14 DAY TRIAL // It's happening. You can finally become a popular athlete from the comfort of your mother's basement. Illinois' Robert Morris University has become the first college in the United States to add eSports to its athletic program, and as such offer athletic scholarships to professional gamers.
The college has already started to recruit high school-age players that show proficiency in Riot Games' multiplayer online battle arena for the new program, scheduled to start this fall.
The university says that it will be able to offer its eSports athletes up to 50 percent of their tuition fees and living costs with the program, which amount to around $19k / €14k.
Robert Morris University will join the Collegiate Star League, which sees students compete in League of Legends, StarCraft II, Dota 2 and Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft.
The Collegiate Star League numbers 103 institutions so far, including Arizona State, George Washington and Harvard, but RMU is the first college in the world to include eSports in its varsity athletic program, not just at a club or student organization level.
Various sponsors and eSports teams offered scholarships to prominent players in the gaming community in the past, but Robert Morris University's program is the first instance of a university recognizing the value and legitimacy of eSports.
"After we looked into League of Legends, frankly I was shocked at the scale and the size, and how passionate the community is. We give scholarships for a variety of different interests, along with traditional sports like football, basketball, soccer. So we thought, 'Why wouldn't we give scholarships for this?'" Kurt Melcher, associate athletic director at RMU, tells IGN.
The school is currently in the process of recruiting students based on their skill in League of Legends, with the program so far intending to put together three teams of nine players each, with a main starter team, and two support squads.
The recruits will begin competitive play under the university's banner this September, and over the course of the next few months the program will continue to adapt as it makes its debut in collegiate eSports.
"I hope we're not the last school to do what we're doing. The CSL is so well organized already, but I would love to see it go a step farther. If we're the first of many, that would be spectacular," Melcher concludes.
Riot Games' League of Legends is a free-to-play competitive game that is arguably the most successful MOBA on the planet, with over 27 million players participating in matches every day, and a multitude of professional tournaments spread all throughout the year, with millions in prizes.
Now, all we need is for EA to make an EA NCAA LoL game and we're set.