Florida Poly's new esports arena is about having fun and preparing students for the workforce

New Esports arena for Florida Polytechnic

Florida Polytechnic students welcome their new high-tech esports arena. FOX 13's Carla Bayron reports.

LAKELAND, Fla. - Florida Polytechnic University opened its brand-new esports arena on campus, which is not just about having fun and gaming competitively, it's also about preparing students for their own careers.

It's hard to find colleges and universities without an esports team. It's a major market that makes more than a billion dollars annually.

What they're saying:

Jannice Rivera is studying computer science and cybersecurity. She's also the captain of the Valorant team on the program, which has 14 teams total, and 3 to 4 students per team.

READ: Florida Poly to launch cybersecurity and AI laboratory on campus

"When you go into that job field, you'll either have a team you'll manage or a manager who will manage you and the rest of your colleagues," Rivera said. "You need to work with them. In our games, we'll be looking for one another, and I think that translates really well to the workforce." 

Esports has been on campus for the last few years, but the new arena is three times larger than the last one and features state-of-the-art computers.

"Now that we have a space to plant our roots, I know that we can do a lot more work here," Rivera said. 

By the numbers:

The university's vice president of student affairs says 70% of esports players in the nation are STEM students.

"I read a stat that students who participate in esports have a persistence rate in school of 90%," Bryan Brooks, vice president of student affairs, enrollment management, strategic communications, said. "They're 90% more likely to stay in school and get a degree, which is another great thing for us."

The new space will allow the university to host other schools for competitions. A large screen in the atrium just outside the arena will be able to display and stream tournaments.

Dig deeper:

Rivera says she wants this program to grow, and hopes to see more diversity and inclusivity, especially more women players.

"This is a place for them to let loose and have fun, blow off steam and not be burnt out from school, so they can perform better in school," Rivera said. "And then bring those communicative and problem-solving skills in-game and take that into the workforce." 

The team competes in collegiate level tournaments and have gone up against universities like the University of Central Florida and University of Florida.

There are already a hundred students on the waiting list wanting to be a part of the team this coming fall.