The recent construction starting on an esports lab in the M building on the Liberal Arts Campus is a huge step for the esports program at Long Beach City College but also raises the question should esports be receiving the same financial support that traditional sports do?
The potential opportunities that come out of esports expand outside of just scholarships and schooling. Esports experience is now commonly leveraged into careers in content creation and major social media presences as well.
Esports needs financial support, it opens pathways for people in a field where they may not get much support otherwise.
Despite creating unique opportunities and being a program on the rise, esports should not get the same financial backing as traditional sports because of how ingrained sports is to the college’s identity.
One day esports might reach the level of traditional collegiate sports but as of now it is not and until it has equivalent numbers of students it should not get the same financial backing.
With the recent success of esports LBCC started their own official esports program in the fall of 2022 and in only two years of existence it is already taking a huge step by receiving a lab to practice and play games in.
The esports program mainly features four games, League of Legends, Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege, and Rocket League.
LBCC esports has been on an upward trend since conception with the Rocket League team, recently making a deep playoff push as well as the school’s League of Legends team making it their conference semifinals in 2023.
The debate on whether esports should be equally as valued as traditional sports is one that has been very volatile, especially since the emergence of esports post-2015.
This is a significant dilemma since sports is one of the biggest financial investments the college makes every year and giving esports the same kind of investment would be a big chunk of the school’s budget.
Overall the esports program may not create as many opportunities or scholarships as those available in traditional sports but there are still scholarships available for esports at colleges throughout California.
Students should make their voices heard about the topic, as esports is a very new addition to the college and what they do with it could help it thrive or risk taking away from other programs that could better utilize the financial support.