The world's fastest growing sport is gaining a foothold on South Dakota college campuses.
We’re talking esports, short for electronic sports. Esports are video games played in organized and competitive matches. The phenomenon has grown around the world, with hundreds of thousands of fans and esports athletes who are now superstars.
Esports is wildly popular and brings in big money. In 2022, the global esports market was valued at $1.42 billion. It’s expected to grow to a $4.47 billion market by 2030.
In South Dakota, high schools will be competing in the first season of sanctioned esports later this year.
Several colleges and universities in South Dakota have been involved in the action for a few years now.
Where are those institutions at with esports? Here's a closer look:
South Dakota Mines
South Dakota Mines in Rapid City has had an esports club since 2013 and started to compete at the collegiate level in 2018. They were the first varsity esports team in the state and the first in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Hardrocker Esports features six varsity rosters with 59 students competing. However, South Dakota Mines also has recreational esports opportunities. More than 100 students are involved overall.
The teams compete in six titles: "Overwatch 2," "League of Legends," "Rocket League," "Valorant," "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" and "Apex Legends". Each roster chooses two leagues to compete in with those leagues varying from year to year. The esports team also hosts multiple LAN events (in-person esports competitions) each year.
Both collegiate and recreational esports competitors utilize the campus gaming facility located on campus in the Surbeck Center — the student union. The facility features 10 computer systems, new last year, including a Nintendo Switch.
In addition to those who compete on varsity and junior varsity teams, there is a stream team that produces the broadcasts of team competitions. Every varsity match is available on the team’s Twitch channel — twitch.tv/hardrocker_esports
To help develop leadership skills in the esports athletes, team members participate in team-building seminars focused on leadership each week.
University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota has had an esports club since 2018 but does not have a university-sanctioned team.
The esports program includes about 70 competition level members and 190 club members. USD Esports also has 450 Discord users in its esports community. (Discord is a free communication app that allows gaming communities to share voice, video and text chats.)
The club competes in the Collegiate Star League, NACE and the Collegiate Champions League Midwest in a wide range of titles, including "Apex Legends," "Call of Duty," "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive," "Fortnite," "League of Legends," "Overwatch 2," "Rainbow 6 Siege," "Rocket League," "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" and "Valorant".
The club also hosts recreational events including weekly Super Smash Bros. tournaments.
USD opened its esports arena in 2020 inside the McKusick Center. The space features 24 custom-built PCs, an Xbox Series X, PS5, two Nintendo Switches and two Nintendo Wiis.
Each semester, the esports program holds tryouts for club teams and will put as many teams together as there are players available.
In addition to the players, the program has a dedicated streaming setup for the club and as much content as possible is streamed. They invite all students to get involved in casting and commentating club matches.
The club can be found on Twitch at twitch.tv/usdesports.
Dakota State University
Dakota State University in Madison launched its first season of esports in 2018. The program was adopted into the university’s athletics program and remains so today.
The DSU program is one of the most established in the state with its coach, Andy Roland, creating the Collegiate Champions League (CCL) in 2019. The CCL has become the primary conference for most schools in the Dakotas, although other schools compete in it as well, including University of Nebraska, University of Iowa and University of Wisconsin.
CCL hosts competitions in "League of Legends," "Valorant" and "Rocket League" with plans to expand into three more titles — "Overwatch," "Call of Duty" and "Counter-Strike 2".
DSU Esports teams have more than 130 players on the roster. They compete in a variety of titles, including "League of Legends," "Rocket League," "Valorant," "Overwatch," "Rainbow 6 Siege," "Counter-Strike 2", "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" and more.
The team is on an especially successful run, says Roland. The "Valorant" team dropped only one game in the past year and the school’s "League of Legends" team recently won its first championship in the CCL.
Currently the esports program is based in a renovated conference room in the student union where they have 10 PCs. This fall, DSU will complete its new athletics building and the esports team will move into that space. In the new building, the team will have 30 to 40 PCs, Roland says.
In addition to the esports teams, DSU offers a minor in Esports Administration under the College of Education. The undergraduate program also offers an Introduction to Esports course and the graduate program offers a graduate certificate in Esports Coaching, Roland said.
Augustana University
Augustana University in Sioux Falls launched its esports team in the fall of 2022. In addition to the team, the university also has esports clubs.
There are 12 players on the varsity roster, according to Chris Knutson, esports director. The team does not have a junior varsity roster.
The Augustana Esports team competes largely in the Collegiate Champions League (CCL) but did compete in the College League of Legends competition in spring of 2023. The team competes in "League of Legends" and "Valorant."
Augustana Esports has an esports lab on campus, a space “for players to come together and compete as well as a gathering place for all those interested in esports,” says Knutson.
For students or prospective students who are interested in trying out for the esports team, they can visit augie.edu/student-life/esports where they can scan the QR code to be connected to the team’s Discord channel. There they can meet other students and find out more about joining the team.
Dakota Wesleyan
Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell has had an esports team since 2019. They were the first university in the state to offer scholarships to compete on their teams.
Last season the team had a roster of 10 members who compete in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate", "League of Legends" and "Rocket League".
DWU has an esports lab on campus that features 10 esports stations.
In addition to virtual competitions, the DWU Esports team competed in the first ever Morningside Esports Invitational in Sioux City, Iowa. The university fielded teams to compete in "Overwatch 2," "Rocket League" and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate."
DWU holds a LAN event each year and has plans to increase that to once per semester.
The team’s Twitch channel can be found at twitch.tv/dwuesports
South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University in Brookings has both a competitive esports team as well as teams who play strictly for recreation.
Last season the competitive roster featured 20 players with plans to add more, according to SDSU Esports team president Hunter Anderson. There are 40-50 players who play noncompetitively.
The SDSU Esports team competes in three titles — "Valorant" (two teams), "Overwatch" and "Rocket League". The team has plans to add "Counter-Strike 2". The "Overwatch" team competes in the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) league while "Valorant" and "Rocket League" compete in the Collegiate Champions League (CCL).
In general, the team practices using their own equipment and space, Anderson said. However, SDSU features the Jacks Esport Lounge, a space filled with state-of-the-art computer gaming equipment for all students. Located in the university’s Enrollment Services Center, the facility features two Xboxes, a Nintendo Switch, two VR headsets and 12 Alienware PCs.
Those interested in joining the SDSU Esports team can reach out to club members through the team’s Discord. The team’s Twitch channel is twitch.tv/sdstateesports
