April 12, 2018
K-State sports marketing class to host eSports day today
The K-State sports marketing class, MKTG 630, will host an eSports day beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday with events at the College of Business Building atrium.
In 2017, eSports was featured as a varsity sport on more than 70 college campuses with revenues exceeding $655 million with 335 million people viewing. eSports is a new revenue stream, a niche market, with new types of fans. Currently, K-State is gathering information and building relationships with local eSports organizations, including the K-State eSports Club and the National Association of Collegiate eSports, or NACE.
The event will begin at 9 a.m. with an eSports demonstration presented by K-State's eSports club, which will end at 11 a.m. Following the demonstration, K-State's Sports Marketing class, which takes place in Room 1088 of the Business Building, will meet from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. during class session where it will be premiering five distinguished panelists involved or knowledgeable in collegiate eSports. After the class session, media is invited to join at a press conference in Room 2046 beginning at 1 p.m., which the K-State Marketing Facebook page will be livestreaming.
The panelists consist of members at the forefront of the collegiate ESports industry:
- Matt Thompson, president, Kansas Wesleyan University, and member, Board of Directors, National Association of Collegiate eSports.
- Kevin McCarty, director of digital media, K-State Athletics.
- Cody Baldwin, former president, K-State eSports Club.
- Sam Smith, president, K-State eSports Club.
- Layne Shirley, ESports manager, National Association of Collegiate eSports.
For more information about the event you can contact Stephen Brunson by phone at 316-213-6403 or by email at sjbrunso@k-state.edu.
About K-State Sports Marketing, MKTG 630: A group of 130 students in the College of Business Administration at Kansas State University seeking to learn the applied context of marketing to the sports industry. This semester, we have hosted representatives from the Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, Sporting Kansas City, New Orleans Saints/Pelicans, K-State Athletics, USA Triathlon and more. Our class uses a virtual currency called SMARK that draws similarities to the modern day "Bitcoin" The class can earn, wager or invest their SMARK on different experiences and prizes.