“As the premier 5,000-seat venue in the ATL Airport District, the Gateway Center Arena at College Park offers state-of-the-art facilities with a hyper-convenient location making it the perfect venue for this inaugural event,” said Cookie Smoak, President, ATL Airport District Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We were thrilled to work with the Arena team and area hotels to bring this groundbreaking event to Metro Atlanta’s Southside. Our ongoing work with the CECC and Arena teams will help promote growth of the booming esports industry in metro Atlanta and beyond.”
More than 2,600 ticket holders were given access to CECC’s festival experience which included a recruitment fair featuring Morris Brown College, the University of West Georgia, and the University of Hartford. The festival also featured cosplay costumes worn by attendees, and in-arena and outdoor interactive activations by the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Hawks, College Park Skyhawks, CTRL, Community, Futures First Gaming, Generation Esports, Ghost Gaming, Hawks Talon GC, Init Esports, Lymphoma & Leukemia Society, Neustreet, PCGz, Skullz, the*gameHERS, U.S. Air Force, and Zonebreakers. Fans also enjoyed food trucks by Carnival Food Truck, Eggroll Boyz, Love at Wurst Sight, The Hoagie Shack and Willie B’s Sisters Southern Cuisine.
“CECC would not have been possible without the collaboration between our partners who joined forces to make this experience come to life. This event furthers our mission to build and scale the definitive framework for collegiate esports, elevating the workforce and leadership of tomorrow,” said Angela Bernhard Thomas, EVP of ESPORTSU. “Atlanta and College Park have been gracious hosts for our celebration of collegiate esports, and we are looking forward to the next CECC for our student-athletes, fans and brand partners.”
