Schools Locked In to Compete in First-Ever ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship at Comicpalooza

All 22 qualifying teams from 20 schools participating in the first-ever ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship (CEC), being held at Comicpalooza in Houston from May 10 – 12, 2019, are officially locked in. Hundreds of schools from across North America competed in qualifiers hosted by Tespa and Collegiate StarLeague (CSL) to secure their spots in the LAN (local area network) semi-finals and championships. Overwatch competition will also include a quarterfinal at the LAN event.

The full weekend schedule, produced and staged by ESPN Events, is also available now at ESPNEvents.com. Individual day tickets and three-day passes for Comicpalooza, including access to the CEC, start at just $45 for adults and can be purchased at www.comicpalooza.com.

Teams qualifying for each game are as follows:

Overwatch®
Maryville University
Carleton University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Harrisburg University of Science and Technology
Grand Canyon University
Orange Coast College
Rutgers University
University of Utah

Street Fighter™ V: Arcade Edition
New Jersey Institute of Technology
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Lambton College
Sheridan College

Hearthstone®
Georgia Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
University of Oregon

StarCraft® II

University of California – Berkeley
University of California – San Diego
University of Chicago
University of Waterloo

Heroes of the Storm®

California State Polytechnic University – Pomona
Rutgers University

Finalists will compete for prizing in the form of scholarships, and the LAN Championship will be streamed globally on ESPN Esports’ Twitch channel. More information on the Collegiate Esports Championship can be found at www.espnevents.com/collegiate-esports-championship.

Media interested in covering the Collegiate Esports Championship may inquire about media credentials by contacting Olivia Wilson at [email protected] and must adhere to the guidelines provided here.

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Media Contact:

Olivia Wilson, ESPN Esports Communications, 904-303-3538, [email protected]

ESPN Events
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a large portfolio of 34 collegiate sporting events worldwide. The roster includes three Labor Day weekend college football games, the FCS opening-weekend game, 15 college bowl games, 11 college basketball events, a college softball event, an esports event and two college award shows, which accounts for approximately 375-plus hours of live programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over 800,000 attendees each year. With satellite offices in Albuquerque, Birmingham, Boca Raton, Boise, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Montgomery and St. Petersburg, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans. ESPN Events also manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft®, Hearthstone®, Overwatch®, the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises, and the multi-franchise Heroes of the Storm®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes twenty-two #1 games* and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Blizzard Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.

*Sales and/or downloads. Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.

About Capcom
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices.  Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games including ground-breaking franchises Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Monster Hunter™, Ace Attorney®, Mega Man® and Devil May Cry®. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Tokyo, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. Capcom and the Capcom logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd., in the U.S. or other countries. Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition is a registered trademark of Capcom U.S.A., Inc. More information about Capcom and its products can be found at www.capcom.com or www.capcom-unity.com.

About Collegiate StarLeague

Collegiate StarLeague, a division of WorldGaming, is the world’s largest collegiate gaming league. Since 2009, it has awarded over $650,000 in scholarship money to student gamers from around the world. It has over 52,000 registered players across 1,600 registered schools. For more information, visit www.cstarleague.com.

About Tespa

Tespa is the premier college gaming network in North America, dedicated to creating a home for gamers on every campus. Recognized as the leader in college esports, Tespa cultivates student communities that host epic gaming events on campuses in the United States, Canada, and South Korea, and has distributed more than $3 million in scholarship prizing. Tespa has had more than 42,000 students from 1,300 universities compete in its college tournaments and has empowered student leaders to become entrepreneurs in the gaming industry.