With the rise of gaming and esports over the last decade, many schools are now jumping on the trend, including Durham College (DC) which boasts a varsity esports league and lounge where students can hang out and play games after class.
Even outside of school, esports has been steadily gaining respect within the sports market, with more than 5.7 million fans in Canada as of 2022, according to the Future Economy.
According to Esport Canada, in addition to DC, there are 13 post-secondary institutions with varsity esports teams, including Humber College, Fanshawe College and Seneca Polytechnic.
Scott Dennis, the director of athletics and recreation at DC since 2023, has seen the results of the trend first-hand.
“From my conversations with all the students, they really enjoy having a competitive esports team to play against other colleges and universities, not just across Canada but also in the U.S.,” said Dennis.
The DC varsity esports team has been active since 2018, with more than 40 athletes competing monthly across North America via the internet. Some games include Marvel Rivals, Rocket League and Valorant.
The demand for more games in the esports roster has been growing steadily over the past few years, according to Dennis, and DC athletics has already worked out plans for future upgrades and ventures for the team.
“I think what we’ll see more of as well is individual tournaments popping up, so we might have a FIFA tournament one week or a Mario Kart tournament,” Dennis said.
“And we’ll bring esports all around campus as well. So, we have the esports arena, but taking it on a roadshow – maybe in the Pit, the athletics hallway someday – and just getting esports out there for the student body.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, video game usage in Canada has grown to about 25 million gamers in 2025, joining the nearly 2.7 billion gamers worldwide, according to Canada Media Fund.
This includes esports, which flourished during this time due to its online nature and not having to be present in a venue.
There are more esports related events happening across campus since the pandemic as well.
“Esports has really evolved over the last 10 years. The competition is growing, there’s more games and the benefit is we can play here in Oshawa against a team in California without any travel,” said Dennis. “It’s getting more and more serious and you see that at the professional level as well.”
A study by Statista shows the esports market is projected to reach USD $5.1 billion in 2026 and USD $6.2 billion by 2030.