Written by Chase Neukam

Davenport, IA - The National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) is announcing their partnership with the nonprofit organization Albion Giants League (AGL) to bridge opportunities for the collegiate SMITE community effective January 2023 to January 2024.

Interested and eligible college teams can sign up for the Spring 2023 season here.

AGL Collegiate Operations Director ‘Ferendum’ stated, “AGL is excited to work with NECC in creating a better community space for the smite collegiate scene, and hope to bring more players into the collegiate fold.”

This partnership aims to offer better resources, scouting, structure, and formatting to participating collegiate SMITE teams. The season schedule will follow the NECC regular season, however AGL will rollover their current collegiate SMITE rulebook. Match days will be defaulted to Wednesday evenings with the potential option to reschedule until the following Sunday. Planning and communication will commence in new channels added to the AGL discord. 

NECC Commissioner Jacob VanRyn stated, “We're thrilled to partner with the Albion Giants League to offer Smite to our NECC Community beginning this spring. It's exciting for us to continue to partner with organizations to offer more offerings to our collegiate community of players."

The partnership will require collegiate teams to pay $50 ($10 per starting player) to compete in a divisional, round robin, skill-based structure the Spring 2023 season. The collective funds (plus gems) will be variable to the amount of teams entered and will be split 80/20 with a majority going to prize pools for the playoffs season. The partnership will abide by all standards set in the Hi-Rez community guidelines. For the Spring 2023 season, weekly matches may be found on the AGL twitch channels.

The schedule for the inaugural Spring 2023 season may be found below:

January 19 - Sign ups Close
January 25 - Activation (Relegations) Week One
February 1 - Activation (Relegations) Week Two
February 8 - Regular Season Week One
February 15 - Regular Season Week Two
February 22 - Regular Season Week Three
March 1 - Regular Season Week Four
March 8 -  Regular Season Week Five
March 22 - Regular Season Week Six
March 29 - Regular Season Week Seven
April 5 - SPRING / EASTER BREAK - NO MATCHES
April 12 - Regular Season Week Eight
April 19 - Playoffs - Quarterfinals
April 26 - Playoffs - Semifinals
May 3 - Playoffs - Finals

For more information about the partnership please contact: Chase Neukam, NECC Advisory Board

Discord: Nuclear#0006
Twitter: @chaseneukam
Linktree: linktr.ee/cnuclear 

ABOUT AGL

Albion Giants is a UK-based gaming and esports entertainment brand, with a team that competes in esports competitions across the globe. As a brand, we aim to innovate esports and bring a new face to the scene. We champion and develop our people and our community, who connect with us via educational, creative, and fun content. We aim to form long-lasting relationships with brands that are looking to connect with our community. We host tournaments every week, from SMITE to Apex Legends, there is always something to do in our community.

AGL Recruitment Rules may be found here
AGL Collegiate Rules may be found here
AGL Twitter may be found here
AGL Discord may be found here

ABOUT NECC

The NECC has sponsored both regular season competition and championships across a wide variety of popular titles since 2020. With more than 300 colleges and universities currently competing in the conference, the NECC strives to be a positive home for the collegiate gaming community. The NECC fosters innovative competition experiences, provides quality broadcasting services, and works to support an inclusive community within collegiate esports. The NECC was started as a way 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.

The NECC Code of Conduct may be found here
The NECC Governance and Bylaws may be found here
The NECC Website may be found here
The NECC Twitter may be found here
The NECC Discord may be found here