Mentioned in this article Games: Heroes of the Storm

The University of North Texas is set to open a $200,000 esports facility.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”The Nest” is a collaborative effort between the university’s Media Library, Recreational Sports department, and Student Services.[/perfectpullquote]

Called “The Nest,” the training facility will be located in the campus’ media library in Denton, Texas. The space is set to open on August 30, coinciding with the start of the 2017-2018 academic year.

The facility was assembled through a collaborative effort between the university’s Media Library, Recreational Sports department, and Student Services. Funding was put to use with input from the school’s biggest gaming club, UNT Gaming and Esports. The practice area features 15 performance gaming rigs, each loaded with popular esports titles and outfitted for virtual reality.

Anyone associated with the university, from students to staff and faculty, will be eligible to make use of the facility. Its primary use, however, will be giving University of North Texas students a place to formally train for competition. A grand opening for the space will be held on its first day of operation.

Competition between major American universities in esports has increased in recent years, largely thanks to organisations like Tespa. It was through partnership with Tespa that Activision-Blizzard brought the Heroes of the Dorm competition, featuring college teams competing in Heroes of the Storm, to ESPN television channels. More recently, Tespa announced a new series of tournaments and leagues for college teams to compete in, with $1 million in prizes on offer.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Dallas is the home of id Software, developers of the Quake series, and home of the Cyberathlete Professional League .[/perfectpullquote]

College sports are big business in the United States. As the esports footprint continues to grow at the university level, collegiate athletics regulator NCAA has even made public their formal interest in esports.

The University of North Texas is a public research university with nearly 40,000 students enrolled. Its Denton location is a part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, putting it squarely in the heart of one of esports’ most historically important cities. Dallas is the home of id Software, developers of the Quake series, and played host to some of the earliest esports tournaments for Quake. The city later became the home of the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), hosting annual esports tournaments predating today’s majors.