The Augustana Esports Program — the university’s home of organized gaming — has found a space to call home on campus. Established in 2022, the program acquired a lab on the second floor of the Fryxell Humanities Center this past spring.
“We just offered League of Legends at the beginning,” shared former League of Legends Team Captain Dillon Cassady ‘25, a recent alumni of the university. “Now, we're here in the lab and have all these great computers and setups. We're (also) expanding to a bunch of different games, the program's a lot bigger and there's a lot more people involved.”
In the program’s first year, esports had one team consisting of five members. Now, in addition to a League of Legends Team, the program has teams competing in Rocket League and Valorant.
“(My) passion has grown since I've started and being able to watch students grow… that's what I love. It doesn't matter if it's in the game or out, I absolutely love it,” said Program Director of Augustana Esports Chris Knutson, who has been gaming since he was just six years old.
Knutson, who started coaching the Augustana Esports Program in its second year, found a sponsor in the North Dakota-based company Gravity Gaming. Building its own custom line of esports desktops, Gravity Gaming supplied the team with Logitech gear for their newfound lab. Dakota Lettering also supplied them with team jerseys.
With new equipment and a new space, Knutson only expects interest in the program to grow.
“I don't think we'll fit in the lab in a few years. I'm hoping that we'll have 30 or 50 students involved. One of the nice things about esports — especially for the leagues that we’ve competed in — is you don't have to have just one team.”
The group is growing in its communications and community. The program’s Discord server — the group’s online chatroom — now has 30 to 35 active members. Unlike the teams themselves, its Discord server is open to everyone.
“I think esports to Augustana means another way for students to be able to come together and find something that they have in common because it's unlike a lot of traditional physical sports — it's open to anyone,” he said. “There's no barrier to entry other than having an interest in it. I think it's really easy for people to come together and find something that they have in common, enjoy and then, they can learn skills that they might not have otherwise, like teamwork and leadership.”
For more information on the Augustana Esports Program or to join, visit augie.edu/esports.