Esports

SUNY Esports Tournament Raises Money for Student Emergency Funding

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/14/20

A fully virtual esports tournament at the State University of New York is in its last week. Awards from the $20,000 pool will go to the student emergency funds for winning teams’ respective schools. Nearly 500 gamers have participated from within SUNY colleges and universities in the "SUNY Chancellor Esports Challenge."

Each participating school was invited to put forward two teams of students to compete in each of three different games: Fortnite, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Rocket League. The tournament is free for players and is being run completely online. Broadcasts of the games are running on SUNY's esports channels on twitch.tv and LeagueSpot.

The prize pool came from SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson, who committed $10,000, and co-sponsor Extreme Networks, which committed $10,000. The top prize for each game is $2,000; a $5,000 grand prize will go to the SUNY campus with the best overall score. Additional prizes are available from Extreme, Mountain Dew and SUNY Canton, which runs a robust esports program and produces video game competitions at the collegiate level.

"This esports tournament fosters an engaging and competitive virtual event for our campuses that also raises funding for #SUNYTogether, our philanthropic campaign that supports our students deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Johnson, in a statement. "My thanks to Extreme Networks for co-sponsoring, as well as SUNY Canton — home of SUNY's first varsity esports program — for graciously accepting my challenge to create and organize this competition."

To donate to SUNY's emergency funding for students, visit the #SUNYTogether website.