In the midst of the current coronavirus situation, the gaming tournament scene is fully embracing online as a platform. A number of big online tournaments have already taken place and now Super Smash Bros Ultimate is joining in on the fun with 'The Box'.
Not too long ago, jocks and gamers were sworn enemies. Now, they’re co-hosting gaming events and the jock is more excited about it than the gamer:
LETS GOOOOOOO!!! this will be the tourney of the year!! https://t.co/fLIAUtnH1O
— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) April 26, 2020
New York Jets Running Back and NFL Superstar Le’Veon Bell and Team Liquid’s Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma are co-hosting the Smash tournament The Box. Yes, that’s a ripped Pro Bowl Football player and a guy whose Gamertag is Hungrybox. What a time to be alive.
The Smash Bros tournament will take place from May 8-10 and is open to everyone from the NA region. The entrance cap is 8,192 people and the total prize pool is $10,000. Register on smash.gg.
The biggest Smash tournament ever
With an entrance cap of 8,192 people, The Box is looking to be the biggest Smash tournament to date. That honor previously belonged to the 2019 Evolution Championship Series with 3,534 contestants.
Being this big of a tournament and with the involvement of NFL Superstar Le’Veon Bell, naturally, this garnered ESPNs attention, where Hungrybox told them:
"During this isolation, tons of [Smash] events were cancelled and so we had to take our competitions online. As someone who frequents and hosts tournaments, I wanted to make the best of the situation. When I saw that Le'Veon wanted to run a tournament series soon, I got into contact with him and made a plan to have a huge-scale event with Team Liquid as soon as possible. May 9 weekend was the nearest available date that worked for Le'Veon and Liquid, and so we got to work."
3,500 people signed up for The Box and it hasn't even been 24 hours.I'm actually speechless. https://t.co/LNWr8VfXfxOn a separate note, today is my Melee Top 8 Run at Pound Online.Watch live here: https://t.co/bwcwFIln01 pic.twitter.com/j132peVpcu
— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) April 26, 2020
The Box is another cool crossover event in the world of esports. Le’Veon Bell has long been an avid support of Smash and has even participated in tournaments in the past. We’re loving all this mainstream attention esports is getting and are looking forward to watching this many people smash online. Uh… fighting, we mean… smash in the game, like… fighting-smashing, you know.
As per usual, keep it here at EarlyGame for all your esports needs. We’ve got you covered.