ESPN has been noticing just how popular eSports tournaments are, and they’ve now given a nod to the fighting game community. The Evolution Championship Series (EVO), an annual fighting games tournament, will have the Street Fighter V World Championship finals aired live on ESPN 2.
The Street Fighter V World Championship finals at Evo 2016 will begin at 10 p.m. EST on Sunday, July 17. Those interested in watching the fighting community’s inaugural broadcast on cable television can catch the action on either ESPN 2 or via the WatchESPN streaming app.
The Street Fighter V World Championship will be one of the must-see competitions from the Evo finals,” said John Lasker, vice president of programming and acquisitions for ESPN Digital Media, in a press release. “We are always exploring ways to serve the growing and passionate audience of competitive gaming, and we look forward to delivering this event to fans.
“Evo is excited to bring the energy and excitement of our world finals to a wider audience,” Joey Cuellar, CEO of Evo, added. “ESPN brings us an amazing opportunity to showcase the fighting game community competing at its highest level.”
Evo 2016 is the largest fighting game tournament, and this year has more than 14,000 competitors registered to play. Five thousand of these players have registered for the Street Fighter V World Championship. Last year, less than half this number registered to play Ultra Street Fighter IV. The tournament will run from July 15-17th at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The finals, though, will run at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
[Source: Polygon]
