The city of Aurora will jump into the esports arena with its first Rocket League tournament on Monday. It’s the inaugural event in the Aurora Gaming Series, and city officials say it's the first video game tournament in the country hosted by a local municipality. “The Aurora Gaming Series provides us with a great opportunity to engage our youth and further build a sense of community,” said Jon Zaghloul, the city’s communications manager. “We are looking forward to making history in the process and becoming a hot spot for esports throughout the Chicagoland area and beyond.” The competitive, head-to-head tournament will feature 16 two-player teams vying for a $500 grand prize and a custom-designed trophy. It will be held at UTime Gamers inside Fox Valley Mall from 6 to 9 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 30. Rocket League, which quickly gained popularity among gamers and the esports community after its launch in 2015, is a vehicular soccer game where players drive high-speed cars in unique arenas, trying to hit a giant ball into the opposing team’s goal. Tournament participants include Adam Bauer of Westfield, Indiana, who is ranked in the top 0.3% of Rocket League players worldwide. There also are players from Aurora, Chicago, Joliet, Montgomery, Naperville, Plainfield, and Houston, Texas. The tournament’s top seed, BNN, won the qualifying tournament and is led by Zachary Gonzalez, a varsity Rocket League player for Northern Illinois University. The tournament will be broadcast live on Aurora Community Television, available to Aurora residents on Xfinity Channel 10 and AT&T U-Verse Channel 99, and livestreamed on Aurora’s YouTube and Twitch accounts. It will air on the Marquee Sports Network at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4, becoming the first esports event to be shown on the network.

The city of Aurora will jump into the esports arena with its first Rocket League tournament on Monday. Rocket League, which quickly gained popularity among gamers and the esports community after its launch in 2015, is a vehicular soccer game where players drive high-speed cars in unique arenas, trying to hit a giant ball into […]

The city of Aurora will jump into the esports arena with its first Rocket League tournament on Monday.
Rocket League, which quickly gained popularity among gamers and the esports community after its launch in 2015, is a vehicular soccer game where players drive high-speed cars in unique arenas, trying to hit a giant ball into the opposing team’s goal.
The competitive, head-to-head tournament will feature 16 two-player teams vying for a 0 grand prize and a custom-designed trophy. It will be held at UTime Gamers inside Fox Valley Mall from 6 to 9 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 30.
The tournament’s top seed, BNN, won the qualifying tournament and is led by Zachary Gonzalez, a varsity Rocket League player for Northern Illinois University.
It will air on the Marquee Sports Network at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4, becoming the first esports event to be shown on the network.
It’s the inaugural event in the Aurora Gaming Series, and city officials say it’s the first video game tournament in the country hosted by a local municipality.
Tournament participants include Adam Bauer of Westfield, Indiana, who is ranked in the top 0.3% of Rocket League players worldwide. There also are players from Aurora, Chicago, Joliet, Montgomery, Naperville, Plainfield, and Houston, Texas.
“The Aurora Gaming Series provides us with a great opportunity to engage our youth and further build a sense of community,” said Jon Zaghloul, the city’s communications manager. “We are looking forward to making history in the process and becoming a hot spot for esports throughout the Chicagoland area and beyond.”
The tournament will be broadcast live on Aurora Community Television, available to Aurora residents on Xfinity Channel 10 and AT&T U-Verse Channel 99, and livestreamed on Aurora’s YouTube and Twitch accounts.