After nearly two years of speculation, the AIA has announced that esports will begin to be offered to Arizona high school students as an activity in the spring of 2019.

The AIA used that time to look and find the right partner to bring esports to Arizona. After talking to a few companies, they landed with Legacy Esports.

The AIA is still finalizing the games to be played.

Teams will compete against each other in weekly competitions, and eventually, as the program grows, the AIA plans to add a state championship.

“The time is now,” AIA Director of Business Development Brian Bolitho said. “We know that a lot of universities now have esports programs and are offering scholarships for esports as well, so we felt it was best to get in on the ground floor of esports now.”

About 50 different schools came to the informational meeting on the topic last Monday, so there is a known interest in this activity. About 150 students are already involved in esports clubs at schools such as Prescott High School, which already have esports clubs.

The goal of year one is just merely to learn and grow, but in a few years the AIA hopes to have every school involved with at least one esports team.

“There are different game companies that create promotion opportunities to help offset schooling costs,” Co-Founder and CCO of Ultimate Media Ventures Nate Eckman said. “You have actual schools that are giving scholarships to students to come and compete as representatives of their schools for rewards as high as $100,000.”

The goal is to grow participation and interest of students and allow them to do something through the school that they wouldn't otherwise normally do.

There will be no cuts in the esports program. Schools can have as many students on as many teams as they want.

The games will be played by teams of three and teams of five depending on the game.

The intent down the line is to have a fall and a spring season so kids who may be involved in sports could play during their offseason as well.

“Don’t get the wrong idea; it is not just a single student sitting behind a computer all day,” AIA Executive Director David Hines said. “Kids have to work with one another to strategize and practice working together to compete.”

The AIA is in the process of making a registration platform and schools will have access to that by the middle of December and can begin signing up then. In the next month, it will know the schools that have interest in competing.