Posted in: eSports, Games, Psyonix, Rocket League, Video Games | Tagged: bbc, eSports, rocket league

The BBC Have Started Airing Esports Tournaments For Rocket League

Published Sun, 10 May 2020 22:10:09 -0500

We never thought we'd be writing this sentence: The BBC has started to run esports tournaments for Rocket League. Not that there's anything wrong with that or the game, we just assumed we'd be writing that about Sky Sports, ITV, or even Channel 4 long before the flagship British Broadcasting Corporation decided to do it. But that is the real deal as BBC Sport, looking for any forms of competition to air on their network with nothing else happening due to COVID-19, has chosen to start airing esports competitions. Starting with the Spring Series from Psyonix's Rocket League. Which is a pretty wise choice on their end if you think about it, seeing as how the game is basically a futuristic version of football/soccer where highly-powered cars hit around a giant ball to score a goal that eventually explodes. It's everything you could want from the virtual sport unless you've really got a need to watch people play FIFA 20.

The Rocket League Spring Series aired on BBC Sport over the weekend.

"Rocket League is one of the most exciting esports in the gaming world and to have the European Spring Series live on the BBC's digital platforms is something we're really pleased to be able to offer, especially for our younger audiences," said BBC Sport Head of Digital Programming Ben Gallop in a press release. "BBC Sport is constantly evolving and a time like this gives us the chance to do even more with esports, as well as looking ahead to see what's possible in the future."

The event has already taken place this weekend with Renault Vitality coming out on top of Dignitas 4-0, taking home $23k of the $100k prize pool. We'll see how well the tournament did in the ratings in the days to come and if Rocket League will become a fixture on BBC Sport. But the bigger question is whether or not we'll see other games pop up on the network, or if others will try to compete by going after other games to air to fill their time.

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