Turner and IMG are bringing back the ELEAGUE Street Fighter 5 Invitational 2018 Celebrity Showdown for a second year.
NBA Hall of Fame player Shaquille O’Neal, World Series champion Jimmy Rollins, NBA veteran Baron Davis, and former pro wrestler Natalie Eva Marie will all participate in the Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition tournament, which is set to be televised on TBS on June 29 at 10pm CT.
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The celebrities will be fighting for charities of their choice. O’Neal is supporting Odessa Chambliss Quality of Life Fund, while Rollins is playing for The Jimmy Rollins Family Foundation, Davis for The Drew League, and Marie for A21. The single-elimination tournament will have to first-round matches followed by a winner’s match, for a total of three matches. Everyone will get money for their charity, but the winner will take the lion’s share.
ELEAGUE Street Fighter 5 Invitational analysts Steve “Tasty Steve” Scott, Zhi “Zhieeep” Liang Chew, Stephen “Sajam” Lyon and Reepal “Rip” Parbhoo will be on hand as coaches for the four celebrities, with Josh Gray as host.
ELEAGUE’s Street Fighter 5 Invitational playoffs are set for July 13. There’s a huge $250,000 prize pool at stake for the world’s best Street Fighter 5 players. Playoffs will be played in a double-elimination bracket with players seeded based on the group stage, which concluded earlier in the month. All matches in the playoffs are best-of-five.
The Celebrity Showdown is just a preview of the Street Fighter 5 action to come in July.
