East Regional at TCN Studios in Philadelphia on Saturday, August 5; Northeast Regional at SNY Studios in New York on Sunday, August 6

All NBC Sports Regional Networks to Televise the Four Universal Open Rocket League Regionals

Commentary Teams for Universal Open Rocket League Announced

STAMFORD, Conn. – August 2, 2017 – This weekend, NBC Sports Group and FACEIT begin their coverage of Universal Open Rocket League, NBC Sports Group and FACEIT’s inaugural esports tournament open to gamers of all skill levels. The comprehensive coverage of the Regional round of the competition will appear across the NBC Sports Regional Networks, totaling more than 30 hours of linear coverage.

Universal Open Rocket League 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.

The tournament began with online Qualifiers organized geographically by the NBC Sports Regional Networks, as well as a U.S. Open Qualifier. Top performers from the Qualifiers advanced to the Regionals, which begin Saturday, August 5, with the East Regional at TCN studios in Philadelphia, followed by the Northeast Regional at SNY studios in New York City on Sunday, August 6. The Midwest Regional will take place Saturday, August 12, at CSN Chicago studios, followed by the West Regional at NBC Sports Bay Area studios on Sunday, August 13.

All four-and-a-half hours of each Regional will be livestreamed, unauthenticated, via NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, with the final hour of each Regional televised on all eight NBC Sports Regional Networks. Streaming coverage of the East Regional begins Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by streaming coverage of the Northeast Regional on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET.

The Regionals began with the U.S. Open Regional on July 28, where four teams (Genesis, It’s Lit, Wabi-Sabi and Incognit0) became the first teams to qualify for the Grand Finals. The structure for the Regionals features five-minute games in a best-of- three and best-of-five format.

Tickets for the Grand Finals are now available for $15 for one day passes or $25 for weekend passes. Click here for information on tickets.

EAST REGIONAL – SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, AT TCN STUDIOS IN PHILADELPHIA

The Universal Open Rocket League East Regional is comprised of the top four teams from the Philadelphia and Mid-Atlantic Qualifiers that took place last month. The top performers slated to compete in the East Regional include a pair of teams from professional outfit G2 Esports. G2A is comprised of 17-year-old JKnaps (Jacob Knapman) and Rizzo (Dillon Rizzo), while G2B features Rocket League Championship Series Season 1 champion Kronovi (Cameron Bills) and G2 Esports Rocket League team manager Jahzo (Jacob Suda). G2A defeated G2B in the Mid-Atlantic Qualifier.

Below is a full telecast schedule across NBC Sports Regional Networks for the East Regional:

EAST REGIONAL – SATURDAY, AUG. 5 NETWORK TIME (Local) CSN Northwest 1 p.m. CSN Chicago 3 p.m. CSN New England 4 p.m. CSN Mid-Atlantic 4 p.m. NBC Sports California 4 p.m.* CSN Philadelphia 6:30 p.m.* SNY 7:30 p.m.* NBC Sports Bay Area 10 p.m.*

*denotes same-day delay



NORTHEAST REGIONAL – SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, AT SNY STUDIOS IN NEW YORK CITY

The Universal Open Rocket League Northeast Regional is comprised of the top four teams from the New York and New England Qualifiers. The team of Torment (Kyle Storer) and Squishy (Mariano Arruda) won the New York Qualifier, and were signed by leading esports organization Cloud9 in late July following their win in the DreamHack tournament in Atlanta as the unsigned team The Muffin Men.

Ambition won the New England Qualifier, comprised of Prime Thunder (Ronin D’Auria) and Wonder (Nick Blackerby), who have both won Rocket League 2v2 tournaments in the past. Brotherhood was the final team to advance in the New England Qualifier, led by Fireburner (Jayson Nunez) and Moses (Caleb Nichols). Fireburner is a three-time RLCS Regional Champion, and both players took part in the first-ever competitive gaming event at the White House in December.

NORTHEAST REGIONAL – SUNDAY, AUG. 6 NETWORK TIME (Local) CSN Northwest 5 p.m. CSN Bay Area 5 p.m. CSN Chicago 7 p.m. CSN Philadelphia 8 p.m. SNY 8 p.m. CSN Mid-Atlantic 8 p.m. CSN New England 8 p.m. CSN California 11 p.m.*

*denotes same-day delay

Streaming coverage of the East Regional begins Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by streaming coverage of the Northeast Regional on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET.



COMMENTARY TEAMS FOR UNIVERSAL OPEN ROCKET LEAGUE ANNOUNCED

Kevin Knocke will host NBC Sports Group’s Universal Open Rocket League coverage at all Regionals and through the Grand Finals. Knocke has been a host, caster, and producer in the esports community since 2010.

Caleb Simmons, Michael Behrouzi, and Jack Collier, Joey Ahrens, and James Villar will combine to provide commentary for NBC Sports Group’s Universal Open Rocket League telecasts. Below are the commentary teams for this weekend’s Regionals:

East Regional – Kevin Knocke (host), Caleb Simmons (caster/analyst), Michael Behrouzi (caster/analyst), and Larry Ridley (reporter)

(reporter) Northeast Regional – Kevin Knocke (host), Michael Behrouzi (caster/analyst), Jack Collier (caster/analyst), and Larry Ridley (reporter)

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–