Editor’s note: this will come with video moving forward. Photo Credit Adobe Stock

Welcome to Esports You May Have Missed! This is a new series that every week, we will be recapping esports news that may have flown under the mainstream radar. Our hope is to highlight games, teams, events, and business news that the average esports and gaming fan may have missed.

BELLS WON’T BE RINGING

In college news – the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) announced on Tuesday that Fisher College has had their NACE membership revoked based on investigations done by the Board of Directors, the Competition Council, and the Eligibility Enforcement Committee.

On April 1^st, it was announced in the Collegiate R6 Discord that Fisher was found to be using ringers in two of their Season 9 matches of Collegiate Rainbow 6 Siege. The timing of the announcement was unfortunate, but it was not a joke in this case. The R6 team was removed from Season 9 and will not be allowed to play until the conclusion of Season 10. They made an official announcement on April 2^nd on the Collegiate R6 X account.  

After an investigation into the team as a whole, NACE decided to revoke the team’s membership, disqualifying all their teams from Varsity Premier and Varsity Plus competition and are no longer eligible to compete in the playoffs or Spring Grand Finals, according to the organizations X post on the 9^th.

Travis Yang, a member of the Board of Directors of NACE, as well as the Director of Esports Competition at Syracuse University, posted on his X that he stands by the decision that NACE has made.

I stand by this decision as a member of the board but struggle knowing that students are the ones who ultimately pay the price, regardless of what the causes may be. https://t.co/IhLvDZVaAc

— Travis Yang (@travisyang) April 9, 2024

That same day, it was also reported by College Esports News that CVAL (Collegiate Valorant) announced in their discord that the University at Buffalo was suspended for the rest of the 2024 CVAL season, also for ringing.

According to the announcement, University at Buffalo would have all their results overturned and the team would be removed from the playoffs.

GOT…FORTNITE?

The Gonna Need Milk campaign announced this week that they would be hosting a women’s Fortnite tournament called The Milk Cup, boasting one of the largest prize pools in women’s esports of $250K.

According to their press release, the event is not only furthering Gonna Need Milk’s commitment to empowering women in sports (and now esports), but to also bring awareness to the pay gap between men’s and women’s esports tournaments. They want to “fuel the change within professional gaming, giving women gamers a platform and the opportunity to play for the largest women’s esports prize pool in North America to address this pay gap directly.”

The Milk Cup was created in partnership with women gamers and will be produced by the female-led Raidiant team. The tournament will feature three majors and finish with an in-person Grand Finals LAN.

More information about the tournament, including sign ups, can be found at the Gonna Need Milk Website.

CIAO OPTIC GAMING

On April 5^th, fan-favorite organization OpTic Gaming announced a partnership with Italian football club Juventus. The hope of the two organizations is to bridge the gap between traditional sports and esports on a global level.

This is OpTic x Juventus #GreenWall | @juventusfc pic.twitter.com/K1jCfvBHCH

— OpTic Gaming™ (@OpTic) April 5, 2024

OpTic plans to collaborate with Juventus with social media campaigns, limited-edition co-branded merchandise, and video content that includes athletes and influencers from both organizations.

This is not the first time that OpTic has teamed up with a sports organization. They previously worked with the Texas Rangers for a jersey and bobble head night according to the Sports Business Journal.

LEAFS REPS TELL THE FUTURE?

Speaking of sports and esports, the NHL crowned a new champion in the NHL 24 World Championships on April 7^th. Ethan ‘Polgz’ Kerr-Polgar, a representative for the Toronto Maple Leafs, won the EA Sports NHL 24 title against fellow Leafs rep Justin ‘Regs’ Reguly. Regs previously won the NHL 22 World Championship.

This was Polgz first World Championship title, where he took home $30,000 and a customized hockey stick.

Will the double representation of the Maple Leafs be a good luck charm for the organization in the Stanley Cup Playoffs? The Leafs have already punched their ticket, so a virtual win might be a sign for the Leafs taking home the cup for the first time since 1967.

And that’s just some of what you missed on Glee in esports this week! Make sure to follow us on X @the_spawnroom for more news from the esports and gaming world as it happens, and tune in next week for another update of Esports That You May Have Missed!