Mainline esports company partners with four universities

Tournament software and management platform Mainline announced earlier this week that the organization has entered into a new partnership with four American universities to host collegiate esports competitions.

With the new partnership, Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin, Louisiana State University, and the University of St. Thomas will implement Mainline’s tournament software and management platform to host tournaments and grow their on-campus esports communities at each respective university through 2020. Through the newly announce licensing agreement, universities will be able to host esports tournament at locations of their choosing and allow verified students of the universities to compete in school-sanctioned esports tournaments.

Texas A&M was the first university to partner with Mainline earlier this year, with The University of Texas following suit shortly after. The University of Texas is currently hosting two esports tournaments on Rocket League and League of Legends. Louisiana State University is also running an esports Rocket League tournament using Mainline’s tournament platform, allowing for student teams to represent the school at the inaugural Power Five Esports Invitational in 2020. The University of St. Thomas has yet to fully develop their use of Mainline, but will start online tournaments for students in 2020.

COO of Mainline Chris Buckner said the new agreement will help support their students’ desires to play and compete” in the competitive esports environment and “strengthen a school’s brand.” Director of Public Relations and Strategic Communications at Texas A&M Athletics Mike Wright added that partnering with Mainline will help the university “maintain brand continuity of the university” and “drive incremental inventory and value for sponsors.”

As the esports industry continues to grow, college esports will only continue to follow the same trend, both in the United States and abroad. By partnering with Mainline, many of these universities will be able to contribute to growth in the esports environment and open doors to even more opportunities for their students while doing so.

Mainline says the company plans to partner with at least 10 more universities before the end of the year and at least 50 more throughout the 2020 calendar year.