ABSTRACT The electronic sports, or eSports, industry has grown into a multi-million dollar industry. The significant growth of eSports can be seen far beyond the participation numbers and spans from eSports’ events being hosted in major arenas and televised on ESPN. Most recently eSports were added to intercollegiate athletic departments. Though eSports has gained a lot of momentum economically and in popularity, academic research and study in the area of eSports is still in its infancy. This paper presents: (1) a brief history of eSports, (2) a further developed definition of eSports, (3) eSports size and market scope, (4) and provides an overview of eSports in intercollegiate athletics to date. The main goals of this paper are to create awareness around the economic growth of eSports and shed light on the potential positive implications of adding eSports to intercollegiate athletic departments. Boosting participation numbers, revenue generation, and creating diversity within an athletic department are all considered in this paper.

中文翻译：

---

没有理由在LoL上大声笑：增加电子竞技以促进大学运动部门之间的交流

摘要电子体育或电子竞技产业已发展成为一个价值数百万美元的产业。可以看到，电子竞技的显着增长远远超出了参与人数，而且跨越了在主要领域举办并在ESPN上进行电视转播的赛事的范围。最近，电子竞技被添加到大学之间的体育部门。尽管电子竞技在经济上和流行中获得了很大的发展动力，但是电子竞技领域的学术研究仍处于起步阶段。本文介绍了：（1）电子竞技的简要历史，（2）电子竞技的进一步定义，（3）电子竞技的规模和市场范围，（4）并提供了迄今为止大学间竞技体育中的电子竞技概述。本文的主要目标是提高人们对电子竞技运动经济增长的认识，并阐明将电子竞技运动引入大学间体育部门的潜在积极影响。本文考虑了增加参与人数，创收和在运动部门内创造多样性。