Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and members of the UTC esports program at Chattanooga Comic Con 2025. Photo credit: Elizabeth Thornburgh.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s esports program hosted the inaugural Scenic City Invitational from Sept. 26-28, drawing 20 Rocket League teams from across the country to compete for a share of the $3,000 prize pot.
UTC’s esports program founded this event in conjunction with Chattanooga Comic Con. The Mocs also partnered with Dell, which supplied Alienware computers for the competition.
The competition was fierce, as 13 of the country’s top 20 teams were involved in the competition.
The first day of the event took place at the UTC Esports Complex in Maclellan Gym. The following two days took place at the Chattanooga Convention Center during Comic Con.
UTC Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Tony Parsley and Chase Daffron, esports coordinator and business analyst, were initially approached two months ago to help bring recognition to Comic Con’s esports hall.
“We started listening to their opportunity to reach out to 6,500 people at Chattanooga Comic Con,” Parsley said, “and it came together really quickly.”
The UTC esports programs continue to grow, he said, and this weekend was an example of the progress made on campus.
“It is huge not just for us at UTC but also Chattanooga, putting it more on the map than what it already is—and getting everyone to experience why Chattanooga is so beautiful and amazing,” Daffron said. “UTC is an actual force in the esports scene.”
Daffron, a Call of Duty second-team Southeast Region performer during his time as a UTC undergraduate esports player, said he’s proud of the strides made working on an event like this.
“We’ve been able to build socials and we’re able to have a lot more outreach,” he explained. “We also have a professional quality stream to external people who aren’t in Chattanooga and other colleges to watch.
“This is a professional-level run event. We are learning new stuff every single day. I feel like it’s been great to see not only myself but also our student staff on campus help build that and make it as professional as possible for other people to watch.”
The UTC esports program has been overseen by the Office of Information Technology since July 2024. Photo credit: Ray Soldano.
Rocket League is an online soccer video game where users control rocket-powered cars. The three-on-three match is renowned for its chaotic, fast-paced and entertaining rounds.
“It’s a very family-friendly game and that is one of the big pulls,” Parsley said. “The fun thing about Rocket League is that it’s one of the more exciting games we’ve seen played this year.”
Brady McGrath, Eli Dyer and Braden Burba represented the Mocs at the invitational.
During pool play, McGrath—a senior computer science major with a minor in business administration—captained the squad to an upset win over the University of Kentucky, which propelled them into the second day of action.
“Overall, I was really proud of what we did,” said McGrath, a native of Spring Hill, Tennessee. “We showed up and we’re beating teams that—or at least competing and making teams have to beat us—are supposed to be miles better than us.
“That was really cool to see us actually be able to compete against some of the schools. A lot of the schools that we had competed against were like, ‘Oh wait, this team’s actually good.’”
Daffron echoed McGrath’s sentiment.
“They’ve been a great team,” he said. “Successfully being built from what they were a couple years ago to now, they’ve really grown in maturity.”
The UTC Esports Twitch channel saw record traffic. Replays of the matches can be found on the channel.
UTC senior Nate Baynes, left, was one of the Twitch broadcasters calling Rocket League competition. Photo credit: Ray Soldano.
The Scenic City Invitational also caught the attention of Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, who visited the tournament.
McGrath gave credit to his competitors, whose national prowess helped drive attention to the event.
“Obviously, one of the main goals of this was to advertise the UTC Esports Program,” McGrath said. “Now that a light has been shed on that, it’s really cool to see that now.”
The top Rocket League team in the country, Concord University, took home first place after a competitive battle with East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in the final.
“To have the level of teams we had, a lot of top 20 teams in the country, that was really cool to see all these amazing schools decide to come here,” McGrath said.
“The goal of this was to have a really competitive competition and get the best of the best teams here to show off Chattanooga and get the Scenic City Invitational started—and give us some advertisement. Having the best teams is what’s going to get you that advertisement.”
Daffron said he is proud of the event he helped develop from an idea in the summer but hopes to grow it even more next year. He mentioned increasing the number of schools to attend, expanding the prize pool and possibly modifying the qualification format.
“Shout out to Concord University for winning the inaugural Scenic City Invitational and ETSU for coming second,” he said. “We plan to have a bigger event next year, but it’s been an amazing weekend and a great production from our staff.
“Shout out to Comic Con and the Chattanooga Convention Center for hosting us and looking forward to it next year.”
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The Rocket League competition at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Photo credit: Ray Soldano.
