The Proving Grounds Street Fighter V competitions will return this year. The aim of this is to allow amateur players an opportunity to prove they’ve got what it takes by playing against current pros. 
The Red Bull competition has been expanded for 2017 with the amount of local, regional events higher than last year or indeed ever before. This year there will be such events in eleven cities. Those lucky enough to have a local event organised are SFV fans in Orlando, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
The expansion of the contest makes sense with the amount of hype around Street Fighter right now, this hype is in part due to Turner and IMG’s ELEAGUE announcing a tournament for the Capcom title. Established organisations such as Echo Fox and mouz have begun to recruit FGC players.
Each winner will be invited to the Red Bull office in Santa Monica in June to take part in the Red Bull Proving Grounds Finals. They’ll be there alongside the winners of the new online competitions. You can find out all the details in full here.
Whoever holds their own at these finals will earn the opportunity to play at Evo in Las Vegas in July. Only eight places are up for grabs.
Esports Insider says: A potential place at the world’s largest and longest running fighting games tournament, which includes the opportunity to pit yourself against the best in the world. This is an opportunity that doesn’t spring up that often and the Red Bull regionals will prove rightly popular.
