NACE Starleague Becomes NACE

NACE goes indie

The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) Executive Director Michael Brooks announced this week that, on the heels of Playfly Sports rebranding its collegiate esports conference to Playfly College Esports, it has decided to operate its conference independently.

Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Playfly’s collegiate esports program was run under the moniker “NACE Starleague.” In a statement released on Tuesday Brooks announced that NACE will continue as an independent conference under the name, “NACE Esports.”

Further, Brooks makes a number of allegations against Playfly Sports:

“Over the past year, we have faced some significant challenges in our partnership within NACE Starleague.  This last semester, without NACE’s approval, we saw a complete removal of broadcast, prize pools and an in-person grand finals. Additionally, announcements were made, without NACE’s approval, that had significant implications for the league.

“However, despite these setbacks, we are incredibly proud to report that our home office and leadership team swiftly mobilized to ensure the continuation of prize pools and the revival of our in-person grand finals. Thanks to our dedicated team and your unwavering support, we delivered what many have called the best grand finals to date. These efforts highlighted the diverging path that NACE, as a member-driven not-for-profit association, was headed down.  We firmly believe that we can better serve our member institutions by charting our own course, one that aligns more closely with the needs and aspirations of varsity programs.”

Separately, NACE Esports announced that Matthew Lenz is the new NACE competition manager—he is best known for his work on New Mexico State University’s esports program. More details on that can be found in this announcement.

LeagueSpot will continue to support the conference with its tournament platform and staff–it is also the platform of choice for Playfly College Esports.