During the Hawkeyes’ first bye week of the 2025 football season, the Ted Pacha Family Club above the north end zone at Kinnick Stadium was transformed into a gaming room Saturday, raising roughly $60,000 for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
South Slope, a local internet service provider, and Rival Warz, an esports company with an arena coming to Coralville in 2026, presented the second annual Extra Life Charity Challenge, holding an all day 26 video game charity tournament, where attendees played EA SPORTS College Football.
There were 125 spectators, 64 participants, and a waitlist to get in, Tyler Adams, associate director for Children’s Miracle Network and director of the event, said. The charity was able to match the amount made last year.
The Extra Life Charity Challenge is part of a national initiative under Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals which connects gamers and communities to raise funds for local children’s hospitals through gaming marathons and tournaments.
Adams said the funds are going directly to the UI’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
The UI’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital on UI Health Care’s campus has been a cornerstone for pediatric care in Iowa since 2017, specializing in the comprehensive pediatric and specialty care of over 140,000 children each year, according to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
Events like the Extra Life Charity Challenge directly support efforts to fund treatments and provide resources for families in need, Adams said.
“Every dollar raised here today, every dollar that people are fundraising, all the corporate partner support we get all goes directly back to the children’s hospital,” he said. “This event has been able to do a lot of good for kids and families across Iowa.”
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Consoles, TVs, controllers, and all of the technology required to make this event happen were provided by Best Buy, Andrew Longlet, Coralville, Waterloo, and Cedar Rapids stores experience manager said.
“There’s not a lot of places that can [provide] probably 50 [PlayStation] consoles,” he said. “If we have the means to provide, we’re going to fulfill our role to do that, especially for a community event like this.”
Brian Bruner, an online video game streamer, participated in the tournament last year but wasn’t able to this year due to an arm injury. Despite this, he said he was invited back and wanted to see children come together through competition for a good cause.
“All the money goes to the children’s hospital,” he said. “It kind of helps all those kids that are really competitive be able to play against each other.”
13-year-old Kid Captain Cooper Estenson was at the event and got to participate in the tournament, tour the locker room, and play football down on the field.
Estenson was a kid captain in 2023 after being diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of blood cancer affecting T-cells, a white blood cell made in the bone marrow, according to the Leukemia Research Foundation. He said he is very appreciative of the charity event and all it is providing for the hospital.
“Seeing everyone here helping out the hospital means a lot,” Estenson said. “[I hope] it continues to happen for a long time, so we can still help raise money and help more kids who need it.”