The Mid-Atlantic Esports Conference (MAEC) has today announced that Riot Games, the video game developer, publisher, and tournament organizer behind massively popular title League of Legends, has accepted the MAEC as a partner conference in their collegiate esports program (CLOL). This will allow the MAEC to host a full school year worth of sanctioned competitions with the winner of the Spring MAEC League of Legends Championship tournament receiving an automatic bid into Riot’s College Championship tournament each year. Additional MAEC teams will have a secondary opportunity to qualify into the field of thirty-two via at-large bids given by a CLOL selection committee.
Game Gym CEO Josh Hafkin went on to state that Riot’s “recognition of the importance of our young conference is a vote of confidence for everything we are doing with the MAEC.” The MAEC has only been around for about a year at this point and is already making significant strides in the collegiate esports space from expanding its conference size to establishing key partnerships like this one. Joey Gawrysiak, Director of Esports at Shenandoah University, feels similarly stating that the MAEC is “positioning the region as a leader in the collegiate esports space” and that he is “proud to be a founding member of the conference.”
The MAEC’s goal is to showcase the region’s collegiate talent, while increasing opportunities for its member schools and their participating students, which plays right into what Riot Games looks for in their partners. Operations and Championships Lead J.T. Vandenbree affirmed the MAEC’s mission stating, “[Riot] want to partner with organizations who are elevating the player experience at their member institutions, and we believe in the MAEC to make that happen.” The MAEC currently boasts fifteen schools that participate in a variety of esports titles from League of Legends to Rocket League with the drive to continue to grow and expand.
For more information on the Mid-Atlantic Esports Conference, you can visit MAEC.gg.
A brief interview with Josh Hafkin regarding this announcement can also be found here.
