St. Clair College plays host to 'Fragadelphia' Esports tournament, drawing global professional teams
Gamers compete in Counter-Strike: 2 during 'Fragadelphia-19' in the Nexus Arena at St. Clair College's Main Windsor Campus on July 17, 2025. (Rich Garton/St. Clair College)
St. Clair College has long been a hub for hosting Collegiate Esports events but is branching into the professional arena this week by hosting 'Fragadelphia 19' – a premiere professional Esports production, featuring competition of Counter-Strike: 2.
Thirty-five professional teams from around the world are taking part in the four-day event, where teams go head-to-head, playing Counter-Strike :2 in the Nexus Arena at St. Clair College's Main Windsor Campus.
"It's really big for us, it puts us on the map. There's nothing better than this. This is what the facility is built for, running these types of events, and we're making the most of it," said Chris Funston, Assistant Esports Director at St. Clair College. "We run Collegiate events throughout the year, but we don't run many pro events, so to take this opportunity for our students, it's huge and that's what we want to keep providing."
From competitors to support staff and attendees, roughly 400 people will attend this week's event, which features a prize pool of $35,000 USD, including $18,000 to the winning team.
"This is the first for us, hopefully the first of many that we will host here," Funston said.
More than a dozen St. Clair College students in the Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship program are involved, from broadcasting to administration and the back-end production of the gaming events.
Adrian Malhiers is going into the second year of the Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship program at St. Clair College this Fall.
"The experience has been great working with an outside organization, seeing the ins-and-outs of how they operate," Malhiers said. "In our first and second semesters, we had classes about how to run events, and we were able to use that knowledge during other smaller events we had on campus. But this is the biggest event we've had in the Nexus."
Alexa Kovacevich and Josue Huaman Moya, both St. Clair College students, are staffing the 'Fragadelphia-19' esports tournament, hosted in the Nexus Arena at St. Clair College's Main Windsor Campus on July 17, 2025. (Rich Garton/St. Clair College)
"It's a unique experience, especially in the Collegiate environment, because we don't get this opportunity a lot, so it's a big opportunity for us to show who we are at St. Clair and know that we can bring more events like this here," said Josue Huaman Moya, a first-year Computer Networking student who was assisting with marketing during the event.
"We host a lot of smaller events throughout the year, but our facility is capable of hosting big events, too," said Alexa Kovacevich, who is going into her second year of Esports. "You can see it here today that it's fun and gives us the opportunity to meet a lot of people in the community, you wouldn't normally meet. It's a different level."
"A lot of the stuff we learn in class, we get to apply it, but not to large-scale events of this kind. So, I think it's important to get other perspectives about how things are run," she added.
Fragadelphia is based in the United States and was founded in 2014 by a group of Counter-Strike players and fans, some of whom had professional esports experience in the past. It's the first event Fragadelphia has hosted in Canada as it looks to expand its footprint across North America.
"We're here to find the next broadcaster, the next admin. We want to find the next person who wants to do behind the scenes work. It's a good networking tool and a way to give back to the Esports community," said Stephen Csikos, the founder and owner of Fragadelphia.
Fragadelphia events are known for their casual and laid-back atmosphere, as well as their emphasis on community building and fostering positive interactions between players and fans. Overall, it is one of the largest and most popular grassroots esports tournaments in North America.
The event runs Thursday, July 17, 2025, to Sunday, July 20, 2025. Gaming will be taking place between 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, and on Sunday, the event starts at noon and runs until 8 p.m.
The winning team of Fragadelphia19 in the Nexus Arena at St. Clair College's Main Windsor Campus on July 17, 2025. (Shane Thompson/St. Clair College Student)