Photo by Dawni Angel

MY STORY:

• University of Utah eSports program welcomes NCAA involvement

MY BLOG:
Above all, I wanted to write about a topic involving the U that I am invested in. I stumbled across a news article about the NCAA’s potential involvement in eSports and immediately latched onto the idea. I enjoy watching eSports competitions, I know that the U’s varsity eSports team is making a big impression on the scene, and I quickly learned that the NCAA’s involvement with eSports is a hot-button topic for a lot of people.
To locate sources, I went straight to the U’s eSports program. I interviewed the director of operations of eSports, the head League of Legends coach, and a student athlete. I was actually surprised to learn about how passionately they support the NCAA’s involvement, because I encountered a lot of skepticism during my online research process.
Since their opinions favor the NCAA, I wanted my focus to be why they think the NCAA would be such a positive addition to collegiate eSports here at the U. I feel very lucky that A.J. Dimick and Kenny Green, two of my interviewees, have both participated in the world of traditional sports and gaming at both a professional and student level. That made them excellent sources, since they can pull from both ends of the spectrum to form their opinions. A.J. Dimick even gave a presentation at the NCAA Board of Governors meeting last Fall about why the NCAA should embrace eSports from the perspective of a large college.
One thing I’d like to do to further develop this story that I wasn’t able to do this time is also interview someone involved with traditional sports at the U and see if they have an opinion on the matter. But that might be a whole other story!

ABOUT ME:
I am Strategic Communication student at the University of Utah with emphases on branding and social media marketing. I have always been passionate about geek culture and one day hope to work for Crunchyroll, an anime streaming service. Currently, I am a marketing events intern for FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention. In my spare time, I enjoy cosplay and watching anime.

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