‘March Madness, except it’s video games.’ Sacramento hosts top esports tournament at Cal Expo

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Winners embraced, losers shook their heads and fans erupted in cheers.

The emotions at the Cal Expo soared this weekend as students from across the nation clashed in tense, high-stakes esports battles.

In competitions featuring keyboards and frantic mouse clicks, the video-game players dueled in games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Street Fighter 6.

“It’s just like March Madness, except it’s video games,” said Angela Bernhard Thomas, chief esports officer of the Collegiate Esports Commissioners Cup West regional tournament.

Sacramento hosted the tournament at a time when esports’ popularity is growing, with more schools forming competitive teams. The three-day event drew 22 college teams from 18 states and more than 150 local high school students.

“Most of the college players playing here this weekend are going to school and scholarships for playing video games,” Bernard Thomas said. “That’s something that you never thought would really happen.”

On the main stage, San Jose State faced UC Riverside played an intense final of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — a platform fighting game featuring characters from several Nintendo franchises.

UC Riverside’s four-person squad emerged victorious for the second straight year. The team, along with other weekend champions, will advance to the esports national championships in Texas next May.

Ken Huang, a senior studying applied mathematics at UC Riverside, said he hoped the win would further the recognition of esports within the university. In recent years, some colleges across the U.S. have designated their esports teams as official school sports.

These statuses offer further opportunities for funding and travel, Huang said. UC Riverside’s Super Smash Bros. team is considered a recreational club.

“Hopefully us actually doing well and getting results will prompt them to say we’re not just a recreational club,” said Huang, who has played the game for eight years.

Nearby, 15-year-old Elena Ferrell cheered as her friend competed in Valorant, a popular first-person shooter game. Together, they shouted with excitement, occasionally throwing their hands up in celebration.

Ferrell, captain of the Valorant team at Center High School in Antelope, kept her teammates energized by occasionally feeding them fries and offering sips of soda.

The 12-player team traveled to Sacramento for the open tournament. As of Sunday morning, they hadn’t fared too well but Ferrell was still enjoying herself.

“Everyone is cheering for each other and laughing,” Ferrell said.

Ferrell’s parents sat a few feet away, watching their youngest daughter with proud smiles. Parents to three “gamers,” they’ve grown accustomed to their kids’ passion for online competition.

“I enjoy watching them engaged in something,” said her mother Lanell Ferrell-Barbee. “You want to see them doing something positive, even if it’s gaming.”

The family has embraced the hobby, hosting Wii game nights together. Still, Ferrell-Barbee acknowledges she’s far from fluent in esports culture.

“I feel lost because they have their own language,” Lanell Ferrell-Barbee, before chuckling. “We ask a lot of questions, and sometimes they answer them. But we’re still lost.”