After approaching the Smash community late last year about their plans for 2014, Major League Gaming’s Jake Kulinski took to Twitter yesterday to announce how they will be involved with the tournament scene this year. A number of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournaments will find backing from the company through its new Grassroots Program, which seeks to bolster already-existing events with their support.

While details on the program are still scarce, the first event to see backing by MLG, Shuffle V, will be taking place later this month. Esports Initiative, the group behind the event, mentioned in the tournament’s official thread on Smash Boards that MLG’s support “includes their event knowledge, attributed hardware, expertise, advertising and streaming the event on MLG.tv.”

When contacted for further details, MLG’s newly-hired Smash producer Jake Kulinski confirmed that all of the upcoming Melee and Brawl events they plan to back will see similar logistical support, which the company feels is the best way to help the community expand.

The schedule for these MLG-backed events includes four tournaments for each title in the United States, with at least one confirmed for both Europe and Canada. Kulinski mentioned that they are interested in working a Japanese tournament into the fold as well.

All in all, it’s exciting to see the Smash community to grow from their resurgence over the past couple of years. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as more information is released on this program.

Source: Jake Kulinski