Torque Esports has scored a new broadcast partnership to air their sim racing tournaments live on cable television. Starting April 11th, The Race All-Star Series and the Legend Trophy will air on ESPN 2. Darren Cox, President and CEO of Torque Esports, shared his excitement about the deal, saying “For more than 40 years, ESPN has been the leader in sports with its groundbreaking coverage, and we’re immensely proud to have The Race All-Star Series – Fully Charged by ROKiT Phones now shown live on the network.”
The tournaments will also air across Asia-Pacific, and Europe, via a recent partnership with Blake Broadcasting. All Torque Esports content will be broadcasted as part of the partnership, with their sim racing competitions being the main point of interest. Darren Cox spoke on the success of the tournaments, saying “When we debuted our esports racing events, our live streaming numbers were off the charts, and now our agreement with ESPN along with our entire international broadcast package is taking virtual racing to an unprecedented global audience.”
In addition to the new deals, The Race All-Star Series will be expanding to feature professional racers and sim racers. Players will compete weekly to win points, and earn a $30,000 donation to a charity of their choice. As major racing events have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was created last month to fill the void. The event is now the first broadcast esports racing event to reach more than 600 million homes worldwide. ESPN clearly see’s the success esports is having amid this pandemic, and even reached a similar deal with Riot Games earlier this week to broadcast the LCS Spring Split Playoffs.
The Race All-Star Series – Fully Charged by ROKiT Phones will begin airing on ESPN this Saturday with the All-Star Cup and Legends Trophy going live on ESPN2 from 12:00 noon US Eastern time.