Overwatch League finalizes teams and dates for Season 1

Mert

September 20, 2017

Blizzard have confirmed the final three franchises for the inaugural season of the Overwatch League, rounding out the competition at twelve teams. The three newly confirmed franchises are Philadelphia, owned by Comcast Spectacor, Dallas, owned by Team EnVyUs and their investor Hersh Interactive Group, and finally Houston, owned by OpTic Gaming.

Your 12 Inaugural Season teams are locked.

Welcome Philadelphia, Dallas and Houston to the #OverwatchLeague!

https://t.co/XXmf7HZg4T pic.twitter.com/FPtVX1JtDY
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) September 20, 2017

This press release confirms reports by ESPN's Jacob Wolf, who had previously broken the news on the now-announced teams. Wolf tweeted out an explanation on why the first season of the league would not have fourteen teams as previously reported:

Sources told me that if they could not get a 14th deal done, they wouldn’t lock in 13 (Wesley Edens). He’s likely to buy-in in the future.
— Jacob Wolf (@JacobNWolf) September 20, 2017

Blizzard have also included a number of dates within the announcement. The preseason is set to start on the 6th December this year, with all twelve teams playing in exhibition matches. The regular season itself kicks off on the 10th January, 2018 and will finish in June. Playoffs for the tournament will be held in July 2018.

A full list of the franchises competing in the first season of the Overwatch League can be found below:

Boston - Robert Kraft (Chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group)
New York - Jeff Wilpon (Co-founder and partner at Sterling.VC and COO of the New York Mets)
San Francisco - Andy Miller (Chairman and Founder of NRG Esports)
Los Angeles - Noah Whinston (CEO of Immortals)
Los Angeles - Stan and Josh Kroenke (Kroenke Sports & Entertainment)
Miami and Orlando - Ben Spoont (Misfits CEO / Co-founder)
Philadelphia - Comcast Spectacor
Dallas - EnVyUs and Hersh Interactive Group
Houston - OpTic Gaming
London - Cloud9
Shanghai - NetEase
Seoul - Kevin Chou (Chairman and CEO of KSV eSports)

Comments:

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#1

victococoblazin

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PogChamp

#2

Admirable

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ded gaem

#4

Infamous

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Especially in like 2 months unless they do something good for blizzcon

#21

KuroiRyuu9625

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I'm guessing the lack of sarcasm tags must have confused you.

#3

CamRa

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eClasico PogChamp

#5

darkcvc

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Was planning a trip to LA next year already. Going to work it around an OWL game now.

So exciting!! Now we need teams!!

#6

Taichi

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so many US spots.
LUL

#8

darkcvc

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I mean for this season it doesn't matter, right? All teams are in LA and teams aren't region locked. Hopefully by season 2 they can have a bunch of success and sign a ton more foreign teams.

It makes it tough to pick a team to root for though, right?

#10

remiska

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blizzard plans to have 28 teams so i cant imagine them ever region locking with so little teams

#7

PeterPan

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Global

#9

darkcvc

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Also, do you think they will continue the slow leaks or wait till BlizzCon to announce team names and rosters?

#11

remiska

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team names and rosters are outside blizzards power and some rosters are already set (seul lh envy i cant imagine changing anything misfits also prodably wont change much coz current rosters looks really strong) and while expect some announcments at blizzcon i think now it will be much more upto spot owners

#17

selebu

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Pretty sure Blizzard will have a say in team names and branding. They even did that for Contenders (granted I don't think any OWL teams will have as ridicolous names as some of the Contenders teams).

#20

KuroiRyuu9625

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Probably but I don't think they'd prevent anything that wasn't offensive. Usually branding guidelines are pretty loose but this new PC era will probably have the biggest effect on the teams/owners themselves.

#19

KuroiRyuu9625

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Eve if teams announce their rosters Blizzard can still put it up as news on their OWL website. Also consider that Blizz could very well prevent them from making announcements on their own so that they can make it themselves.

They don't control the roster, but they can control the flow of information if needed.

#13

Involv3r

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I thinks slow leaks are better to keep everyone guessing at the next addition/announcement etc. No news in practically 2 months couldn't be beneficial to either party. So little pieces at a time is my guess.

This is huge news though, releasing an official start date for the League makes it 'real'. Very much looking forward to how all of this will unfold.

#12

Blue

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Hopefully now we can get some players revealed

#14

Sayabi

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We are now in a thrilling wait of the other rosters than Team Seoul PogChamp

#15

FrozenJackal

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$280,000,000

#16

DEFSYN

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OpTic PogChamp

#18

Pixelfish

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As long as the philly team is called the Philadelphia Cheese Steaks, the OWL will succeed.

#26

victococoblazin

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this guy gets it

#22

poi98

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Heard voices about Coolmat69 as NV sub ( and muma with him probably)

#23

Pixelfish

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I want Coolmatt starting for a team, not subbing.

#25

Shun

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Would be nice if since the season is so long, teams are forced to play subs x amount of games.

#24

gioventu

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Theres no other team more deserving to have an OWL Spot than GC-BUSAN

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