ALEXANDRIA, VA – The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) has formed the Tribal College and University (TCU) Esports League, which is set to launch in spring 2026. The league will organize and support esports competition between nine founding institutions in the spring and expand over time to include all AIHEC member institutions across the U.S.
“TCU Chief Information Officers, IT Directors, and STEM faculty expressed to the AIHEC CI team a desire to build esports programs for recruitment and retention of STEM students,” said Shelly Knight, AIHEC Cyberinfrastructure (CI) facilitator who organizes the TCU Esports Working Group. “As the future continues to demand a technology-driven workforce, investing in esports at the TCUs provides their students with more experiences to engage with campus technology (i.e., high-performing computers, podcast and broadcast equipment, and makerspaces) and online platforms that create communities for athletes and spectators.”
Establishing the TCU Esports League was a primary goal of the TCU Esports Working Group, developed and facilitated by the AIHEC CI team (NSF 2334701) in collaboration with the Electronic Gaming Federation (EGF) and Quipu. The TCU Esports League reflects AIHEC’s strategic mission to amplify the collective voices of Tribal-led higher education through student activities.
“In the last 10 years, esports, especially in the world of higher education, has grown immensely and has created incredible opportunities for students through education, scholarship, and competition,” said Tyler Schrodt, the founder and CEO of EGF. “EGF is proud to be a small part of this effort by AIHEC and the TCUs that will do so much good for so many students.”
Not only has collegiate esports grown exponentially over the last decade, but it has also introduced scholarship-based esports programs at higher education institutions across the U.S. As part of the league, each member institution will create an esports program that includes esports teams in different game titles competing against other members, which will be expanded to include broad-ranging education and professional development opportunities. Esports provides a powerful platform to strengthen the TCU campus community and showcase the incredible work of these institutions and their students.
“Our mission has always been to utilize the power and the economy of the games and esports industries to strengthen communities, create opportunities, and diversify the economies of Indigenous communities,” said Hai Ng, a founding Director of Quipu who will collaborate with AIHEC and the TCUs to support the league moving forward. “The launch of the TCU Esports League is a significant step towards a more robust esports industry within Indigenous communities, and we are proud to assist with continuing to help grow and nurture it.”
Quipu and the TCU Esports League share the goal of leveraging esports to build community and create pathways that empower students to pursue STEM and other games industry-related careers.
January 2026 will begin the first season of the TCU Esports League, which will support several game titles with member institutions competing in a regular season, concluding with an in-person championship at the AIHEC Student Conference on March 15–18 in Bismarck, ND. The TCU Esports League represents a significant step for TCUs to engage with the esports industry, which connects communities on a global scale with billions of fans. TCUs and other institutions across the U.S. are embracing esports as a way to support the evolving needs of their students by creating competitive programs, practical education experience, and classroom instruction that translates into career pathways in esports and across the industry.
“Tribal nations can benefit from the esports industry through the convergence of storytelling, technology, and fandom to pursue economic growth and digital representation,” said Shelly. “Launching the TCU Esports League is a step toward increased representation and space for Indigenous peoples to convene, innovate, and apply their inherent talents and abilities, guided by thousands of years of knowledge, to the world of competitive gaming and STEM-related fields.”
