Esports Programs Power Up Campus and Community Rec

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Grand opening of the Delaware Esports facility [Photo by Evan Krape]
Grand opening of the Delaware Esports facility [Photo by Evan Krape]

According to a recent Morning Consult poll, Generation Z is less interested in sports than the general public — with one notable exception: esports. The poll found that among Gen Zers who identified as sports fans, 35 percent of them said they were esports fans, a mark among the cohort that outpaced such traditional sports offerings as college basketball (33 percent), Major League Baseball (32 percent), NASCAR (26 percent) and the National Hockey League (25 percent). 

Esports' burgeoning popularity among Gen Z — a group which includes individuals born from 1997 on, according to Pew Research — is just one reason that athletics and recreation professionals are beginning to, at long last, take esports seriously.

"I live here in Kansas City, and our local Rocket League team is outpacing two of the three professional sports teams here in terms of viewership," says Jake Zinn, vice president of business development with Esport Supply. "So, I think that's here to stay, and I think it's only going to get bigger."

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