Facebook pixel 3L Duran Parsi "e-sports" business featured in the Los Angeles Times Skip to main content
Pepperdine | Caruso School of Law

3L Duran Parsi "e-sports" business featured in the Los Angeles Times

April 24, 2017| By Alexa Brown — 3L Duran Parsi is not only a student at Pepperdine Law, he is also a business leader. After playing "e-sports" competitively while growing up, Parsi decided to pursue a business in the industry on his own. Pepperdine Law has helped Parsi develop the legal side of his company, Collegiate Starleague (CSL). "Pepperdine has helped me out quite a bit in understanding IP and contracts," said Parsi. "I am solely responsible for drafting and negotiating contracts with our sponsors and partners, so my legal education has really helped me be a more effective business leader."

Excerpt via the Los Angeles Times:

"Duran Parsi headed to Pepperdine's law school three years ago with a mission: By the end, he'd either practice law or commit to his fledgling e-sports business.

With graduation near, Parsi might need to grant himself an extension. Collegiate Star League, the 30-person e-sports operation run from his Studio City apartment, has essentially become the NCAA for video games.

The company organized tournaments that 30,000 college students in the U.S. and Canada participated in this school year. Sponsorship sales tripled from last school year, and enough cash remained for Parsi, 29, to live off his business instead of student loans."

The complete article may be found at www.latimes.com

About Duran Parsi:

Parsi started playing games when he was 10 years old after buying StarCraft in 1998. Throughout high school and college, he played competitively, winning a national championship with his alma matter, UC San Diego in 2010. Parsi managed a top professional gaming team, Fnatic, from 2009-2012, and co-founded both the Collegiate Starleague (CSL) and Hero Level Productions in 2009 and 2011, respectively. In late 2012, he decided to focus his energy on CSL full time.

Parsi studied political science at UCSD and graduated cum laude and phi beta kappa, and also attended George Washington University, where he pursued a Master's in International Affairs prior to starting law school at Pepperdine Law.

About CSL:

The Collegiate Starleague is a video gaming league that hosts year-round competitions for college students, much like the NCAA. Founded in 2009, the CSL has grown from 25 competing teams to over 1,200, with 500+ unique universities across North America fielding teams.

CSL hosts leagues for some of the most popular competitive video games in the world such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Madden. Since 2009, CSL has awarded over $400,000 in scholarships to college gamers.