Saints Varsity Esports Joins UCEA as Founding Member
St. Clair College continues to be on the cutting edge of collegiate esports, joining the Unified Collegiate Esports Association (UCEA) as a founding member.
The UCEA is an association for North American high-level esports programs, focusing on empowering students. UCEA’s tournaments will not only provide strong competition and production, but also great assets to ensure students stand out. The UCEA intends to showcase broadcasting talent which many institutions, like St. Clair College’s Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship Program, are creating.
Starting this September, Saints Varsity Esports will take part in UCEA’s Tier-1 leagues for CS:GO, Rocket League, and Overwatch facing off against varsity teams from universities and colleges across North America. Prize pools for each league range from $2,500 to $10,000 USD. UCEA also features Tier-2 tournaments for club and junior varsity teams. This will allow students and teams from St. Clair College’s Esports Club to also participate in UCEA competitions featuring smaller prize pools.
UCEA’s vision is to expand deeper into competition as the association grows, with publisher support at the center. The association is guided by the Advisory Council, a group made up of collegiate esports leaders, including St. Clair College Esports Director Shaun Byrne.
"The UCEA is setting up to be an important step forward for collegiate esports as it aims to address many of the problems that plague many other leagues. In addition, our membership with UCEA will create many new opportunities for students to not only compete but to also work behind the scenes coaching teams and producing content,” said Byrne.
St. Clair College is one of 10 founding affiliated institutions of the UCEA and the only affiliated Canadian school. Other founding institutions include Full Sail University, Boise State University and University of Kansas.