{"id":26825,"date":"2020-07-01T14:05:28","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T18:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2020\/07\/01\/necc-announces-expansion-of-esports-program\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T09:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:51:19","slug":"necc-announces-expansion-of-esports-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2020\/07\/01\/necc-announces-expansion-of-esports-program\/","title":{"rendered":"NECC Announces Expansion of Esports Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"esports<\/a>

Esports coach David Arivella (left) with Esports Team members in the gaming lab.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Northern Essex Community College varsity Esports program<\/a> has announced it will expand to seven game offerings beginning with the fall 2020 semester. Five game titles will be featured for PC play, while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will continue on Switch and Madden will be added for PS4 play. FIFA is also expected to join the mix in the spring 2021 semester.<\/p>\n

The Knights Esports program, which captured national championships in Rocket League and Super Smash Bros Ultimate during the spring 2020 semester will look to continue its upward trajectory as the premiere community college Esports program in New England.<\/p>\n

For PC beginning this fall, NECC will see the addition of CS:GO, Hearthstone, and Rainbow Six: Siege join the existing Rocket League and Overwatch titles.<\/p>\n

Madden will be added as a fall semester game on the PS4 while FIFA is expected to be a spring semester game on the PS4 as well.<\/p>\n

Super Smash Bros Ultimate will continue on Switch with both singles and doubles competition.<\/p>\n

“We’re excited to be expanding our offerings in Esports and increase participation and championship opportunities for students while at the same time returning to competition in other programs as well following the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated NECC Athletic Director Dan Blair.<\/p>\n

Northern Essex opened an Esports lab on the Haverhill Campus<\/a> last fall, but, during COVID-19 restrictions, students are playing from home.<\/p>\n

Esports competition is open to students at the college who are enrolled full time in a minimum of 12 credits per semester. For more information, visit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The college is planning to resume athletics this fall, but that may change. \u00a0Additional information and required student-athlete paperwork for the 2020-2021 academic year will be available on\u00a0www.neccknights.com\u00a0in the\u00a0coming weeks. For additional information please contact Director of Athletics Dan Blair\u00a0dblair@necc.mass.edu\u00a0or a member of the\u00a0coaching staff\u00a0with any questions.<\/p>\n

For additional information please contact Director of Athletics Dan Blair\u00a0dblair@necc.mass.edu<\/a>\u00a0or esports coach David Arivella\u00a0darivella@necc.mass.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Northern Essex Community College competes as a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and sponsors 12 varsity intercollegiate sports including baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s soccer, Esports and men’s and women’s track and field. For more information on Northern Essex Community College Athletics please visit the official website of Northern Essex Athletics<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NECC is growing its esports program, adding new games this fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":26727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNECC Announces Expansion of Esports Program - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2020\/07\/01\/necc-announces-expansion-of-esports-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NECC Announces Expansion of Esports Program - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NECC is growing its esports program, adding new games this fall.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2020\/07\/01\/necc-announces-expansion-of-esports-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-01T18:05:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T13:51:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/esports-e1588110295894.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"655\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ernie Greenslade\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ernie Greenslade\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2020\/07\/01\/necc-announces-expansion-of-esports-program\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2020\/07\/01\/necc-announces-expansion-of-esports-program\/\",\"name\":\"NECC Announces Expansion of Esports Program - 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