Game on!

It was 50 years ago that Atari kick-started the video game industry with the release of “Pong,” the Magnavox Odyssey brought video games into the homes of thousands of American families and Stanford University hosted the world’s first video game competition. Decades later, what was once a pastime is now a billion-dollar—and growing—industry.

So enters the era of esports, where competition meets the digital age. Short for electronic sports, esports is competitive video gaming in which individual players or teams face off in real time to be crowned champion.

Once relegated to at-home play, today esports broadcasts and events draw millions of viewers and attendees, making esports one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and expected to generate $2 billion in revenue this year. The seemingly boundless growth and popularity of this industry has not gone unnoticed in the educational world.

Over the past five years, Ohio University has been investing in academic programs, co-curricular activity and a new facility—all designed to prepare students for careers in esports while building community on campus. Behind the scenes of this robust and enthusiastic esports push lies a group of motivated students, alumni and faculty who see the abundance of opportunities in this industry and are sending a message to the world of competitive gaming: OHIO is ready to play.

The birth of Bobcat Esports

In 2017, Dr. Jeffrey Kuhn, MA ’11, PHD ’17, began advocating for an esports team and facility at OHIO.

“I was interested in the national landscape of esports, especially at the collegiate level,” says Kuhn, who was named OHIO’s first esports director last summer. “That’s what made me want to present it to the University. I could see the potential in this industry.”

He soon crossed paths with three then-students—Adam Maslowski, BSC, BSJ ’20, MITS ’21, Kristofer Meyeres, BBA ’20, and Ivy O’Shaughnessy, BSC ’20—who met through a club O’Shaughnessy formed for students who played the game “Overwatch.” For O’Shaughnessy, the club was a means of bringing something students were enjoying completely online to something they could do together.

In the midst of the success of the “Overwatch” club, Maslowski, Meyeres and O’Shaughnessy started seeing a much bigger picture: a University with various student clubs dedicated to specific video games and an opportunity to bring those groups together and galvanize campus-wide interest in esports.

“That’s how Bobcat Esports was born,” O’Shaughnessy says. “The number of members we had grew like crazy in just the first year, so we knew we wanted to make the club more official. We started talking to professors and thinking of ways we could demonstrate that esports was a worthy investment for the school.”

The founders of the Bobcat Esports club connected with Kuhn and, in spring 2019, were invited to present at OHIO’s Board of Trustees meeting, where they advocated for the construction of an esports arena on campus.

“The goal was always to unify the club as much as we could,” O’Shaughnessy says. “And playing in person is a huge part of that. We knew that having a big educational space would be great for personal and professional development. Plus, we could invite other schools to come compete with us.”

The Board of Trustees approved funding for OHIO’s first space dedicated to esports. The state-of-the-art facility is housed on the ground floor of Scripps Hall and features a social gaming area and varsity-level competition and practice spaces—with Bobcat Esports representing OHIO in the Esports Collegiate Conference, a competitive esports league that the Mid-American Conference launched in June 2020. The arena also includes a broadcast booth, where OHIO students interested in sports-related journalism and production can perfect their skills by coordinating and announcing esports matches.

Construction on the arena has been completed, but a global computer chip shortage has the facility awaiting the 50 computers that will equip the space. When the arena fully opens, it will welcome the approximately 350 and counting members of Bobcat Esports and other interested students.

“If you think about it, every college has a program for music, and the video games industry is five times the size of the music industry but often lacks the presence at universities that the music industry has,” Kuhn says. “Esports isn’t just about students competing; it’s about creating a social space and opportunities where everyone is welcome.”

At OHIO, it’s also about preparing students for careers in an emerging and profitable industry. In fall 2020, the University debuted a new esports certificate designed to do just that.

“You can do any career in esports that you can do in professional sports,” explains Brandon Wright, assistant professor of instruction in the College of Business’ Department of Sports Administration and one of the first faculty members to teach an esports class at OHIO. “Students can get into organizing tournaments or team management. There’s a need for marketing and advertising events. Teams need broadcasters for narration, and there’s also a need for branding.”

Housed in the Scripps College of Communication’s J. Warren McClure School of Emerging Communication Technologies and offered in partnership with the College of Business, the esports certificate includes tracks in esports management, game design and information technology.

OHIO’s esports champions

Championing the rise of OHIO’s esports landscape are eager students—who, Kuhn emphasizes, “put their hearts and souls into it”—and successful and active alumni who brought the Ohio University name to the esports world long before most on campus even knew what esports was.

“Nearly every esports business in the United States has an Ohio University graduate working there,” says Kuhn.

Many of those alumni, including the founders of Bobcat Esports, have been instrumental in lending their time and expertise to the development of esports curricula and an arena that will position OHIO students as leaders in the field.

Adam Apicella, BSSPS ’03, is one of several OHIO graduates serving on the University’s Esports and Gaming Advisory Board—and a legend in the industry, earning a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Esports Awards.

After graduating from OHIO, Apicella began preparing for law school while interning for a political campaign.

“I was working probably 90 hours a week and adding thousands of miles on my car,” he recalls. “I didn’t have the time or money to go out in my free time, so I started playing ‘Halo’ on my Xbox to unwind.”

Wanting to bring “Halo” players together to compete, he decided to rent out a hotel ballroom and host a tournament.

“Hundreds of people ended up showing up, and the tournament lasted all day,” Apicella says. “I was in total shock. We had so many people that we were able to give out prizes and pay all of our expenses.”

Word traveled about Apicella’s event, prompting Major League Gaming (MLG), a budding esports company, to contact him. In 2004, he agreed to help the company host a similar event, which was so successful that Apicella was offered a position with MLG, becoming its first employee.

“I rolled the dice and decided to put off law school and take the job,” he says. “Eighteen months later, we raised $10 million in funding.”

Apicella worked for MLG for more than 15 years, organizing and executing some of the nation’s first esports competitions, and was ready to roll the dice again. In 2019, he founded Esports Engine, a Columbus-based company that serves as a one-stop shop for all things esports and gaming, from strategy and competition operations to broadcasting and production.

In just two years, Esports Engine has grown to 200-plus employees, including several fellow OHIO graduates. One of the company’s most recent hires? Bobcat Esports co-founder O’Shaughnessy.

“Adam is somebody I look up to a lot in the industry,” says O’Shaughnessy, associate client operations manager at Esports Engine. “I’m kind of at my dream job right now.”

Those Bobcat connections can be found throughout the esports industry. Apicella was recently selected to serve on a new advisory board for eFuse, a successful professional hub for esports and gaming founded by fellow OHIO College of Business alumnus Matt Benson, and volunteers his time to advise Bobcat Esports.

“Bobcat Esports mirrors OHIO’s broad alumni connections with students,” says Pat Daley, the club’s current president and a junior majoring in integrated media. “We have tons of OHIO alumni involved in esports, and this school is a great place to be if you’re wanting to get involved in the industry.”

Apicella admires OHIO’s commitment to esports, which he sees as a larger commitment to student success.

“I have a lot of respect for Ohio University and its education,” Apicella says. “Esports is exciting, it’s innovative, and OHIO understands this. The industry is going to grow exponentially. The potential to monetize and grow this space is really unmatched.”

Feature image: OHIO’s new esports arena, featuring this broadcast booth, is located on the ground floor of Scripps Hall and is already home to some of the courses being taught as part of the University’s esports certificate program. Photo by Ben Wirtz Siegel, BSVC ’02

At the top of their game

From campus to career, here’s a look at just some of the Ohio University graduates who laid the foundation for success in the world of esports while pursuing their OHIO degrees.

Lemar Daniels, MBA/MSA ’19

While at OHIO, Daniels served as director of operations for Bobcat Esports and was a key player in organizing the first Bobcat Esports Invitational. In July 2019, he was named director of esports at Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio, where, last year, he coached the university’s Overwatch team to its first Great Lakes Esports Conference Championship. He serves on the Competition Committee for the National Association of Collegiate Esports and was named its 2021 Overwatch Coach of the Year.

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Sydney Melham, BSVC ’21

When she wasn’t tending the goal for OHIO’s Women’s Soccer Team, Malham was honing her skills both in the classroom and through experiential learning opportunities with sports and esports organizations. She spent her last two years as a student working as a part-time graphic designer for Washington Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based professional Overwatch esports team, and, in January, joined The Guard, a Los Angeles-based esports and gaming organization that competes across multiple game titles, as a graphic designer.

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Carter Rodriguez, BSJ '13

Rodriguez spent his years as an OHIO undergraduate working and learning at WOUB as a reporter and co-producer of the station’s Hardwood Heroes program. He launched his career with a digital sports network in Chicago, working his way up to producer and director, and entered the field of esports as an associate broadcast manager and then producer at Blizzard Entertainment. In 2019, Rodriguez joined Esports Engine, where, today, he is the company’s director of broadcast operations.

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Matthew Shiflet, BSJ '19

As a student in OHIO’s Honors Tutorial College, Shiflet served as a senior editor at a virtual publication focused on the video game industry, captained a team within the Bobcat Esports club and wrote a thesis about viral marketing in video games and esports. Just weeks after graduating, Shiflet landed a job as social media coordinator for professional esports team Boston Uprising and, last March, joined Esports Engine as a digital and social media manager.

Read about the evolution of OHIO's Scripps Hall — from print to pixel and OHIO's new esports arena.