Playfly College Esports: Town Hall #2 Recap
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Yesterday afternoon we hosted our second Playfly College Esports Town Hall to address questions we received from the community across our Discord, Socials, and other comms channels. Playfly speakers included Charles O'Donnell, Curtis Winger, Francisco Tejada, Ed Chamberlain, Kyle DeFrancisco, and Joe Navarro, with close to 50 collegiate esports leaders in attendance. Charles opened the Town Hall with the following statement:
“Playfly is far more than an esports company, we are one of the largest sports media agencies in the world. We support college athletic programs with a variety of services and we are a media sales agency for every professional baseball, basketball and hockey team in the United States [among other capabilities]. We have over 1,000 employees across all of our different business units and I will say, if any esports student-athletes are interested in internships or entry level positions in the sports field, please let me know, we have been aggressively adding talent over the past four years.
Disruption is part of our DNA at Playfly but as it relates to college esports we do believe that there is a benefit to stability and we know that the announcement of sunsetting NACE Starleague came as a surprise to many of you. To be frank, we were surprised when we received a letter from NACE’s National Office on April 1st requesting the termination of our partnership, and, as part of that, we were upset on behalf of the community that we serve. From the time that we received that letter and for the following two months, we at Playfly made several attempts to keep the alignment moving forward, uninterrupted, but those proposals were rebuffed and on June 25th we received another letter from NACE terminating the partnership, effective immediately.
Playfly has invested significantly in the NACE Starleague product & services over the past three years so this is not what we wanted; that said, our organization has been operating all facets of college esports competitions and providing opportunities for students since 2009, formerly as Collegiate Starleague, CSL Esports and obviously, most recently, as NACE Starleague.
The great news is, we LOVE what we do and we are going to continue to do it at the highest level. We are so excited about this new chapter to provide the best services and to be the home for as many college esports competitions as possible within our rebranded ecosystem, Playfly College Esports.”
-Charles O’Donnell, Vice President & Business Head of Esports @ Playfly Sports
Questions + Answers
Curtis, Kyle, and Joe from the Playfly Ops team fielded the following questions that were either submitted in advance or in real-time over the Zoom chat.
NACE Starleague
Is this a separate payment from NACE?
Yes - For the 2024-2025 academic year and beyond, Playfly and NACE will have their own offerings. A Playfly membership will not provide access to NACE services, and vice versa.
How do you plan on going about acquiring the staff needed to run and maintain competition with the separation of NACE?
Playfly has been responsible for all day-to-day operations of NACE Starleague since its inception three years ago. Those responsibilities have included league operations, platform management, broadcast production, and event production. We take great pride in the real-world workplace experience we’ve been able to provide countless students in these roles, and we remain committed to providing those paid opportunities moving forward. Rest assured, the staff behind-the-scenes and the overall experience you are familiar with will continue. This is what we do.
How many schools from NSL have signed on with PCE?
In the first 5 days of being open, we’ve had over 20 schools complete the application process and are having many more meaningful conversations, and many of those registrants are opting for the 2-year opportunity ($3,000 covers competition years 2024 - 2025 & 2025 - 2026, payment not due until July, 2025).
Additionally, that's just recapping Varsity based on the application process we're going through right now. Open Division registration will go live on August 1 for non-Varsity competitions.
What is the representation of the western region?
Hard to say at this time what will be representation from each region with only the Varsity application process open presently. However we believe the spread of schools from each region "should" be similar to what we saw in prior seasons with NACE Starleague.
General
What is the platform site?
It is the same site under a new domain - https://esports.playflycollege.gg/league. All pre-existing teams, schools and data are all there!
Is there a balance offering for those playing in NACE and Playfly? noticing that the dates and times of games are in conflict with NACE. Is Playfly willing to help balance that or are we forced to decide?
We are doing our best to not double up with other programming, but it is part of a larger mosaic. We do not want to put anyone into a binary decision, but in some instances, it is unavoidable. We will always look to calibrate our offering based on our community feedback.
How many teams are going to be invited to the annual LAN? If exact numbers aren't figured out yet then is it more likely to be big like the CECC lan or only a few teams?
Speaking of the LAN, we are working on finalizing these details now and expect to have an announcement in the next week or two. Keeping in mind that both Varsity and Open teams will have access, we are targeting eight teams per title.
What can we do if our students don't come back to campus until August 22nd? Seems like a short turnaround for getting teams registered.
Registration for Varsity Premier closes September 3, registration for Open Premier closes September 10, and registration for Varsity and Open Plus closes September 16. This schedule assumes that those varsity programs competing at the highest level have laid some of the groundwork already for their rosters, or rather are going to be doing that over the course of the summer, however, we do allow teams to make changes to their roster throughout the season, and as long as a roster is in place by the end of registration, that team can still be amended in the days and weeks ahead.
My school recently brought back its esports program in Fall 2023 and our first competitive season in Spring 2024. We want to grow our program but we don't know where to start since we don’t have an esports space for the Varsity requirement.
We know that every school's esports journey is unique, and our structure exists in an attempt to address that variation. The Varsity division is for those schools that are more developed and invested in esports, at the institutional level. But not everyone is there yet. Realistically some schools haven't even started down that path. And that's OK. That's why the Open division exists, and that's why our Open division provides the same opportunities to participants as Varsity. We don't want schools, or student orgs, or individual players, to feel like they are second class citizens and getting a lesser experience simply because they are not "varsity" programs.
Wherever you are, you have a place here.
Varsity
What are the requirements for Varsity status?
- Recognize esports as an official program supported by the institution
- Have at least one full-time staff member responsible for overseeing esports
- Pay associated membership dues according to the Term selected
- Grant right to use school name and official marks
- Complete an eligibility form for each student participant each semester of competition
- Provide a facility for competition and require it to be used by representative teams during official Varsity matches under the supervision of a staff member
The above requirements are available on the Varsity Application and will be available shortly through our website as well.
I have filled out my Varsity membership application, when should I expect my invoice?
They’re in the queue with our accounting team now, expecting them to be out the door by next week (at the latest). New one year memberships should be invoiced within 1-2 weeks of program acceptance.
How exactly will the Varsity Promo (2 years x $1,500 each = $3,000) be implemented? Is $3,000 total due in July 2025, or just $1,500 from the past season?
Schools that opt for the two-year promotional term will receive an invoice for the full $3,000 amount on or around July 1, 2025.
If I'm a varsity program, do I need to pay the varsity membership fee if I plan on only having one team compete
Yes, all schools wishing to compete in the varsity division are required to pay the one-year or two-year membership fee; however, as an alternative, schools may opt to participate in the Open division at their own discretion, and they will still have access to scholarship prizing and our annual LAN event by doing so.
Can we pay for a Varsity membership fee, but compete in Open?
Varsity membership only covers the schools participation in the "Varsity" Division - if that school would like to compete in the "Open" Division - said teams would need to obtain Open membership, on a per player basis, to be eligible.
If we pay for the Varsity membership, do we still have to pay an Open membership fee?
Varsity membership only covers the school's participation in the "Varsity" Division. If that school would like to compete in the "Open" Division - said teams would need to obtain Open membership, on a per player basis, to be eligible.
So it's not like last year where we paid for membership and could place teams in Varsity or Open? Some of my teams aren't ready for the competition level in Varsity.
There is a developmental place for those students within the Varsity division - Varsity Plus. Smaller, rank-based divisions.
- Varsity Premier - Highest level of competition, compete for prizing and possible slot at LAN
- Varsity Plus - The more "developmental" subdivision - teams paired with like skilled players
Open
If a winner of the Open Premier division in the Fall decides not to renew their membership for the winter, are they still eligible for LAN in the Spring?
If a team does win an Open Premier division in Fall 2024, they are NOT required to compete in Spring 2025 to retain their invitation to the end of Season LAN. Those players are not required to regain individual memberships in the Spring if they do not want to.
New Benefits
For free player merch drops, can it all be bundled together to maximize savings on shipping?
Right now it is calibrated for players to select their items individually but that is a suggestion that we can certainly take a look at.
Can coaches/directors order merch drops as well?
Our shop is open to the public, so anyone who goes to playflycollege.gg can order whatever they like. To date, the exclusive merch drops (including a College Esports t-shirt and Fall 2024 commemorative flag) have been contemplated for student participants only, however, we are exploring ways to make these available to coaches and directors. Stay tuned for more information.
Will anything change from a sponsorship perspective?
No. All deliverables for our sponsors will live on and we are expecting to deliver even more audience to our partners this year.
Circuit
Can open membership players participate in Fortnite, or is that only for Varsity?
All membership types include access to Circuit titles.
What is the difference between the standard and circuit games?
Division titles are tied to either a Varsity or Open membership, only giving access to specific tiers of those game titles’ competition. Circuit competitions are included with any membership.
Notes
During the Town Hall, Francisco also reiterated the Participation Benefits and Extras such as the new website, merch drops, Playfly College Esports Shop, School Collections, and more which were disclosed in our Primer linked here.
It is our promise to you that we will continue to work with the community to operate and enhance the competitive experience that you’ve come to expect, and we look forward to shaping the future of collegiate esports together!
