In an official announcement posted last week, esports organization Ghost Gaming revealed their next evolution of competition through a collaboration with Kennesaw State University’s collegiate Call of Duty team.
In Ghost Gaming’s official blog post, they explain the details of the partnership. “Beginning with the 2026–27 academic year, Ghost Academy x Kennesaw State University | Call of Duty will bring together KSU’s collegiate esports program and Ghost Gaming’s experience across competitive esports, content creation, media production, sponsorship, game development and publishing.” The Ghost Academy program is a new initiative for the Atlanta-based esports organization aimed to expose students to “opportunities to develop professional skills through real-world projects and industry experiences.”
The Ghost Academy x KSU COD team will mark Ghost Gaming’s return to the Call of Duty scene for the first time in many years, as their last official roster competed back in 2021 at the Call of Duty World League Challengers 2021 Open #4 Tournament during the Black Ops: Cold War season. Choosing to sponsor KSU Esports represents a significant investment into the rising Call of Duty League Challenger scene, which will reportedly be hosting more tournaments this year than ever before in the CDL era.
“We hope to build a program that can bring meaningful competition to serious competitors. Right now part of doing that means focusing on the T2 and path to pro spaces and including collegiate competition in that schedule.”, said Sterling Henderson, Esports Program Manager at Kennesaw State University. Not only will their roster be participating in Collegiate CoD, “Our Call of Duty team, as of right now, will be traveling to all of the Challengers LAN events this year.” stated Henderson. This marks a significant promise for a league who regularly hosts events in major cities across the world, showing just how much support Kennesaw State University is bringing to their new Call of Duty roster.
Who is Ghost Gaming?
Ghost Gaming is a North American esports organization founded by CEO Todd Harris, also co-founder of Smite developers Hi-Rez Studios, back in 2017. They have fielded rosters in CounterStrike, Fortnite, Smite, VALORANT, Rocket League, and Call of Duty in the past, but have recently transitioned to a more content-creator focused program. They have helped sponsor esports events in the Georgia area for professional and collegiate efforts alike, including the upcoming Esports Summit 2026, where professionals in the esports industry gather in Atlanta annually to discuss the present state and future of the space.
Harris believes this partnership with KSU will be a significant step forward for the industry. “Collegiate esports has an opportunity to become much more than a place for students to compete in video games,” Harris said. “It can be a pathway into workforce development.”
It has become a growing trend in recent seasons for professional esports organizations to partner with prominent collegiate rosters. Just this previous Spring semester, Maryville University’s Valorant roster became NRG Academy to compete in the Valorant Challenger’s League, and Winthrop University partnered with Shopify Rebellion to form their VCT Game Changers roster. It makes sense for all parties involved: Students get to showcase their talent at the highest level, organizations recruit an entire roster all at once with a built-in fanbase, and universities get significant notoriety and funding they otherwise would be unable to reach.
Future for KSU Esports
Other rosters under the KSU banner could be joining forces with Ghost Academy down the line. “It’s our intention at KSU to collaborate with Ghost on this program surrounding the KSU Premier CoD team, and then duplicate that program across all of our premier titles once we’ve ironed out the unforeseen details of creating a partnership like this,” stated Henderson, regarding the future of the partnership. “Ghost’s investment in KSU is an investment in their belief in the future of this and in esports in Georgia.”
More details about the partnership and the potentially historic investment into KSU’s Call of Duty roster will be shared at the upcoming Esports Summit conference on Oct. 14-15, so further information will follow in the coming weeks.
