ESPN To Air 12 Hours Of Esports Coverage On April 5

ESPN turns to esports as its usual sports programming has been postponed due to coronavirus-related concerns.

BYCole Blake
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ESPN is hosting 12 hours of esports coverage, April 5th, that will include tournaments for Madden 20, NBA 2K20, Apex Legends, Rocket League and more. 

Christian Petersen / Getty Images

Professional athletes themselves will be participating in tournaments for many of the games.

The day will begin with a series of Madden tournaments at 12:00 PM, followed by the F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix at 2:00 PM. Formula 1 drivers Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon, George Russell, Lando Norris, and Nicholas Latifi will participate.

The Season 8 Rocket League World Championship will be airing at 4:30 PM.

Airing at 6:00 PM, the first round of the NBA's NBA 2K Players Tournament will continue with appearances from Montrezl Harrell, Domantas Sabonis, Donovan Mitchell, Rui Hachimura, Devin Booker, Michael Porter Jr., Andre Drummond, and DeMarcus Cousins. The winner will select a charity of their choice to receive a $100,000 donation from 2K, the NBA and the NBPA in support of coronavirus relief efforts.

At 10:00 PM Tarik Cohen, Dillon Francis, Connor Ball, Devin Booker and more will be playing in the EXP Apex Legends Pro-Am. Winning will benefit the V Foundation.

Esports has seen a rise in popularity over recent years, but even more drastically, in recent months. The Verge reports that the platform went from 982 million hours viewed in February to 1.1 billion hours viewed in March.

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About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.