to host virtual training camps.
In 2022, Logitech G has secured and expanded partnerships with UK-based tournament organiser EPIC.LAN and Hong Kong organisation Talon Esports.
Matt McIntyre, Head of Challonge at Logitech, spoke on the news: “Being located in Butler’s new Esports Park is going to create a number of partnership opportunities that will benefit not only Challonge, but also Butler students, faculty, and the Indianapolis community.
“Butler students will gain real-world experience in the sports technology industry through internships with Challonge. The opportunity to trial our software with students and faculty, as well as through events that are open to the community, is extremely valuable to our company.”
