Bond University has renewed its partnership with Australia and New Zealand’s leading esports club The Chiefs.
Under the two-year deal The Chiefs will provide internships for Bond students who aspire to work in the esports industry, will take part in research into esports, and work with Bond Sport and faculties to improve the health and wellbeing of esports players.
The Chiefs will also host esports tournaments from the Bond eSports Hub and collaborate on the development of an esports curriculum to prepare students to work in the industry.
Bond University opened its state-of-the-art eSports Hub in 2019, with high-performance gaming machines and the ability to stream to a 500-seat theatre.
Monish Kumar completed an internship with The Chiefs recently as part of his Master of Sport Management degree. He hopes to start his own esports franchise in India.
“I’m very passionate about the industry and I think it’ll grow very fast in the coming years,” Mr Kumar said.
“When I was doing my internship with the Chiefs I did social media marketing, operations, analytics, sports law contracts, and working on events and how tournaments are organised.
“It was a great entry into esports in Australia working with the Chiefs. Everyone was really helpful and I’ve learnt a lot being with them.”
The Chiefs CEO Nick Bobir said: “Bond University has been an amazing partner to work with and we’re thrilled to continue the relationship expand on this further in the coming years.”
Bond University Executive Director of Sport Garry Nucifora said: “The Chiefs are a respected, international brand exhibiting a future-focus in everything they do.
“It is because of that approach, a Bond University esports partnership with The Chiefs makes absolute sense.”
The University first inked a deal with the club in 2020, becoming The Chief’s official education partner.
Accenture put the number of gamers worldwide in 2021 at 2.7 billion and said the direct and indirect value of the gaming industry could be as high US$300 billion.