Dallas Fuel to Host Tournament at OP Live Dallas

The tournament takes place during OP Live Dallas, which is a live gaming event that will take place on September 22 and 23. The OP Live official website and Twitter page state that the tournament is planned to start at 9:00 AM CT on September 22. (That’s 10:00 AM EST, 7:00 PT, and 8:00 AM MT.) The final match is planned to start at 6:45 PM CT.

The stream will start at 1 PM CT and can be found on Twitch.tv

Tournament Details

The 16 participating teams are as follows:

• The University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• University of Arkansas
• University of North Texas
• University of Texas Arlington
• The University of Texas at Dallas
• The University of Mississippi (also known as “Ole Miss”)
• Texas Wesleyan University
• Southern Methodist University
• Oklahoma University
• Oklahoma State University
• Texas Christian University
• Colorado State University
• Baylor University
• Mississippi State University
• New Mexico State University
• Texas Tech University

The bracket format will include a double-elimination followed by single-elimination, referred to as the “knockout stage.” The initial group stage will follow GSL Format rules. The two top teams from the four-team bracket groups will move on to single elimination.

Matchups and bracket are announced the day of. Members of the teams from the invited schools are encouraged to strut their stuff in front of the Dallas Fuel members as well as their coach, Aaron “Aero” Atkins.

Why is this a big deal?

Collegiate esports has been an active part of the esports community at large but hasn’t found its mainstream footing. Collegiate teams have not reached the same level of publicity as the full-blown professional teams, especially for tournament series like LCS and The International.

The biggest collegiate esports event publicity-wise was the Heroes of the Dorm event created by Activision-Blizzard and Tespa. It reached the mainstream social media sphere by way of ESPN2. Notably, the tournament series has awarded full-ride scholarships to 15 players.

Tournaments like this at OP Live are the next step in making college esports a reality, as well as creating a “college to pro” funnel similar to the way that traditional sports operate.

Prize structures like this have the potential to be a game-changer for esports tournaments, and the 18 to 22 college age bracket is already one of the most significant demographics for competitive games. Events like these make the most prominent games even bigger.

For the schools, this is an additional advertisement that may turn into a full-blown program one day. For huge titanic games like Overwatch, sponsorships from Coca-Cola, ESPN or other household name companies could pay for scholarships as prizes. Tournaments like this also have the potential to rake in viewership that generally doesn’t care about competitive video games—so long as they care about their current school or alma mater.

Backing up this event with the Dallas Fuel from the Overwatch League enforces all of this promotion and takes this event to the next level. Hopefully, other tournament organizers, other events, and other schools will follow suit and see how beneficial this can be.

What is OP Live Dallas?

OP Live is not a convention or a tournament circuit, but a larger organization with a broader scope. They have a focus on education, competition, and participation to make them a unique gaming event.

What sets them apart are the guest speakers and events from their partnership with SMU Guildhall, a video game development education program, from the Southern University Methodist Plano campus. Princeton Review ranks it #1 for Game Design Graduate Education for a reason.

Besides the tournament covered in this article (and other free-play game stations for all entrants), they have a hackathon, art contests, and guest speakers. These guest speakers, called “Powered Talks” by the event organizers, are mostly about success in the game development industry. Among the speakers for OP Live Dallas, the most notable (and relevant) speakers are:

• Geoff Moore, President, and COO of Envy Gaming (one of the partners of the event)
• Mark “Garvey” Candella, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Twitch
• Aaron “Aero” Atkins, Dallas Fuel Head Coach
• Kevin “Kebunbun” Hoang, Account Manager for Twitch
• Charles Egenbacher, Project Manager at Epic Games

OP Live is stacked with esports shakers and movers, so this collegiate Overwatch tournament isn’t just some ramshackle convention center event—this is the real deal.