It’s game on for Sunderland’s new Esports campus

City Campus recently hosted a special business event which outlined exciting plans for the British Esports and Sunderland College’s state-of-the-art national performance and education campus.

Around 80 business and education leaders attended the Professionals Lunch at City Bistro – catered for by professional cookery students – and organised by Sunderland BID.

And guest speaker Chester King, CEO, and founder of British Esports revealed its plans for the multi- million-pound development adjacent to Stadium of Light and in the heart of the city’s Riverside development.

The partnership will establish a National Esports Performance Campus (NEPC) which will become a centre of excellence, with a 17x3M screen, 100+ seats for spectators, HD broadcasting capability, classrooms, and performance rooms.

The campus will also incorporate a large garden with exercise spaces for table tennis and basketball and British Esports has also purchased three team houses in Sunniside to house national and pro esports teams while they train and compete in the city.

Chester King, CEO, British Esports said: “We’re delighted to announce the increased investment and expansion to our state-of-the-art National Esports Performance Campus in Sunderland, at a time when the city and region is going through its most transformative period in recent years.”

Esports – electronic sports – refers to organised competitive video gaming, in which teams and individual players pit their skills against one another online and often in front of large live audiences to win trophies and cash prizes.

In 2022, Sunderland College and British Esports announced unique partnership which will develop future talent and support Sunderland in becoming a global hub for Esports.

The college and British Esports will combine their expertise to offer young people and adults the opportunity to gain the skills, knowledge, and qualifications to prepare for a career in the rapidly growing Esports industry and be at the forefront of new developments.

The college’s new Esports vocational courses will also be run from the campus, which will also incorporate a large garden with exercise spaces for table tennis and basketball, with British Esports purchasing three properties in Sunniside to house national and pro Esports teams while they train and compete in the city.

Sheree Rymer, Faculty Director for Creative, Digital, and Computing, said: “It was a pleasure to be at the Professionals Lunch at City Campus, and it was clear the business leaders of the city were thrilled and excited by this development.

For Sunderland College, the partnership with British Esports will strengthen our reputation as the college to study Esports as our students will have access to outstanding world class facilities at the NEPC which will ensure they have the best training and skill development, to start their careers in the industry.

“We have enjoyed working closely with British Esports Head of Education Kalam Neale on preparing our course to move into the NEPC.”

Sharon Appleby, Chief Executive of Sunderland BID, which holds Professional Lunches twice a year, said: “This is simply going to be huge for the city. It will bring jobs and visitors to the city and support Sunderland, the North East and the UK to become a globally-recognised esports hub and the event was a fantastic way of enabling all the city’s key players to find out more about it.”