NACE (National Association of Collegiate Esports) has released a statement outlining their plan for the future.
In the early afternoon of July 9, Playfly Sports released a statement that they were re-establishing their esports community to “Playfly College Esports”. Following the statement, many wondered about the state of their partnership with NACE, which hosted the NACE Starleague competition, in collaboration with Playfly, for colleges nationwide.
Not long after Playfly’s announcement, Michael Brooks, executive director of NACE, released a statement highlighting the direction that NACE would be taking in the future.
The Announcment
The article from NACE confirms their separation from Playfly Sports, previous partners in the NACE Starleague competition. NACE stated that they “are pleased to announce the rebranding of our college esports league from NACE Starleague to NACE,” citing the reason for the split was due to alleged challenges in the NACE Starleague partnership.
NACE alleges that these challenges included the sudden removal of prize pool and broadcast, lack of in-person finals, and announcements made without approval from the NACE governing body that significantly impacted their operations in the past semester.
In spite of the listed challenges, Brooks appeared proud to note that NACE Starleague was able to continue in its last semester due to the efforts of the dedicated home team behind NACE.
Playfly additionally confirmed the split, saying “NACE was a partner for the past few seasons, but that’s no longer the case,” in a reply tweet later that day. The official NACE Starleague Discord, Twitter, and Twitch server have also rebranded to “Playfly College Esports” in light of this split.
Simultaneously with the drop of this update, NACE also announced the appointment of a new Competition Manager, Matthew Lenz. According to the release, Lenz has 5 years of experience in collegiate esports at New Mexico State University, and says he is “looking forward to working with all of the new and familiar faces alike.”
Next steps for NACE
Now, NACE is preparing to unite these new and old faces at their annual conference, held July 17-19 at Full Sail University in Winter Park Florida. With the conference, the NACE team plans to reveal more about their plans for the future and launch their new league under this solo branding.
The new NACE competition will open for registration on August 1, in line with the previous NACE Starleague schedule, and will be hosted on Leaguespot. Additional details about supported games, rulesets, and schedule are set to go live on July 10th.
While details continue to unfold surrounding this change to NACE and Playfly, many are wondering about the future of the collegiate competition, including broadcast and tournament operations.
Brooks closed out his announcement with his hope of building a bright future for NACE and its member schools and ensures more details will be soon to come at the upcoming convention. However, while more information is still unfolding, Brooks shared in the announcement, “Together, we are poised to enter a new era of growth and success for collegiate esports,” a guiding light for the future of this league.
