Esports has become a hot commodity, especially in the east, managing to sell out football stadium sized arenas to fans wanting to watch professional gamers. The British Broadcasting Corporation is looking to strike while the iron is hot for eSports, as they recently revealed they’d be broadcasting four hours of live esports coverage every weekend for the next six weeks, in collaboration with BBC Sport.
The announcement was made earlier this week on BBC Three’s official twitter account. The tweet was accompanied by a short video, showing fans what’s to come in the following weeks.
For the first time ever, eSports are coming to the BBC Three m8. #bbcesports pic.twitter.com/s7XGEIvEEK
— BBC Three (@bbcthree) July 28, 2017
The eSports coverage will revolve around a tournament involving 160 pro gamers, all fighting for a prize fund of £225,000. The winner will be decided after the 10 weeks is up, with both an overall team being crowned as champions, as well as the three best individuals at each game.
Those games will be based around the Gfinity Elite League Series One, who have partnered with BBC for the event, set to feature Street Fighter 5, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and Rocket League. Each game will have an entire day devoted to competition and coverage.
Street Fighter 5 airs Fridays starting at 9 pm. Counter Strike: Global Offensive will broadcast Saturdays from 9 pm to 11 pm. Last, but not least, Rocket League will start Sundays at 5 pm.
The tournament will feature both seasoned eSports veterans and new challengers alike. Each team in the tourney is required to draft from the Challenger Series. The series is a recurring season that allows players to compete against each other, hoping to rack up enough points to catch the eye of big names like Team EnVyUs and get drafted.
This will be the first major live broadcast of an eSports event on BBC Three since back in 2015, when they covered the League of Legends World Championship Quarter-Finals in London. It will certainly be one of the largest and most consistent bits of coverage devoted to the ever growing phenomenon that is professional gaming.
