Canadian university St. Clair College has announced the construction of its 15,000 square-foot esports facility at the school’s South Campus in Windsor, Ontario.
According to the release, the facility will be the home for the St. Clair Saints Varsity Esports team and looks to serve as a premier destination for gaming competitions, as well as host a variety of events, summer camps, viewing parties and more.
RELATED: Power League Gaming unveils 10,000-square-foot facility
Shaun Byrne, Esports Director at St. Clair College, spoke on the announcement in a release: “This new esports facility really is the last piece of the puzzle for us. We have top-tier academic, varsity and club esports programmes but now they will be able to intermingle under one roof allowing for an unparalleled degree of synergy.”
The facility will feature a six vs six competition stage, an open gaming lab fitted with 64 gaming computers, a console lounge featuring eight console stations, five separate soundproof streaming rooms, and an esports classroom. Moreover, the facility will include a broadcast studio for the university’s Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship academic programme and three dedicated VR spaces connected directly to the broadcast studio.
“You will see students from the academic program managing and assisting varsity teams for experiential learning, students in the club gathering for socialisation through esports in tournaments administered by esports event management students and varsity players competing in front of a crowd while broadcast students are in the studio streaming to Twitch,” added Byrne.
The construction of the facility is scheduled to be completed by January 2022 and is a part of the $23 million (~£16.3m) expansion at the school’s Windsor campus. The Esports Centre will be a part of the university’s Zekelman Centre of Business and Information Technology.
The university claims that its esports centre will be the largest publicly accessible facility of its kind.
David Rabinovitch, Esports Professor at St. Clair College, commented: “The fact that some students have already found success in their careers using the equipment currently provided is incredible. But I can only imagine how many more students will find, if not the same, but greater success with these amazing upgrades coming into the new facility.”
RELATED: A look inside the University of Portsmouth’s new Esports Coaching & Performance degree
Chris Funston, Assistant Esports Director at St. Clair College, added: “To say this is a big year for us would be an understatement. Not only are we thrilled to have this phenomenal facility to play out of, but we also have top-tier players coming from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and across Ontario to bolster our rosters and take us to the next level competitively.”
Esports Insider says: Having such a large esports facility will surely improve the educational experience of St. Clair’s students of esports academic programme. Furthermore, it might significantly help with the further development of scholastic esports in Canada.