The university confirmed the cancellation of the HUE Invitational to PennLive, after its esports program posted an announcement on Twitter earlier this week.
Sources familiar with the move said it appears to be the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures as the university struggles to close operating deficits, rebuild enrollments and fix its course on a more sustainable future.
But the university characterized it as a pause in this statement to PennLive Friday afternoon.
“Like other nonprofit institutions, Harrisburg University is always evaluating what’s working well, what’s not working well, and how to most efficiently bring to life our range of academic, athletic, and professional development programs.
“HUE Invitational is on hold for 2025 to ensure we can continue to deliver this event at the level our students and partners have come to expect.
“As we revisit HUE Invitational in 2026 and beyond, it will likely be with an eye toward expanding sponsorship and partnership opportunities. This in turn will help us bring HUE before an even wider audience.”
Student enrollment drops and programmatic missteps have rocked Harrisburg University to its core in recent years.
The school’s most recent financial statements bear that out: For the 2023-24 fiscal year, HU’s operating expenses exceeded revenues by nearly $18 million.
Amid serious cost-cutting, there is some hope for a better bottom line this year.
Still, the latest cancellation comes as a bitter pill in the niche world of esports.
Esports are essentially competitive video gaming, where teams or individuals vie against players from other schools.
From its start in 2018 the HUE Invitational helped signal Harrisburg’s leadership role in the field — both as an academic pursuit and in intercollegiate competition through its Harrisburg Storm program.
For competitors, it was considered one of the year’s first significant tournaments for collegiate teams to get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses against top-flight competition.
And it gave students in HU’s groundbreaking esports management, production and performance degree program practical experience in managing a major tournament.
Just last year, the HUE Invitational was a finalist for the National Association of Collegiate Esports “Outstanding Event” Award.
But it was also a cost center — as has been the Harrisburg Storm esports program, the university’s sole intercollegiate sport.
In the unusual world of esports, there were cash prizes for tournament champions, and the university also had to rent additional equipment to run the event.
University disclosures showed HU spent $852,120 on all Harrisburg Storm expenses in 2023-24, the most recent year for which reports were available.
Top costs reported for the Storm that year were $291,413 for coaches salaries; $180,830 for athletics-related student aid, incuding tuition scholarships, housing and food aid; and $138,185 for facility rental.
It was not immediately clear if the invitational costs were baked into the Storm’s budget.
The university, in its responses to PennLive Friday, indicated its commitment to the Storm and its esports degree program — a perceived growth center — remain strong.
The invitational’s absence will be the latest in an ongoing course correction at HU that has already seen:
- Termination of once-ballyhooed plans to open international campuses in the United Arab Emirates and Panama.
- Elimination of programs — and staff — in areas that were becoming a financial drain. See, for example, the end of the critically acclaimed HU Presents summer concert series in Riverfront Park.
- Renegotiation of contracts aimed at cutting costs throughout the enterprise.
Schankweiler, in an interview with PennLive in March, pinned those hopes in part to new initiatives including the expected launch of a long-awaited physical therapy program in January, and further growth in a two-year-old advanced manufacturing program teaching integration of traditional manufacturing with robotic and digital technologies.
©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
