With esports growing and expanding day-by-day, Rowan University has made it a mission to jump in and make esports a concentration within the sports communication and media (SportsCaM) major. 

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Rowan has made great strides at making sure the major thrives despite the issues that COVID brings. At this moment, the courses for spring 2021 are as follows: Introduction to Esports, Esports Coverage & Media Reporting, Esports Coverage & Media In-Game Observing and Esports Coverage & Media Shoutcasting. In light of the ongoing pandemic, these classes are all available online until further notice. 

Rowan also has a esports team that plays games that range from Counter Strike: Global Offensive (commonly referred to as CS: GO) to Street Fighter to something like Rocket League.

There is a reason why Rowan has decided to grow their esports community, and it is because the sport as a whole just continues to grow.

While the COVID pandemic has brought some problems with a lot of major sports, the esports scene is a little bit easier to work with thanks to online tournament settings.

The multiplayer experience in question can range from a 1v1 setting to a 5v5 setting; something like the Madden NFL series could have a team setting but it is mostly a setting that is one player versus another player. In a Battle Royale game like Fortnite or Apex Legends, it is usually required to support a handful of teams that can range from a 2v2 setting to a 3v3 setting.

Someone who is worthy of highlighting within the esports concentration is Rowan’s Dr. Emil Steiner.

Steiner is the director of the SportsCaM Major and has been highly responsible for giving esports this type of platform at Rowan University.

“There is no potential ceiling for esports and the possibilities are endless. We are ready to grow and meet demand here at Rowan University. Anybody who is interested in esports can partake in it and we are looking to add more classes to the esports concentration over time,” Steiner said. “Esports is a global phenomenon and it is already challenging big-name sports such as the NHL because of its worldwide appeal. It is a constantly growing medium within the world of sports.” 

I myself am a Rowan graduate who took an interest in earning a second bachelor’s degree within SportsCaM program. What this led me to was a concentration that was geared towards esports and video game-related media. I have been a huge fan of video games all my life and I never thought that something that was originally known as a hobby would explode into what it is today. The potential for esports, much like video games in general, keeps increasing and this program feels like something that was made for me. 

Esports is something that people have taken more interest in through the years and the medium has also financially exploded in the best way possible. Because of this, Rowan University has taken an interest in continually making the esports program bigger and better for the foreseeable future.

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