Florida Southern College Creates Esports Arena to Boost Community Gameplay

Florida Southern College esports arena

Florida Southern College has expanded and upgraded its campus esports facilities, turning a space for community-based computer gaming into a large esports arena. The new space, dubbed the Snake Pit, is designed to accommodate gaming by the general student population, according to a news announcement. It will also be used by the college's esports teams for varsity tournament play.

Features of the arena include 30 gaming stations, additional seating for console gaming, projection technology for competition use, and movable furnishings.

"Esports is a fast-growing industry; in the U.S., esports is predicted to have more viewers than any other sports league excluding the NFL, with an expected 200 percent growth by 2024," commented Anne B. Kerr, president of Florida Southern, in a statement. "We recently announced that the Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise will introduce an undergraduate minor and a Master of Business Education concentration related to competitive gaming. So, this new gaming area is a perfect addition to the educational and job opportunities for our scholars."

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Launches Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has released Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.

  • Red alert symbols and email icons floating in a dark digital space

    Phishing Attacks Increasingly Exploit Remote Management Tools and AI E-mail Assistants, Reports Find

    Phishing attacks are increasing their use of legitimate remote management software to take over computers and hidden instructions to manipulate AI e-mail assistants, according to two recent security reports.

  • Image of digital screen with data and math formulas on black background

    AI Giants Report Advances in Mathematical Research

    OpenAI has published what it says is an AI-generated solution to the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, one of mathematics' seven Millennium Prize Problems, while Anthropic has reported separate advances in research mathematics and formal proof generation.

  • Blurred silhouettes of business people in a modern office with a glowing blue network overlay

    Open Secure AI Alliance Moves to Linux Foundation

    The Open Secure AI Alliance has moved under the Linux Foundation, giving the initiative what the organizations describe as a neutral home for developing open source tools, shared standards and defensive practices. The Alliance was launched by NVIDIA in July to develop open security technologies for AI systems and agents.