In a shocking move, North Dakota State athletic director Matt Larsen announced Wednesday men’s golf will be cut from NDSU athletics. Replacing men’s golf will be a varsity League of Legends team.
“We are excited to be the first members of the Summit League to fully enter into the world of e-sports,” Larsen said.
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis does have a LoL team, but it is supported at the club level.
“It was a hard sell to get the board to accept the fact that we would be offering aid to athletes who just sit in front of the computer,” Larsen said. “To them it was a foreign concept, but once they took a look at what exactly the competitors do, they were on board.”
With the move, NDSU will now offer scholarships to potential players. Larsen said it will be laid out similarly to Robert Morris University, but did not comment on how much money will be made available for scholarships. Robert Morris supports up to 50 percent of student costs, which total to as much as $19,000 a year.
The new LoL team will move into the SHAC along with most of the rest of NDSU’s teams. Larsen said the program will be freshly built with new hardware for the athletes.
“We will be working with the current members of the video game club in order to properly spec the tools which the athletes will use.”
Most of the expenses will come out of the athletic budget. Larsen added there may be an additional deal in the books.
“We have been in contact with a number of computer companies talking about partnerships to use their hardware,” Larsen said.
The team will be holding open tryouts, and a coach is yet to be determined at this point. Despite the current lack of structure, it seems like there is a blue print in place for the build.
“You don’t make a move like this without a plan,” Larsen said. There was no further comment about the program’s structure.
When asked why there was a decision to cut golf, it came down to performance and program visibility.
In Summit League Championships, the program finished no better than fourth in nine years. Most recently, they finished 11th out of 12 teams at the Jackrabbit Invitational last weekend.
“One big thing we looked at is visibility on campus,” Larsen said. “The team did not play a competitive round in Fargo this year, and just does not have a large following. We saw the move to League of Legends as an opportunity to expand our university and the awareness of the university nationally. There is hope that low costs coupled with possible attendance at events and streaming rights will bring in money for the school.”
When contacted for a comment, the men’s golf head coach Steve Kennedy said, “We are disappointed in the decision of the athletic department. We respect the decision but will ask the department of review the choice they made.”
Student reaction has been slightly more in favor of the move.
Jacob Block, a sophomore in electrical engineering thought this is the right move.
“It is about time this school caught up with the current trends in sports,” Block said. He also added he would likely trying out for the team. “I never thought I would try out to be a full-on Bison.”
One student who wished to be unnamed was not so pleased. “It now gives my roommate another reason to stay up all-night, playing League and yelling at his team. I am not sure if he even has his mic on half the time.”
The team will start playing in the ULoL Campus Series in December, taking part in the North Division in the top tier of competition. Matches will take place in the SHAC, but it is unknown if they will take place in the training room or main court.
Either way, the e-sport wave has fully hit Fargo.