‘Street Fighter V’ Top 8 Will Be Televised on ESPN 2 During Evolution Championship Series 2016

The world-wide leader in sports will be airing another eSports tournament this year, as Street Fighter V will be shown on ESPN 2 from the Evolution Championship Series in Las Vegas later this month. Evo 2016’s Street FighterV Top 8 will be showcased by the sports network on both their ESPN 2 channel as well as the Watch ESPN app.

Street Fighter V is undoubtedly the headliner in the Fighting Game Community, and at Evolution Championship Series, Street Fighter always the most watched and speculated tournament each year. In fact, as of this morning, the Street Fighter portion of the fighting game tournament closed with over five thousand applicants, ending with more competitors signed up than Super Smash Bros. Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Melee combined. The Street Fighter V tournament at Evo 2016 drew so much interest it broke Evo’s previous records for most entrants in a single game, a mere 4 days after registration.

“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, ESPN Digital Media on the official ESPN announcement. “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.”

The Street Fighter V tournament at Evo 2016 will also feature one of the larger prize pools in a fighting game tournament, with around $100,000 up for grabs. Additionally, the recently released Ibuki and Balrog will be legal, according to Event Hubs, for players to use at the tournament in Las Vegas. The two new fighters, as the Inquisitr previously detailed, are available today along with the newly released Story Mode, a game mode that many Street Fighter fans felt should have been in the game from the start. As with all Street Fighter V DLC, players don’t have to spend real money to get the characters, as they can be unlocked with the Fight Money currency in game. Additionally, the game isn’t going to section off users who don’t have the content from those who do, so there’s no worry of not having the “right” version as there was with Street Fighter IV and its iterations.

ESPN broadcasting the Evolution Championship Series is a large deal, even if it is only one part of the event. While the tournament houses other games such as Mortal Kombat X, Killer Instinct and others, Street Fighter is arguably the main event of the night.

“Evo is excited to bring the energy and excitement of our world finals to a wider audience,” said Joey Cuellar, Chief Executive Officer of the Evolution Championship Series told ESPN in a press release. “ESPN brings us an amazing opportunity to showcase the fighting game community competing at its highest level.”

The 3-day fighting game tournament will run from July 15 through July 17, ending with the Street Fighter V Top 8 at the Madalay Bay events center on the Las Vegas Strip. The Evolution Championship Series is the longest running fighting game tournament in the world, and the largest drawing in thousands from around the world to compete.

ESPN’s dedicated eSports coverage launched in January with dedicated coverage of the rising eSports scene. Previously, ESPN has aired Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm tournaments as well as the Dota 2 International events, but this will be the first time the Fighting Game Community gets a crack at being on the “world-wide leader in sports.” In addition to being aired on ESPN, viewers eager to watch the other games in the tournament can do so on Twitch. ESPN’s coverage of the Street Fighter V World Championship will air live on ESPN July 17 beginning at 10 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. PT.

[Image via Capcom]