(FINAL) OU Esports Club & Gamers of OSU Program the 3rd Annual Bedlam on Nov 14 & 15, 2020!

DISCLAIMER: Before we start this article please be aware that it is in active development and some variables may change. We will do our best to keep the timestamp current to any changes as well as push big changes to social media to bring awareness to this article. It will also evolve to a post game score board and repository for saved videos from the panels.

It’s that time of year for one of the biggest rivalries in the region to come back! You know BEDLAM but we march to our own drum as we let the iconic grudge match have its traditional showcase. Now it’s time for these two campuses to face off in a different arena. Esports! 2020 will historically go down as the year of disruption, change, and controversy. However, gaming and esports gained massive acceleration because of the need for more virtual and socially-distanced programming. Luckily, for fans of gaming and esports this has been the norm since the late 90s and birth of online multiplayer gameplay. We’ll make this a physical event in the years to come, for now, it’s 100% virtual.

In the spirit of good sportsmanship we are tapping into that healthy exchange of competition to build up our topic into the mainstream. The timing is perfect to further boost our topic. In the mainstream, gaming and esports are often viewed only as entertainment and time sinks. However, this sport is a global one with League of Legends now representing the 3rd most watched organized entertainment sport after the NFL and NBA. Additionally, League of Legends “Worlds Finals” now sees viewership surpassing the NFL Super Bowl. This is no longer a niche industry as it’s trajectory puts it on course to match and surpass the NFL in revenue in just 6-7 years from now.

2020 marks the 3rd annual Bedlam series with our friends (and enemies) over at Oklahoma State University affectionately known and branded as The Gamers of OSU. In 2013, we kicked off this new evolution of tradition into esports, hosting showcases across multiple titles. Additionally, we physically hosted in 2018 and OSU hosted in 2019. This year, further elevation at both campuses and more students involved than ever before sees us facing off in a two day event across seven(6) different games and two(2) panels!! We’ll get to that schedule shortly, but first let’s talk about the significance of this event across much of higher education.

In September 2020, the University of Oklahoma elevated it’s Esports Club into the new Esports & Co-Curricular Innovation department housed underneath Student Affairs with a roadmap aimed at creating a full-fledged department similar to athletics as a standalone entity. Everything you will see in this two day event are the results of the purest of grassroots energies over the course of several years to show that students are demanding this and not at just OU and OSU but at over 240+ universities now across the US and Canada.