Harrisburg University doesn’t have a football team, and they likely won’t ever have one. Instead, they’re putting their money into videogames.
After a lengthy recruitment process and months of tryouts, the Pennsylvania science and tech school has awarded 16 full-ride scholarships for incoming students who excel in Hearthstone, League of Legends, and Overwatch.
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Esports popularity hasn’t quite translated into college sports thus far, and isn’t regulated yet by the NCAA. So Harrisburg figures that if they invest early, they can get a jump on everyone else.
In order to be the Ohio State of esports, they’ve sunk a lot of money into the program, and attracted a lot of prospects who might not otherwise go to college.
VICE News visited the university on the final day of tryouts to see what it takes to get a full ride at what just might be the future mecca of college esports.
This segment originally aired May 10, 2018 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
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