FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 24th, 2017

NBC SPORTS GROUP AND FACEIT’S “UNIVERSAL OPEN” ESPORTS TOURNAMENT CONTINUES THIS WEEK WITH QUALIFIERS

Registration for 2v2 Rocket League Tournament Featuring $100,000 Prize Pool Continues on Faceit.com

New York and New England Qualifiers Tomorrow – Chicago Qualifier on July 26, Bay Area and Northwest Qualifiers on July 27

Nearly 2,000 Teams Have Registered for the Universal Open

STAMFORD, Conn. – July 24, 2017 – NBC Sports Group and FACEIT’s “Universal Open” – an esports tournament open to gamers of all skill levels – continues this week with online Qualifiers. Click here to register for the Universal Open on Faceit.com.

The Universal Open is a 2v2 tournament featuring Rocket League, the sports-action hit with a community of more than 34 million players, developed and published by San Diego-based game studio, Psyonix. The tournament utilizes FACEIT’s competitive gaming platform, and numerous NBCUniversal and Comcast regional, national and international assets.

“With nearly 2,000 teams already registered, the overwhelming amount of participation in the Universal Open has exceeded our expectations,” said Rob Simmelkjaer, Senior Vice President of NBC Sports Ventures. “We are encouraged by the response from the Rocket League community in our first-ever esports tournament, and look forward to the Regionals and Grand Finals coming up in August.”

The Universal Open, which kicked off last week, begins with online Qualifiers which are organized geographically by the NBC Sports Regional Networks. The tournament continues this week with the New York and New England Qualifiers tomorrow, the Chicago Qualifier on July 26, and the Northwest and Bay Area Qualifiers on July 27. Nearly 2,000 teams have already registered for the Universal Open, and registration continues for each remaining Qualifier. All Qualifiers are open to residents in the United States and Canada.

  • New York and New England Qualifiers – July 25
  • Chicago Qualifier – July 26
  • Northwest and Bay Area Qualifiers – July 27

 

Following this week’s remaining Qualifiers, the Universal Open will move on to the Regional stage where top performers in the Qualifiers will compete live at select NBC Sports Regional Networks studios on the weekends of August 5-6 and August 12-13. These competitions will be live-streamed on the NBC Sports app and Telemundo En Vivo app, as well as other social media platforms, with portions televised live through the NBC Sports Regional Networks. The Regionals for the U.S. Open Qualifier will be played online only via FACEIT.

The Universal Open will culminate in a two-day Grand Finals on August 26-27 at Esports Arena in Santa Ana, Calif., featuring 16 total teams competing for a $100,000 prize pool. Click here for more details on the Universal Open, including a complete list of dates for the Qualifiers, Regionals and Grand Finals of the Universal Open. Click here for a complete list of rules.


ABOUT NBC SPORTS GROUP

When the Comcast-NBCUniversal transaction was completed in January 2011, the sports assets of the two companies combined to form NBC Sports Group, which serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. The sports media company consists of NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, NBCSN, Golf Channel, NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Radio and NBC Sports Digital, which includes NBCSports.com, NBCOlympics.com, GolfChannel.com, the digital assets of the NBC Sports Regional Networks, Rotoworld, the NBC Sports Talk franchise, multiple apps, and two transactional sports businesses, GolfNow and SportsEngine. NBC Sports Group possesses an unparalleled collection of television rights agreements, partnering with some of the most prestigious sports properties in the world: the International Olympic Committee and United States Olympic Committee, the NFL, NHL, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, The R&A, PGA of America, Churchill Downs, Premier League, Tour de France, French Open, Formula One, IndyCar and many more.


ABOUT FACEIT

FACEIT is the leading competitive platform for online multiplayer games, with more than 7 million users competing in over 12 million online game sessions each month. FACEIT allows players to easily play in tournaments and leagues for virtual and real-world prizes through automated tournament management and matchmaking technology. For developers, FACEIT’s advanced software development kit (SDK) allows game creators to easily integrate user-friendly competitions into their titles to allow gamers to organize and take part in online games at all skill levels. esports organizers, players and communities use FACEIT to create and manage online competitions. For more information on FACEIT, please visit http://www.faceit.com.


ABOUT PSYONIX

Based in San Diego, CA, Psyonix is a critically-acclaimed independent video game developer and leading experts in Unreal Engine technology. For more than 15 years, the studio has been a driving force behind some of the most successful games in the industry, including Gears of War, Mass Effect 3, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Bulletstorm, Unreal Tournament III, Unreal Tournament 2004, and the award-winning Sports-Action hit, Rocket League®.


ABOUT ROCKET LEAGUE
®

Winner or nominee of more than 150 “Game of the Year” awards, Rocket League is one of the most critically-acclaimed sports games of our generation. Boasting a community of more than 34 million players, Rocket League is a high-powered hybrid of arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem with easy-to-understand controls and fluid, physics-driven competition. Available digitally on Xbox One, PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC, Mac, and SteamOS via Steam, Rocket League includes more than 100 billion possible customization combinations, a fully-featured offline season mode, multiple game types, casual and competitive online matches, and special “Mutators” that let you change the rules entirely.

To learn more about Rocket League, please visit www.RocketLeague.com, “Like” it on Facebook, and follow it on Twitter @RocketLeague for all the latest developer updates and news.

Rocket League, Psyonix, and all related marks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Psyonix Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

–NBC SPORTS GROUP–