New York Jets running back Le’Veon Bell is known to be a fan of the Super Smash Bros games, and has even decided to host a major Ultimate tournament.
On April 15, the NFL star posted on Instagram that he was thinking of running a battle arena tournament with a “nice prize” for the winner, but wanted to gauge how many people were actually interested in the competition with a poll.
While originally Bell was offering a $1,000 prize, that soon changed when many people got excited at the prospect of competing in a tournament hosted by the athlete.
winner gets $1000 pic.twitter.com/B7jaP5fQHy
— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) April 15, 2020
“Winner gets $2,500,” he stated, upping the prize for first place by $1,500. “Looks like the tourney already gonna be bigger than expected.”
winner gets $2500…looks like the tourney already gonna be bigger than expected…lol
— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) April 15, 2020
It’s unclear what the total prize pool will be, or if it would be a winner-takes-all format, but $2,500 is quite a lot for Smash standards.
For comparison, Genesis 7 champion Tyler ‘Marss’ Martins walked away with $8,226.40, while third place Ezra ‘Samsora’ Morris earned $2,570.75 – just a fraction over what Bell is offering for his tournament.
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Bell himself is a major fan of Smash, and competed in his first tournament back in January when he registered for Ultimate Pizza 30 in Ohio.
Using the tag ‘Juic326,’ the NFL star made it to the third round with MegaMan before bowing out.
It would seem like, since then, Bell has been practicing, as prior to announcing his tournament he asked Elite Smash players to DM for access to an Arena ID so they can play.
No further details have been announced regarding Bell’s tournament yet, but it’s bound to attract the attention of some top players who have been forced to participate in Wi-Fi competitions due to ongoing world issues.
One such event is the Quarantine Series hosted by Cr1tikal and Alpharad. The three-month competition will end with a Grand Finals with a prize pool of up to $50,000.
While everyone may be stuck inside, at least there’s plenty of ways to get your Smash Bros fix.