Twitch Partners With Cxmmunity For HBCU Esports League

Live video streaming service Twitch is joining forces with Cxmmunity to create a unique esports league aimed at gathering minorities to join the growing multi-million dollar industry.

The first-ever Historically Black Colleges and Universities esports league aims to draw a new crowd in the field of video games. Its creation will provide HBCU students “educational and scholarship support” through Twitch Student, a program that allows students to represent their universities in various video game competitions and esports events.

Engadget, who detailed a statement from Twitch, said that more than 200 universities in North America have their own esports teams under Tespa, the National Association of Collegiate Esports and Collegiate Star League. Among the 200 schools, however, the Morehouse College in Atlanta is the lone HBCU representative.

Prior to the proposed esports plan, HBCU Heroes hosted its first HBCU esports competition earlier this month. This came after the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference decided to cancel all fall sports and came up with a plan to partner with Blaze Fire Games and launched a dedicated HBCU esports league.

Johnson C. Smith University sports management professor Dr. BerNadette Lawson-Williams, who talked with Diverse Education, acknowledged that esports as an industry that will “continue to grow.” It's “surge in popularity” on the other hand became evident during the COVID-19 outbreak where most students were required to stay at home to prevent the spread of the virus.

“Isn't that what they always say – follow your passion? Hey, (students are) already passionately playing esports in the dormitory, so why not transform that passion into the classroom and into job opportunities?” she said.

An estimated 83% of Black teens play video games, while 68% of video game creators are of European or Caucasian descent, said Engadget, citing a statement from Twitch. The HBCU esports league will also close the “diversity gap” by opening the “pipeline for Black talent in the esports industry.”

The Good Trouble Takeover also played host to a 4-hour online NBA 2k20 tournament between six HBCU earlier this month. The “first-of-its-kind,” winner-take-all virtual tournament focused on, among other, education, sports and technology that many HBCUs are facing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The tournament will serve as a gateway to excite and engage HBCUs and their students about this platform, thereby exposing them to existing and future opportunities for gaming to help with sustainability in enrollment, visibility and a pipeline to scholarships and resources from billion-dollar sport,” the Charleston Chronicle reported.