OMEN and College Esports Descend Upon Des Moines
Across the globe, esports is exploding in popularity like never before. Whereas competitive gaming used to be primarily online play, today live tournaments played in arenas capable of seating thousands are being streamed by millions. With this unprecedented growth comes not only excitement and a variety of challenges, but also emulation and adaptation. A wide variety of college sports - from basketball to golf - provide their athletes with the facilities and training to take their game to the professional level. With this in mind, colleges are now beginning to see the value in creating similar programs for their electronic athletes and forming organizations such as the NACE (National Association of Collegiate Esports).
One school that has taken the initiative with college esports is Grand View University (GVU) of Des Moines, Iowa. This past weekend OMEN by HP was proud to sponsor and provide registration gift giveaways and tournament door prizes for the Global Esports Classic and Clinic - which was played entirely at GVU campus on our cutting edge desktops and displays. This twelve-team League of Legends tournament featured three pools for seeding and featured a variety of school such as CU Boulder, Indiana Tech and of course Grand View University. It was an extremely hard fought and exciting contest that culminated with AZIO Esports defeating Columbia College to take home the championship.
While this intense competition was a driving force behind attracting teams, athletic directors and representatives from around North America, it was not the only reason they were there. The Clinic part of the weekend focused entirely educating attendees, which also included a representative of the NCAA. The Clinic's opening topic was a study on the evolution of competitive esports by Kurt Melcher, the Executive Director of Esports for Intersport. During his talk, he broke down game publishers, specific games, leagues that are forming, and the companies and organizations that are sponsoring these different leagues and games.
Dedicated session topics also included:
How to start a university (high school) esports program
The benefits of joining an association
The esports athlete - stages of development
Principles of play in competitive esports
Developing a productive practice
Recruiting the esports athlete
For many in attendance, the Clinic served as a learning experience. Keeping an open mind, they considered whether or not esports should have a future at their schools and, if so, how to make it happen. Currently, about 35 of the represented universities are in the decision making process or have already committed to starting a program in the fall of 2018.
As it was put by one attendee, esports doesn't really have a Mike Krzyzewski or any long established names in the college scene. For a lot of people here, this is like learning about a sport you've never played in your life. Imagine trying to learn football for the first time!
This prevailing spirit of anticipation for the undertaking ahead was captured well by Joshua Pann, HP's Product Manager for Education, who said, seeing so many people committed to building a quality program makes me excited for the future of esports. Were going to see an explosion of opportunities for students to pursue their passions in a structured environment while receiving an education. The OMEN brand is proud to empower these students to compete at the highest level with quality dependable gear. That schools like Grand View continue to raise awareness for collegiate esports is incredibly exciting.
Jay Prescott, Vice President of Student Affairs as well as the Esports Director at Grand View University, spoke to this further when stating, HP has been a great sponsor right out of the gate. Their OMEN gaming stations are excellent equipment and priced in a way that is affordable for a beginning varsity program that is shooting to compete at a top-tier level. They also understand how vital education is to this entire process. Without teaching and learning taking place amongst all roles within esports, the quality of the programs will not keep up with the pace of growth. Their willingness to collaborate with Grand View on the first Global Esports Classic and Clinic allowed us to invite university and high school athletic directors from across the country to come to our campus and learn from the pioneers and leaders in the collegiate esports world. We look forward to a long and rewarding collaboration that extends the learning and growth of all those involved in the exploding university competitive esports culture.
What about the students though? Without players, esports doesn't happen, so we sat down with a few of Grand View's top players - Jon Fuki Quach and Jun Jun Chang - to get their feedback on some questions.
HP: How has your experience been with Grand View University on the esports side of things and did you go here specifically because of their growing esports program?
Jon: For the most part my experience with Grand View University has been good on the esports side. Even though we are lacking in some areas, the staff has made a good effort to try and help fix whatever problems we have in whatever way they can. I did come specifically for the esports program and was specifically chosen to lead it, help it expand, and be successful.
Jun: I specifically went to Grand View University because of the upcoming esports program that they wanted to do. However, I also wanted to finish my degree and graduate. The experience of being able to play on the esports team and get an education has been a life changer.
HP: Assuming universities and colleges across the nation now had esports programs covering a variety of games, what would be the most important factors toward choosing where yo
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
OMEN and College Esports Descend Upon Des Moines
