​Riot Games boasts a monthly player count of more than 100 million League of Legends players, and it's fair to think many of them are college aged. College students have the freedom and time to put countless of hours into the game, and that often translates to school clubs hosting League of Legends teams to compete at local tournaments. And while Riot hosts the ULoL tournament, the developer does not do enough to help the university esports level.





Riot Games runs the ULoL league and extends the regular season to the Collegiate Star League (CStar) to help keep the teams active. Registered schools who do well in CStar will participate in the ULoL, which is divided up into five conferences: North, South, East, West, and Big Ten.

The top two teams from each division then go to participate in the College Championship tournament. The five division winners clinch a spot in the tournament, and the five runner-ups compete in a wildcard tournament to earn the final three bids.

ULoL is not a bad system, but it's simply not enough for colleges. The system of conferences is cluttered. It would be much better if Riot Games provided sponsored events throughout the whole season.





CStar does its best, but there is no accountability within the program. Matches are often missed and communication is a struggle. If Riot Games were to sponsor an official schedule with teams that apply and complete an application, not only would experiences be better but players would feel as if they truly are esports players recognized by Riot.

My Alma Mater, UT Dallas, is taking on UT Austin right now in the south semi finals of the 2018 College League of Legends Season. Winner guarantees a spot in the national playoffs.https://t.co/LK6EQYweeo — Michael Sherman (@RiotSherman) March 25, 2018

Besides cleaning up the regular season for clarity, Riot Games should work to sponsor actual divisions like what happened with the Big Ten.





The Big Ten has a two-year deal that created a conference for each of the 14 Big Ten universities to compete. Additionally, Riot Games will award $35,000 in scholarships to each university in the Big Ten to be given among their team rosters, which is a huge step for recognizing the legitimacy of collegiate esports.





There has already been a push for Riot Games doing similar deals with established NCAA conferences such as the SEC. Riot Games investing in these conferences would bring in students interested in League of Legends and promote esports as a whole.

Big Ten Network Launches College Season https://t.co/32tePi9nva pic.twitter.com/YnFkQ5bj3j — League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) January 19, 2017

Investing in creating conferences for League of Legends would help give students who are not fans of traditional sports a way of cheering on their universities in other fields. Fans of these esports can attend events, purchase merchandise, and do everything that someone cheering for a traditional sport could do. This would provide a crowd and a market for fans of esports to join.





Universities would also try harder to help teams have better infrastructure if Riot Games were to come out and support universities more. Many college teams are good but simply lack the resources to get to the next level.





Now it isn't expected that Riot has to have Clayton "CaptainFlowers" Raines shoutcast every game or anything ridiculous like that. But Riot is barely scratching the surface on what it can do at the college level.

Streamline the regular season to give clarity among teams, provide more sponsored events and deals with conferences, and give amazing college level players the potential to get involved with esports. That is what needs to be done.





Overall there is just too much confusion on how ULoL works and not enough help from Riot during times outside of the final tournament. To help bring a positive, growing future for the game, Riot Games must promote growth to its key players.



