Texas A&M Esports team takes home national title with hope of university recognition

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – The Texas A&M University Esports team recently became the first SEC school to take home the National Valorant Championship title.

It’s a new generation of student athletes.

Although their training might look a little different from traditional sports, Esports Team President Pierce Ray says the competition is just as fierce.

Their five-player Valorant team traveled to Idaho as the ‘underdogs,’ defeating schools with fully-fledged Esports programs and scholarships, like Blinn College, to secure victory in the first-person shooter game. Meanwhile, Texas A&M’s team is built of ‘passion players’ eager to represent their university.

Ray hopes the national title leads to greater support and recognition from the university for their growing program.

“That’s what everyone has in their mind, is we’ve got to win so we could be the reason today that A&M gets a facility or an official program going down the road,” Ray said.

The team doesn’t have a facility of their own, and the university’s plan to turn the old Macy’s store at Post Oak Mall into an Esports facility might not be leveling up.

The City of College Station bought the old Macy’s building in 2022. In February, Texas A&M faculty toured the space with the intent on turning it into an Esports facility.

“That means a ton to those kids, but for the organization as a whole, being able to get a facility up and running,” Ray said.

However, Councilman Bob Yancy says the city is starting to look at other options.

“My beloved alma mater has had a change of heart, and they’re no longer looking at the location as far as I understand it,” he said.

Although A&M might not move forward with the space, Yancy said the interest for an Esports facility is still there as community members reach out.

Yancy said he wasn’t supportive of the city’s decision to buy the building, but he wants to see it used for the benefit of the community.

Nearly 100,000 square feet are available in the Macy’s, and the city is looking at several different possibilities as the ideas start to roll in.

“We’ve had folks come to us about redeveloping it into mixed use, office, and retail, and restaurant, and other things,” Yancy said.

The city did not purchase the building with Esports in mind. Rather, they purchased it as part of a broader economic development plan for the area.