uLoL Campus Series – North America’s League of Legends Collegiate League

Riot Games evolved its North American Collegiate Championship (NACC) to the recently-introduced uLoL Campus Series for 2016. For the first time, League of Legends enthusiasts will be able to spectate collegiate matches on a weekly basis.

https://twitter.com/lolesports/status/684127412976680960

Series Format

Last November, eight teams from each region – North, East, South, and West – qualified to compete in this year’s Riot-run North American collegiate league. The regular season will kick-off on Jan. 16, with teams playing against other colleges from the same region. The first matchup to be streamed will spotlight one of last year’s NACC finalists and the first college to accept scholarships for eSports, Robert Morris University, playing against Michigan State University.

All 32 teams will play in a best-of-two series format each week for a spot in the conference playoffs, which commences in mid-March. The top four teams from each conference will secure a spot in the playoffs. Every game won equals one point in the league standings. Additionally, if a team ends up sweeping their opponent, 2-0, they will receive a bonus point. For those teams that end up losing their series, they will receive no points.

Competing Teams

Information provided by LoL eSports – http://www.lolesports.com/en_US/articles/introducing-ulol-campus-series

North Conference

The North has been developing their collegiate teams for the past two years, with RMU being the first-ever team from its conference to make it into the finals. They were defeated in the grand finals against West Conference’s University of British Columbia last year. More teams from the North Conference have been stepping up to the plate for this year’s championship.

East Conference

The East Conference has struggled to get to finals throughout the collegiate league, regardless of their talented eastern schools. However, East teams caused multiple upsets during the qualifiers, and will plan to do so in the regular season, and hopefully in the playoffs as well.

South Conference

The South has not forgotten last year’s missed opportunity to the championship title; they’ll be looking to get their revenge on the West this upcoming season. Some of North America’s most talented collegiate teams come from the South Conference, including Texas A&M and Georgia Tech. Will they be able to finally take the title from the West Conference?

West Conference

At the moment, the West is arguably the most dominant conference, fielding powerhouse United States and Canadian teams – such as UBC and the University of Washington. It’ll be interesting to see if they can uphold their title going into the Campus Series, with so many newly-qualified, talented collegiate teams entering UBC’s territory.

Where to Watch

After the League Championship Series (LCS) concludes on every Saturday, a preselected regular season matchup will be broadcasted live on LoL eSports’ Twitch, Azubu, and YouTube Gaming channels via their website’s “Watch Live” page – http://watch.lolesports.com.

The Conference Semifinals and Finals will continue after the regular season in March, with the Championship – that decides who the best North American collegiate LoL eSports team is – following on April 23-24, 2016.

What college will you be supporting? Do you like the changes being made to the Campus Series? Let us know. Follow our Twitter – @eSportsNation for more LoL eSports coverage and content.