Libraries hosts esports national championships

A group of people poses with a trophy.

One of the winning Maryville University esports teams at the national championships at the Libraries. (Photo by Matthew Maharaj)

Epic battles took place at the Hunt Library’s NC State Gaming and Esports Lab in the 2025 Championship Grand Finals for College League of Legends and College Valorant. The League of Legends final featured Maryville University versus Ole Miss on May 31 while Maryville competed against Winthrop University for the Valorant title on June 1. Maryville won both titles.

The Libraries hosted the official Riot Games collegiate esports competitions through a collaboration between NC State and Visit Raleigh, with naming rights partner ExitLag, and tournament organizer GGTech.

"Our experience at the CLoL and CVal national championships in Raleigh was amazing," says Daniel Clerke, Maryville's Director of Esports, "The hospitality was awesome, and the practice facility was top-notch. I am grateful to NC State for hosting our teams and making our moments of victory special."

The championships weren’t just a win for the Maryville teams—they were also a victory for the NC State Esports Program and for the Libraries. The hosting of these major esports events offers NC State students important networking and high-impact learning opportunities that can jumpstart their esports and event production careers upon graduation.

"I am so immensely proud of our NC State students who stepped up to fill crucial roles in this primarily student-operated event,” Cody Elsen, Esports Program Director, says. “NC State’s esports program developed crucial skills needed to operate this event as well as future events in the esports arena under construction on Main Campus. This event was truly an all-hands-on-deck experience with CommTech, Class Tech, Engineering, College of Natural Resources, and of course the Libraries all contributing time and energy to make it happen."

NC State students played significant roles in hosting the event, including producer William Dunning, replay operator Zachary Balagot, lead observer Jack Babcock, and head of fan engagement Paige McKee.

McKee, who is studying business at NC State, organized the welcoming and ticketing station, helped seat spectators in the auditorium, and managed giveaways of T-shirts, stickers, bags, stress balls, and even cards made by each team on which they drew the characters they play. Each day ended with raffles of figurines.

Around 80 people attended each of the two days in-person, and online viewership on multiple channels was huge—one of the biggest ones (the "VALORANT_Americas" Twitch channel)  got over 30,000 viewers. 

“Our main goal was to just make sure everyone was having fun and felt welcome at the tournament,” McKee says. “One example of this is how on the second day, we hid ducks (a merch item for Valorant) around the lobby and the first 15 people to find and take a picture of all four of them got free Valorant key-chains. This was a fun way to keep the viewers entertained while they were waiting for us to open the door for the day!”

Wrangling visitors, merchandise, and tens of thousands of remote spectators can be hectic, but McKee feels that she learned a lot about efficient organization and communication through the process.

“Our first day felt a little chaotic in the beginning, but by the beginning of the second day, we had worked out all of our mistakes and bottlenecks to check people in and give them all the merch they needed as fast as possible so they could enjoy the show,” she says. “It was also just fun to meet all the athletes and supporters and to work on friendly communication and networking skills through that. I am a current business student, so all of these organizational and communication skills are very valuable for my future career.”