Hello friend, this is an episode of Note to Self, but from when we used to be called New Tech City.

Same good content, just the old name. Enjoy.

From WNYC, this is New Tech City, where digital gets personal. I'm a new summer roadie.

This is the second of our Back to Back episodes about video gamers. On the first show, we were hanging out with the old folks. You know, the over 30s. Ha.

Well, this week I'm in Chicago hanging out with the nation's first varsity video game team. 18 19 20 year olds who are so good at playing the game League of Legends that they're on scholarships. Just like the football or the soccer players. No joke. They are the E athletes of Robert Morris University and the brainchild of this man.

Kurt Melcher. I'm the associate athletic director Rob Morris University and eSport coordinator.

Can you just define the word eSport for me before we start? Like I feel like I need a clear definition.

Okay, I'm the guy for it. It's, I guess you could say it's virtual or online organized competitions.

Kurt Melcher has been at Robert Morris for about 20 years. When he's not in the office, he's outcoaching the university's women's soccer team. Anyway, Kurt became the eSport guy completely by accident. It was April 2014.

I was at my house. It was just a weekend. You know, I have kids that run around. I was ahead a little bit of free time. But you know, if you have kids, you know, it's not a lot. And I was what happened that game in that game was starcraft. Kurt used to love playing against his brother in law.

He found that not only was starcraft still around, but it had become a real thing official big star craft to is organized professionally.

There are professional starcraft players. There's a collegiate system around it. And I didn't know that those organized competitions. You know, I used to play.

Starcraft wasn't the only game to get organized. And it certainly wasn't the biggest game to get organized. Defense of the ancients too, call of duty, FIFA 14 and classics like Street Fighter and Tekken. All of them had started to form leagues and competitions.

But surfing around that day, Kurt discovered League of Legends and it knocked him sideways. And that was just amazed. Literally amazed at the size and scope of the community and of the passion behind it of that community.

So was that the first time that you had heard of League of Legends? That was the first time.

League of Legends, a game developed five years ago by a company based in LA called Riot. Riot says 27 million people a day play League of Legends, especially in South Korea. But more and more here in the US.

Plus in real life, fans pack stadiums to watch professional League of Legends gamers play online. Riot says 32 million people around the world watch the championship last year more than tuned into the last game of the NBA finals.

I called my wife in the room. Like you have to look at this. I can't but you know, look at this is for this video game. And I said that time I go, why can't we have that at our school?

That seemed kind of crazy. Starting a varsity video game squad wasn't like adding fencing or rowing to the list of sports at Robert Morris. Or was it? Kurt went into research mode. First off, he downloaded the game.

I played it a lot. And you know, I want to make sure it would be something that makes sense and would fit. And it really is a great fit because you know, you play in a group of five.

His wife agreed to be the great point. She's like, you know, it's the difference between you offering a video game scholarship to something as as arbitrary as putting a ball and a net.

Convinced Kurt went to his boss, the head of the athletics department. I said, you know, I want you to have open mind. And she, you know, I think once you talk anyone through it, they come to a level of understanding.

...