There's a university in Utah which is sponsoring gamers to study eSports

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The University of Utah has become one of the first US colleges to offer eSports scholarships.

It makes it the most high-profile entry into competitive college gaming in the United States.

The university is creating its own varsity eSports team to play League of Legends and compete in Riot Games' collegiate league.

There are plans to expand it to more games and make money through marketing deals.

Image source, esportphoto.com

ESports is already a huge industry and is expected to be one of the top five most popular sports by 2020.

Collegiate eSport teams are still quite rare, but a growing number of US colleges are beginning to recognise their student gamers.

Image source, esportphoto.com

The University of Utah is part of the "Power Five", the richest sports universities in America.

Gamers will receive partial scholarships to start with, but once they start playing more games competitively they will be able to sign up for marketing deals.

The university is hoping to eventually offer full scholarships for 35 gamers.

Image source, esportphoto.com

Utah is the most high-profile US college to offer eSports scholarships, but the Universities of California and Irvine have recently built eSports arenas on their campuses.

"We want other schools to join us," said A.J. Dimick, who will run the new eSports programme in Utah. "Let's move this along together."

Funding for the student gamers will come from Utah's entertainment arts and engineering department, which is known as a leader in video game design.

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