The National Association of Collegiate Esports, the governing body for competitive video games at the college level, will bring their next national conference to Harrisburg.
Representatives from NACE, Harrisburg University, Whitaker Center, the city of Harrisburg and Dauphin County held a press conference today to announce that Harrisburg would host the 2019 NACE Conference, which will be held July 17-19.
“The selection of Harrisburg as our host for the 2019 NACE National Convention came after a lengthy request-for-proposal process,” said NACE executive director Michael Brooks in a press release. “Our selection committee received over a hundred bids from cities across the country to be the host for the second ever national meeting of varsity esports programs. The facilities available to us in Harrisburg and at Harrisburg University, as well as the support from the city and state, marked Harrisburg as a clear frontrunner early in the selection process.”
Harrisburg University has been a member of NACE since 2017, and is one of 126 colleges across the country. The previous NACE National Convention was held in Atlanta, Georgia, and drew over 300 program administrators, coaches, trainers and other college officials for conferences, trainings, lectures and other information.
Harrisburg University’s esports program has led to the creation of their own HUE Festival as well as the upcoming statewide PA Cup tournament. The schools esports program has been ranked fourth in the nation by ESPN. The Harrisburg University Storm team has a dedicated practice space at Whitaker Center, whose entire 174,000 square foot space makes it the largest esports facility in North America when fully activated for events.
According to Forbes, the professional esports industry is projected to surpass $1 billion in revenues this year. Audience numbers for esports events rival or exceed many professional traditional sports events: projections from many publications suggest that esports finals will come second only to the Super Bowl in terms of viewership within the next two years.
“With this phenomenon on the rise, it’s an exciting time to be recognized as the esports destination,” said Ted Black, president and CEO of the Whitaker Center, in a press release. “Harrisburg welcomes NACE members to experience what we have built, and see our investment in the esports industry first hand.”