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What USA Esports Is and Why It Exists
Today, we are going live with USA Esports, an organization bringing together the best esports talent in the United States to represent our country on the international stage.
It took a lot to get where we are. Read on to understand how our national body is going to lift the whole space.
How and Why We’re Here
For the past 3 years I’ve served as the Executive Director of the non-profit organization VOICE (Voice of Intercollegiate Esports). Through that work, we built the President's Advisory Council, a consortium of university presidents and chancellors helping steward collegiate esports in the United States.
When the Olympic esports announcement surfaced in 2024, the Council gave us a directive: investigate what kind of organization could best develop the United States esports ecosystem domestically and establish the US as a competitive leader internationally.
Their charge launched a six-month discovery process that took us across the entire esports landscape. My colleague Daniel Clerke and I talked to countless North American professional clubs, leading collegiate programs, and more than a dozen existing U.S. national governing bodies in traditional sports. Mostly, we listened.
The narrative we heard was consistent:
There is no purpose-built national entity that can unify the US esports ecosystem—the professional, K-12, collegiate, and amateur levels—to go toe-to-toe with the very best on an international stage. The pro teams felt it, the colleges felt it, the scholastic organizations felt it, the athletes felt it.
USA Esports incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in August of 2025 to become that unifying organization. What we’re unveiling today is the result of over a year of heads-down work by an incredible group of people, most of whom are volunteers contributing nights and weekends.
International esports competition is here. Nations around the world are preparing their athletes to compete globally. The United States, for all of its talent and for all of its history in this space, is lagging behind.
Our mission is to bring the US up to speed. We’ll achieve this by supporting esports athletes in achieving sustained competitive excellence in domestic and international competition. Our goal is also to promote esports in the United States, and to create a safe, positive environment for athletes, members, and fans.
That's it! That's the mission. Pretty simple, everything we do flows from that.
Where We're Headed
You’ve heard of USA Baseball, US Soccer, USA Basketball, USA Hockey, all organizations recognized by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. We are building toward that same National Governing Body (NGB) recognition. Securing official status as an NGB is our north star.
I’ll explain why this is so important:
Gaining NGB status would provide structural, institutional legitimacy for esports in the United States as a federally-backed entity. It would mean there’d be a recognized body mandated to organize and grow esports at a national level, facing international competition. This is the same structure and professionalism that almost every other sport has had for decades.
What are the specific functions of the org? Well, a lot of them are less than glamorous. We’ll be bringing together trusted veterans in the space to set safety and training standards, sanction competition, and build a pipeline from K-12 all the way through the pros. Eventually, a kid picking up a controller or mouse for the first time will have a real pathway to pro or to college, just like any other sport.
It’s a 30 year project. If we do it right, it will outlive us.
We are a service
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which means we are a charity, managed by a board, with a mission for the public good. The organization exists to serve.
I am lucky to work alongside the best and brightest minds in this space, the folks who are really running the show and dictating our direction. These are leaders like you can see on our Board of Directors, folks who have been in the trenches for years, across every level of competition.
It’s not going to be a perfect organization, but we'll do our best to operate in service of our mission. When we get it wrong, which we will, we'll learn from it and grow.
What Esports Means
I picked up a Game Boy Color when I was a kid, and played my first game of StarCraft not long after. I met my best friends through World of Warcraft. Years later, those people are still in my life. My wife and I play ARAMs in League of Legends together after work.
All this is to say that esports is integral to my very identity as a friend, partner, coach, and community member.
Esports has touched my life in ways I can never fully explain. It's given me my closest friendships, my career, and deep purpose in life. I know it's done the same for millions. I've seen it change kids' lives. I've seen it give people a place to belong when they didn't have one anywhere else. I've seen it build confidence and discipline and teamwork.
We all know what esports can be, because we've all felt it and we've all lived it. And I think most of us have also felt the frustration of watching it fall short of its potential.
USA Esports will work to build structure, because it's structure takes all of the incredible energy and talent and gives it a framework to reach that potential.
There's a lot more coming and we can't wait to share it with you.
- Jesse Bodony, President & CEO USA Esports