The Big Ten Network and Riot Games announced Thursday the launch of the BTN League of Legends season, a pilot program in which 12 clubs from Big Ten schools compete. It marks the first time Riot Games has partnered with a national collegiate network for an official season-long competition, as the eSports trend on the college level continues to grow.
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin will compete for the championship in the inaugural season, which starts Jan. 30 on BTN2Go and watch.lolesports.com. The Big Ten Network will televise the BTN League of Legends championship March 27.
“We are thrilled to be taking the next step into esports with the season-long BTN League of Legends competition,” BTN vice president of marketing Erin Harvego said in a statement. “We are confident that, together with Riot, we can build a successful platform for future esports intercollegiate competition. We hope to learn a lot in this pilot season.”
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Last year, the BTN Invitational was held as an exhibition League of Legends match featuring Michigan State and Ohio State.
Now teams will compete in the BTN East and West, playing a best-of-3 round robin against division foes. At the end of the round robin, the top four teams from each division will compete in a single elimination playoff bracket. The East and West champions will face each other in the BTN League of Legends Championship for the right to compete in the League of Legends College Championship to determine the overall League of Legends collegiate champion.
“The Big Ten Universities are not only historical leaders in college athletics, they are home to some of our biggest and most passionate college League of Legends communities,” Riot Games’ Michael Sherman, who leads the competitive college program for League of Legends, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to see the growth in popularity of professional League of Legends, and now we want to give collegiate fans at the Big Ten Universities the same opportunity to share their passion in BTN League of Legends.”