Southeast Missouri State University senior Brenden Leahy says his passion for video gaming — particularly Counter-Strike: Global Offensive — has placed him at the center of an eSports initiative gaining rapid momentum on the Southeast campus.

Leahy and other Southeast gamerssay they are excited about a plan to develop an eSports venue in the TowersComplex that is expected to attract both recreational and competitive Southeastplayers when it opens for the start of the fall 2019 semester. The new eSportsvenue will be located in the space currently occupied by the Towers ComputerLab on the main floor of the Towers Complex.

The 1,500-square-foot space willfeature 12 personal computers — two facing banks of six personal computerseach — in a setup designed for competitive fantasy-type gaming. Video gamingalso will be available in another corner of the space with Xbox, PlayStation andNintendo consoles. A 70-inch wall-mounted television will provide a birds-eyeview of live games being played in real-time in the space. The venue willinclude gaming furniture for others to watch games in progress. Nip KellyConstruction is the contractor for the project.

Southeast officials say the eSportsvenue, under the auspices of Recreation Services, will be a 24/7 operationalspace offering after hours and late night/early morning access. BecauseSoutheasts Residence Life office is across the hallway, Residence Life staffcan assist when needed. The location also is along the current route forAdmissions campus tours, making the space easily shown to prospective students.

Leahy, a member of Southeasts eSports Club and who also assists with eSports intramurals as a Recreation Services student employee, calls the space a perfect location in a high trafficked student area. Dining options are nearby, and the venues glass front allows passersby to readily watch the fun and competition.

As a result of the new eSportsvenue, the Towers Computer Lab will move down the hall to Towers 110.

Dr. Bruce Skinner, associatevice president for student life, says students will be able to schedule thespace through Recreation Sports for competitive and club sports events.

This is of interest to our students and relatively easy to implement, he said, adding the space is being collaboratively funded by Student Government, Campus Life and Recreation Services using funds allocated for co-curricular and student life activities.

We are going to helpstudents compete who want to be competitive, he said. And those who dontwant to be competitive will find a connection with others. That is soimportant.

Leahy, who grew up on video games after first watching his brother play Donkey Kong 64, said Southeasts eSports venue will be a place to gel with like-minded students.

It provides a community forme and fellow fans to join in, he said. Im not the most social person by anystretch, but when I find out that people in my degree path, or just otherindividuals on campus, have an interest in eSports, I suddenly have a genuineconnection with them. We can talk about our games of choice, favorite momentsif we watch the same game, and stuff like that. I think providing a place forus all to meet up and play games, watch tournaments, or otherwise chat, will bea beautiful option to have on campus.

eSports is an emergingindustry that has aggressively moved into the college environment, said MikeBuck, director of Recreation Services. Last fall, Southeasts Recreation Servicesbegan developing an eSports competitive club and incorporating eSports into theintramural program. In February, Recreation Services hosted an informational eSportsClub meeting, and 13 students and a staff member attended. That led to thecreation of a Southeast eSports Club which now boasts 60 full members and thedevelopment of eSports intramurals.

In addition, RecreationServices staff recently attending an eSports conference at Southern IllinoisUniversity-Carbondale, followed by Southeast sending three students to St.Louis to compete March 1 in the ESPN101 FIFA Soccer tournament in St. Louis.

Eric Redinger, associate director of Recreation Services, said ESPN101 extensively covered the event, and one participating Southeast student was interviewed on Twitch for about 10 minutes, with the piece receiving almost 3,000 viewers in real time.

Alex Pueschel, a junior finance major from OFallon, Missouri, was a member of the team that participated in the ESPN101 FIFA Soccer Tournament. He says hes been playing video games since he was in second grade and is excited about having an eSports Club team at Southeast that he says will serve as a recruitment tool for attracting prospective students.

Its very fun to be part of, he said, adding that an established venue to play is very visually appealing and makes getting together and practicing much simpler.

The skys the limit for thepotential of eSports which is an explosive industry.

I think eSports will very soon be on the scale of baseball andhockey, and eventually grow to something like basketball and even football,said Leahy, a fourth-year student from Auburn, Illinois, studying technologymanagement, telecommunications and computer networking option, with a minor incomputer science.

Leahy added, Forbes (magazine) published an article last year saying that eSports is the new college football. While I dont think its there just yet, it is inevitable.

He said this years Super Bowl attracted just under 100 millionviewers. By comparison, the League of Legends 2018 Mid-season Invitationalpulled in 60 million unique viewers for the finals alone. Over the12-day event, viewers watched 363 million hours of League of Legends, and atits peak, just under 20 million people were watching at one time.

Those are insane numbers, especially when you consider that eSportsis still rapidly growing, he said. I love eSports so much and cannot wait forit to be as mainstream as professional sports and see where that takes themedium.