In this Aug. 25, 2017, photo, Connor Nguyen, at right, and Griffin Williams, second from right, compete in a "Super Smash Bros. Melee" tournament at the Shine eSports festival at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. Griffin, 21, is captain of an esports team at the University of California, Irvine, and Nguyen, 23, is a graduate of the school. The University of California, Irvine, is among a growing number of U.S. schools starting to offer at least partial scholarships to students who compete in esports, competitive video-game playing. (AP Photo/Collin Binkley) Varsity esports teams are becoming increasingly common on college campuses as more schools tap into the rising popularity of competitive gaming.
Experts say 50 U.S. colleges have formed varsity gaming teams that offer at least partial scholarships over the past three years, and many have hired coaches and analysts like other sports teams.
Michael Brooks is executive director of the National Association of Collegiate eSports. He says it has grown "dramatically" and caught organizers off guard.
The success of professional esports has spurred many smaller schools to start varsity teams as a way to boost enrollment numbers.
Among those with new teams is the College of St. Joseph, a school of 260 students in Vermont. The school's athletic director says "nearly every kid on campus wants to be a part of this."
In this Aug. 25, 2017, photo, Connor Nguyen, at right, and Griffin Williams, second from right, compete in a "Super Smash Bros. Melee" tournament at the Shine eSports festival at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. Griffin, 21, is captain of an esports team at the University of California, Irvine, and Nguyen, 23, is a graduate of the school. The University of California, Irvine, is among a growing number of U.S. schools starting to offer scholarships to students who compete in esports, competitive video-game playing. (AP Photo/Collin Binkley) 
In this Sept. 23, 2014 photo, Robert Morris University Illinois freshman, Alex Chapman, left, is critiqued by assistant coach Jose Carrasco as he practices playing the video game "League of Legends" with their collegiate teammates at their on-campus training facility in Chicago. The small private university is offering hefty scholarships for players of "League of Legends," which has become one of the most popular esports games for organized team competitions nationwide. Experts say 50 U.S. colleges have formed varsity gaming teams that offer at least partial scholarships over the past three years, and many have hired coaches and analysts like other sports teams. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
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