For the last week, I have written about the unsavory side of esports. Financially, the current franchise models don’t make sense. FaZe Holdings’ SEC documentation shows that the company could be losing as much as $30M per year on operations. I’m not a business major, but without speculative investors or a benefactor who believes in the concept so much that s/he is willing to risk a literal fortune to make the venture work, a business cannot lose $30M on operating expenses in the space of one year, much less over multiple years.
The working environment for the players and staff can be horrible. Abusive management, ridiculous work hours, developer layoffs, onerous contracts and travel requirements, dishonest tournament organizers, unstable sponsorships, and recruiting minors out of school and into professional play are hallmarks of the esports industry.
WCC’s approach to esports is simply wrong. It is not just a tool to attract prospective students, but rather, an effort to recruit students into this environment. Worse than that, Washtenaw County has no active esports industry. There are no jobs here for these students, which means that they will need to leave the area if they want to work in this industry.
It raises the question of why Washtenaw Community College is training people to work in jobs that don’t exist in large numbers in Washtenaw County. Isn’t the purpose of a local community college to educate people to work locally? Isn’t the purpose to build industries and job opportunities here?
It’s bad enough that the WCC administration insists upon subsidizing the online education of people who do not live or work in Washtenaw County to absolutely no benefit of the taxpayers. But to actively recruit students to careers that require them to leave the area is an affront to the taxpayers.
Focus less on esports, more on WCC students
In the most favorable light, this approach to occupational education is simply misguided. At the worst, this is harmful to students, and in direct opposition to what the taxpayers here agreed to fund. Like everyone else, WCC students are free to study what they want and work where they want. But to develop academic programs that have no economic value here is something completely different.
The responsibility for this lies with the WCC Trustees who approve these programs. The Trustees should vigorously vet each proposed program and proposal the WCC Administration advances to ensure that it aligns with existing workforce opportunities or a validated plan for economic development IN. WASHTENAW. COUNTY.
As taxpayers, we are not here to develop industries and workers for other places or in other places. If the WCC administration cannot focus on the workforce needs of WASHTENAW COUNTY, then it’s time to move them on.
Photo Credit: Jimmy Emerson, DVM, via Flickr
