Lander University served as the host site for the Peach Belt Conference League of Legends Esports Championship March 29-30. The tournament was sponsored by Riot Games and ByteSpeed.
Hosting the Peach Belt Conference Esports Tournament was a coup of sorts for Lander, as the university is planning to build a facility for Lander Esports and other gamers on campus.
While this is the second year for the Peach Belt Conference Esports Championships, the sport is experiencing a meteoric rise in popularity. The 2018 League of Legends World Championship attracted more than 200 million viewers, easily topping the 98 million viewers of Super Bowl LIII.
"The popularity of Esports continues to defy expectations and shows no signs of slowing down," said PBC assistant commissioner Ken Gerlinger. "The opportunities associated with our championship and Esports in general are tremendous both in terms of engaging the campus community and in terms of driving enrollment. Lander is one of the schools that has embraced this potential and we look forward to their continued development as the Peach Belt continues to break new ground in this space."
USC-Aiken ultimately won the ten-team Peach Belt competition, and advances to the National College League of Legends Tournament, which concludes with the top eight teams in the country competing live in Los Angeles in June.