Esports has recently become a big deal within USD259. The district has funded a stadium for local schools to compete.

“So the idea of this stadium is to bring everybody in the district together just like you would have a g-wall match in football teams, or any other traditional sport,” Southeast esports coach Kyle Schoenhofer said.

“You can see behind me a giant esports arena with over 70 PCs, LED lights, we’re gonna have laser light shows, introducing players. It’s getting blown up in such a big way,” Schoenhofer said.

The district is hoping to shape esports into a traditional sports format with local schools competing against each other.

“This arena is gonna serve as a place for people to see what esports is for the first time. This is going to facilitate as more people understand that esports is a coming thing

and this is gonna draw their attention and give them a place to experience esports for the very first time,” Schoenofer said.

Many high schools in the district have started to form their own teams to compete with other local schools.

“So the stadium is open to teams right now to teams who don’t have a place to practice or need a bigger facility. We’ll not only have our regular season which is all year long, there’s two seasons throughout the year, but we’ll also have tournaments here that we’ll host USD259,” Schoenofer said. “Not only will we have the arena open to spectators, that’s fans from the school, general public, parents, other teams from the area, other people interested in esports in general.”

The district is hoping to have the stadium be open to more people by next year once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.