Tyler Pauly is Head of Partnerships at the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC), one of the largest collegiate esports infrastructures in the country.
NECC works with hundreds of colleges and universities across North America. Tyler also runs the esports program at Concordia University-St. Paul. He's spent years inside collegiate esports across both roles, and has a clear view of where the opportunity is.
This is interview #29 in the Esports Founders series.
How Tyler got here
Tyler was originally going to be a sports psychologist. He wanted to work at a college as a performance psychologist, back before that was a standard role in most athletic departments. When he graduated, the field wasn't built out yet, so he went the performance route and spent a few years with the Army.
His actual path into esports came through teaching. He took a football coaching position at a high school in Rosemount, Minnesota, and while he was there, a student approached him about starting an esports club. They needed an advisor. Tyler was already deep in League of Legends and saw it as a way to stay close to competition. He said yes.
That advisor role grew into something bigger. He helped get Minnesota Varsity League (MNVL) off the ground, and after a few years at the high school, the head coach position at Concordia opened up. He applied in 2019, didn't get it, and Concordia went with someone else. In 2021 they let that first coach go, Tyler reapplied, and got it.
What translates most from teaching, by his own account, is the operational side. Scheduling, planning, leading a room. Running an esports program means coordinating across teams, games, and competitive schedules at the same time, and the classroom prepped him for that more than anything else.
NECC's scale and what makes it work
NECC works with hundreds of colleges and universities, which makes it one of the broadest collegiate competitive infrastructures in operation. When I asked Tyler what NECC's actual edge is, he was direct about it.
"We don't charge a lot. We don't pay people a lot. A lot of it is a passion project for most of us. But that's a good thing, because that's what esports was built on. We don't say no to anyone who wants to compete with us. We'll figure out a way to make it work."
That accessibility is the asset. It's how NECC built the school count it has, and it's the foundation for the next layer of services they're growing into.
A year of real momentum
NECC has been closing partnership after partnership over the past year. In February, they announced a strategic partnership with ROG - Republic of Gamers, which will serve as title sponsor of the NECC National Championships in San Antonio this May. ROG products will be featured across NECC-sponsored events throughout 2026. They've also closed or extended deals with ggCircuit, Gravity Gaming by ByteSpeed, Brew Shockalaka, and the Interstate Scholastic Esports Alliance (ISEA).
On the competitive side, NECC is running another championship LAN this spring, with College Call of Duty and College Halo heading to St. Louis to crown their champions at the Impact Gaming Center. The National Championships in San Antonio follow shortly after. The 2026-27 schedule keeps eight core titles, with Marvel Rivals officially joining the lineup.
Where the partnership opportunity goes from here
Tyler runs partnerships. For most current partners, the entry point is brand awareness. Companies want their logos and products in front of NECC's player base, and that's a clean value to sell.
"What's an ROI we can sell to people that's not just brand awareness? That they'll want to invest in because they see a return."
That's the question Tyler is actively working on. NECC has the scale, the LAN footprint, and partner trust to take the next step into deeper integrations.
The viewership opportunity
The biggest unlock, by Tyler's read, is viewership.
"If you look at how many players we have across the country in our six or seven hundred schools, and you stack that up, and let's say there are two people from every player who would watch them play in some fashion, parents, friends, siblings, and you put a dollar on that, we're talking hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars."
The math is straightforward. NECC has the audience side of the equation already, with the broadest collegiate player base in the space. As collegiate esports broadcasting keeps maturing, that audience is real revenue potential.
Why this matters for the series
A theme keeps coming up across these Esports Founders interviews. The infrastructure competitive gaming will eventually rely on is being put together by individual operators who care about the work. Tyler and the NECC team are a clear example of what that looks like when it has real momentum behind it. A year of partnerships, championship LANs, and a growing partner roster shows what the work compounds into.
Esports Founders is a LinkedIn series featuring conversations with the executives, innovators, and builders shaping the future of competitive gaming. Subscribe for new interviews.
ABOUT THE NECC
The NECC fosters innovative competition experiences, provides quality broadcasting services, and works to support an inclusive community within collegiate esports. The NECC was started to provide the collegiate gaming community with the respect it warranted and deserved. The conference prides itself on responding to the needs of its schools, directors, coaches, and most importantly - its players.
With more than 500 colleges and universities currently competing, the NECC strives to be a positive home for the collegiate gaming community.
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