College sports powerhouses battle for dominance in League of Legends at PAX East

Longtime football rivals Ohio State and Michigan State will lock horns on the esports field in a League of Legends tournament sanctioned by their conference at PAX East this coming week.

BTN, the cable channel for the fourteen universities comprising the Big Ten, announced on Thursday that the Buckeyes and Spartans will face off at PAX East  in Boston in the inaugural Big Ten Invitational.

The event will be played before a live audience at PAX East and carried live on Big Ten Network, a local cable television channel available mainly in the midwestern United States.

Formally titled The BTN Invitational: A University League of Legends Event, the match will take place on Friday, April 22 at 4 pm ET in League of Legends' booth on the PAX East show floor. It will rebroadcast on the Big Ten Network at 7 p.m. ET on April 25, between reruns of Ohio State and Michigan State's last two football meetings.

esports has seen quite a surge in viewership and interest with college competitions of late. Last week saw the grand final for the second Heroes of the Dorm tournament for Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm, broadcast live on ESPN2.