USA Esports has launched today as a non-profit organisation that hopes to be recognised by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee as the United States’ National Governing Body (NGB) for esports.
It’s likely no coincidence that this organisation has been formed ahead of the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC) later this year — a tournament featuring mono-national teams in multiple esports tournaments.
The USA Esports website features team pages for every esport title already confirmed for the ENC, including Valorant, Counter-Strike 2, and Chess.
USA Esports President & CEO Jesse Bodony claimed, in an official statement, that this non-profit aims to “unify the US esports ecosystem” across professional, K-12, collegiate, and amateur levels.
The organisation also claims to put esports athletes first and will ensure that all of its standing committees will have at least one-third of its members be esports athletes to ensure players have proper representation in every aspect of the industry.
Who is part of USA Esports?
USA Esports has announced its Board of Directors as well as multiple partner esports organisations.
The Board of Directors features various big-name, retired esports pros, including Counter-Strike star Jordan ‘n0thing’ Gilbert, former TSM League of Legends pro Soren ‘Bjergsen’ Bjerg, and former women’s Counter-Strike world champion Heather ‘sapphiRe’ Mumm.
Other members of the board include former Chancellor of UCLA, Dr. Gene Block, and Bowen Chung MD, a Professor-in-Residence at the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Fielding School of Public Health.
USA Esports has partnered with eleven North American esports organisations in:
- 100 Thieves
- Dignitas
- TSM
- Spacestation Gaming
- FlyQuest
- Cloud9
- Team Liquid
- NRG
- Misfits Gaming
- M80
- Ghost Gaming
The non-profit organisation has also partnered with 17 American universities:
- University of Kentucky
- University of Oklahoma
- University of North Dakota
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Maryville University, Syracuse University
- University of California, Irvine
- University of Hawaiʻi
- Wichita State University
- Texas Tech University
- West Virginia University
- Baylor University
- Texas Christian University
- University of Utah
- University of Texas at Dallas
What needs to be done to improve the state of esports in North America? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
And in other North American esports news, Team Liquid has returned to the Americas in CS2 after a player swap.
