Collegiate League of Legends to hit US TV network

Big Ten Network has announced the BTN Invitational: A University League of Legends Event, which will be broadcast on their network over in the States.

The event will take place at PAX East on April 22nd, and will see Ohio State University face off against Michigan State University in a four hour League of Legends showcase. The event will be streamed live on both BTN2Go and LoLeSports.com then will be broadcast on the BTN channel at 7 pm ET on Monday, April 25th.

The Big Ten has some of the premier eSports teams in the country,” said Michael Calderon, Vice President of Programming and Digital Media at Big Ten. The fast-paced, high-level competition of League of Legends is a great fit for BTN’s audience. We’re excited to be the first conference-owned network to bring the intensity of collegiate eSports to a television audience.”

The Big Ten Network was ahead of the trend in recognizing the growing popularity of collegiate esports and scholarship programs,” said Sean Haran, Director of Business Development at Riot Games. There are over 300 University League of Legends campus clubs, including one on nearly every Big Ten school campus, so working with BTN to host an invitational event at PAX East was a no-brainer.”

Also taking place at PAX will be the 2016 uLoL Campus Series Finals, where the top four teams from the season will battle it out to become the champion. The Campus Series Semi-Finals will take place from 10 am to 6 pm ET on Saturday, April 23rd, leading up to the Campus Series Finals from 12 pm to 4 pm on Sunday, April 24th, streaming information for this event is yet to be confirmed.