FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 14th, 2017
U.S. REGISTRATION BEGINS FOR NBC SPORTS GROUP AND FACEIT’S “UNIVERSAL OPEN” ESPORTS TOURNAMENT
Registration for 2v2 Rocket League Tournament Featuring $100,000 Prize Pool Now Open on FaceIt.com
Qualifiers on FACEIT to Take Place July 19-20 and July 25-27
STAMFORD, Conn. – July 14, 2017 – NBC Sports Group, in partnership with online competitive gaming platform FACEIT and developer Psyonix, announced today that U.S. registration for the “Universal Open” – an inaugural esports tournament open to gamers of all skill levels – is now underway on Faceit.com.
The Universal Open is a 2v2 tournament featuring Rocket League, the sports-action hit with a community of more than 33 million players, developed and published by San Diego-based game studio, Psyonix. Click here to register for the Universal Open. The tournament will utilize FACEIT’s competitive gaming platform, and numerous NBCUniversal and Comcast regional, national and international assets.
The tournament begins with the Qualifier stage played on FACEIT from July 19-20 and July 25-27. The NBC Sports Regional Networks will each hold online Qualifiers which will be organized geographically. An additional Qualifier will be held for the remainder of the United States (U.S. Open Qualifier). All Qualifiers are open to residents in the United States and Canada.
The tournament will then move on to the Regionals 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. The Grand Finals will be livestreamed across the same channels as the Regionals and be televised live in the U.S. on NBCSN, and on Syfy in the UK, Germany, Australia and multiple countries across Latin America. In total, more than 40 hours of event coverage will be presented across live-streaming, video-on-demand, and linear platforms. 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.
Following is the complete list of dates of Qualifiers, Regionals, and the Grand Finals.
| UNIVERSAL OPEN – U.S. REGISTRATION AND TOURNAMENT BRACKET | |||
| Date | Qualifiers | Regionals | Grand Finals |
| Wed., July 19 | U.S. Open Qualifier
[Faceit.com] |
||
| Thur., July 20 | 1) Mid-Atlantic Qualifier
[Faceit.com] 2) Philadelphia Qualifier [Faceit.com] |
||
| Tues., July 25 | 1) New York Qualifier
[Faceit.com] 2) New England Qualifier [Faceit.com] |
||
| Wed., July 26 | Chicago Qualifier
[Faceit.com] |
||
| Thur., July 27 | 1) Bay Area Qualifier
[Faceit.com] 2) Northwest Qualifier [Faceit.com] |
||
| Fri., July 28 | U.S. Open Regional
[Faceit.com] |
||
| Sat., August 5 | East Regional
[Philadelphia, Pa.] |
||
| Sun., August 6 | Northeast Regional
[New York, N.Y.] |
||
| Sat., August 12 | Midwest Regional
[Chicago, Ill.] |
||
| Sun., August 13 | West Regional
[San Francisco, Calif.] |
||
| Sat., August 26 | Grand Finals – Day 1
[Santa Ana, Calif.] |
||
| Sun., August 27 | Grand Finals – Day 2
[Santa Ana, Calif.] |
||
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 33 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–
