GRANADA – The Granada-Huntley-East Chain School Board considered a proposal to add esports as an extracurricular activity during its meeting on Thursday.

Fenworks executive Brenden Swanson led the presentation. He said his company specializes in esports at the high school level for Minnesota and North Dakota.

“We started in 2020 with 13 to 20 schools in North Dakota and that amount in western Minnesota,” Swanson said. “Our first eSports season was 40 schools combined between North Dakota and Minnesota. Since then, we’ve seen a lot of growth. In Minnesota, we had two separate leagues going. It was a company called Minnesota Varsity League with about 80 to 100 schools.”

Swanson said gaming is a very popular activity among youth, with 35 percent of high schoolers and 50 percent of middle schoolers being gamers outside of school. He also said it is an activity that does not necessarily overlap with other sports.

“About 76 percent of students that join after-school esports are not involved in any other after-school activity,” Swanson said. “It’s not stealing, per se, any basketball or football students from other activities. It’s providing something that speaks to this demographic of students.”

Fenworks sent out a survey to GHEC students, which got around 30 responses. Swanson said Fortnite, Mario Kart and Competitive Minecraft were the most requested games in the survey. None of the responders said they don’t have a gaming device at home, which Swanson said provides a unique opportunity for esports.

“Our activities can be run entirely from home,” he said. “The vast majority of Minnesota schools will do some sort of hybrid in between. They’ll have students that compete from the school, and then the other students in other titles that aren’t competing that day, are from home.”

Games that are popular esports titles but have an M rating, such as Call of Duty, Halo, or Grand Theft Auto, would not be eligible as a prospective e-sport.

Fenworks charges schools $1,000 upfront and $100 per student. Swanson said this provides schools with around-the-clock assistance. He said some schools, like Blue Earth, are sponsored by companies like Bevcomm.

“They’re offering $3,000 for schools in their region,” Swanson said. “A sponsored school by you guys is Blue Earth. [They’ve] committed to drone racing and eSports this year. There’s a few other schools in your neck of the woods sponsored by Bevcomm.”

Other schools charge the regular activity fee and front the rest of the cost themselves or charge larger fees to cover the full cost.

Board member Jessica Salic asked if Fenworks provides coaches for esports. He said schools provide a general manager who may not be a gamer themselves but supervises the team and sends in match results. Fenworks can provide specific game coaches for $100, but Swanson said generally schools wait a year or two to do that.

“They want to see which teams are most popular with students and then purchase coaching hours accordingly,” he said.

Superintendent Doug Storbeck said he was pleased with the presentation and would stay in touch with Swanson and Fenworks about potentially fostering an agreement for esports in GHEC.