American College offers athletic scholarships to LoL players

With the growing popularity of E-Sports all over the world , and the increasing recognition of it as a sport like any other one with its players considered athletes , Robert Morris University in Illinois became the first college in the United States Of America to offer scholarships to skilled gamers . Recruiting high-school players of the game League of Legends to its new program has started , and it’ll offer up to 50% of their learning and living costs , which is expected to be around $19,000 .

League of Legends is one of the leading forces of E-Sports popularity , with its players count reaching more than 67 million people around the world who play it at least once a month , and over 27 million of them plays it on daily basis . The free to play Moba LoL offers tournaments and prize money all over the world .

Although E-sports teams and sponsors offered scholarships to the e-sports crowd before , but RUM university’s new program is the first time a college adds video games to their official athletics program, the university said that it “recognizes the value and legitimacy of e-sports,” and that League Of Legends is a “competitive, challenging game which requires significant amount of teamwork to be successful.” .