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Red Bull To Host Expanded Proving Grounds Street Fighter V Tournament
Red Bull is no stranger to eSports, sponsoring a number of players and hosting several competitions. It should come as no surprise, then, that it's announced the return of its Street Fighter V Proving Grounds tournament. This year, however, it's doubling down with a more elaborate tournament format.
The year's Proving Grounds will consist of two seasons across eleven cities, each with a qualifier tournament to determine who will make it to the finals in Santa Monica on DATE. The first season will run from March 4 to Jun 3, while the second season will run from July 1 to October 7.
The tournament will consist of three phases. In phase one, players will fight in qualifiers in each of the 11 cities in a singles format, earning ranking points based on their placement. At the end of the season, the top three players in city will form a team to represent their region. These teams will compete in a round-robin tournament against players in two groups, East and West. The highest ranking teams in both divisions move on to a best-of-three championship match. The winning team will receive a $6,000 prize, have their (and the top eight players from their division's) flights to this year's Evo tournament paid for, and free lodging for four nights at the tournament.
There will also be an online qualifier tournament series, the winners of which will be placed in the West division. For those interested in signing up, the participating cities are as follows:
- Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
- Montreal, Québec, CA
- Toronto, Ontario, CA
- Los Angeles, California, US
- San Francisco, California, US
- Orlando, Florida, US
- Atlanta, Georgia, US
- Chicago, Illinois, US
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
- Houston, Texas, US
- Seattle, Washington, US
For each of participating city, Red Bull is partnering with established fighting game talent in the region, including longtime veteran Alex Valle's LevelUp company in California and Larry Dixon and Final Round in Atlanta.
Our Take
The tournament format is a bit more complicated than we tend to see in the fighting game community (normally tournaments are simple double-elimination brackets), but I like the idea of a tournament with multiple phases. Sounds like something from a sports anime or manga.
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