Our program receives no funding from the university. Instead we receive generous donations from our sponsors that make the program possible. Some of our administrative costs are also covered by our arena.
The nearest parking structure is the Student Center Parking Structure. Once you park, walk across to the Student Center. Inside the building, there are two flights of stairs on the left. Once at the top, exit to the Terrace. The UCI Esports Arena is located straight and to the right, across from Jamba Juice. Here’s a link to check permit options: http://www.parking.uci.edu/permits/visitorpermits.cfm
RENTAL: The easiest way to estimate costs is to assume around $4/hr per person, although larger groups do get discounts, depending on the logistics. We typically scale our event costs based on length of the event as well as how many computers are required – email us for more information!
TOURS: We can conduct a simple tour anytime during our business hours – Monday through Saturday, 12pm – 12am, although we can also provide a free demo or free play time if the tour happens before business hours (at around 11am or 11:30am). Otherwise, the costs are $4/hr. Tours typically take 15 minutes and will be led by one of our staff.
RESEARCH: We fully support any and all research opportunities – just send us an email with what you need and we’ll figure out the logistics with you.
STUDENTS: Our program is composed of arena staff, teams and team staff, program interns, our social media team, and our stream team. Whenever we have open positions, we’ll post them on our Facebook page, so be sure to like it to get notifications! If you have a project in mind for the arena, you’re more than welcome to send us an email.
ORGANIZATIONS: Given the excitement around esports and our position in the collegiate world, we find ourselves overwhelmed with requests to learn more about esports, what we do, and what we predict for the future. We’re unable to meet with you unless you have clear collaboration/business development opportunities.
We’re focused on our four pillars:
- Competition: We want to compete against the best colleges in the world.
- Academics & Research: We want to advance the world’s understanding around games and their impact.
- Community: We want to provide an awesome out-the-classroom experience for our thousands of gamers.
- Entertainment: We want to create awesome events on online content for the world to enjoy.
We’re looking for partners who can amplify any of our efforts in these four areas. If you feel that you can contribute, send us an email and we’d be happy to talk!
We currently have teams for League of Legends and Overwatch with scholarship values of around $5,610 for League of Legends and about $2,500 for Overwatch. We are open to supporting other games with scholarships given significant interest and demand. Check out our Overwatch team announcement for more details on the process and some of our requirements. Talk to us, and we’ll see if we can make it happen!
You have to apply to UCI and be admitted through the normal application process. Additionally, all of our competitors have been ranked in Masters or Challenger/Grandmaster in the past few seasons. Please check out our Recruitment page for more detailed information!