ADRIAN, Mich. – In the fall of 2018, Siena Heights University became the first college or university to offer eSports as a scholarship sport in the state of Michigan. Now, Siena Heights will be the first college or university in the U.S. to offer scholarships to play FIFA, Madden NFL, and NBA 2K.
"I'm really excited to announce that Siena Heights is bringing these simulation games to our program," said SHU eSports Head Coach and Director Thomas Goodman. "It adds a fifth genre of game while opening a new type of player group to our program. I hope this will bring new audiences to the eSports community. Siena Heights will be looking to recruit new eSport athletes for these games immediately and are offering the same type of scholarship any other athletic program on campus would offer."
· FIFA, also known as FIFA Football or FIFA Soccer, is a series of association football video games or football simulator, released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label.
· Madden NFL is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and has sold more than 130 million copies.
· NBA 2K series is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed and released annually since 1999.
SHU will compete in the National Association of Collegiate eSports (NACE), the Collegiate Starleague (CSL) and in other local tournaments with these games next fall.
Siena Heights currently has teams in the following games:
· Rocket League
· Overwatch
· League of Legends
· Hearthstone
Here are some other interesting facts about SHU's eSports program:
· The University invested nearly $200,000 in technology, facility upgrades, and personnel in its new eSports Arena
· The Saints have one of the few coeducational eSports programs in the country
· The program has a sponsorship agreement with ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) to equip the Saints with cutting-edge technology to help them achieve success in the competitive collegiate gaming world
For more information regarding SHU eSports please visit https://sienaheights.edu/esports.
