Blizzard has announced six expansion franchises joining the Overwatch League.
We can’t wait for the #OWL2019 season!
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) September 7, 2018
Here are the 8 new teams joining the league! pic.twitter.com/zhkrNYDlko
The new franchises and their owners are:
- Chengdu: HUYA Inc., Chinese streaming platform
- Hangzhou: Bilibili, Chinese video sharing website
- Paris: DM Esports, entity of McCourt Global, owners of French football club Olympique de Marseille
- Toronto: OverActive Media, co-owners include Splyce
- Vancouver: Aquilini Group, owners of NHL franchise Vancouver Canucks
- Washington D.C.: Washington Esports Ventures, owner Mark Ein is co-owner of aXiomatic, parent company of Team Liquid
They will join Atlanta and Guangzhou as part of the league’s new expansion teams, who were announced last month as the first two new franchises. Vancouver, Hangzhou, Paris, Chengdu and Washington D.C. were first reported by ESPN, and Toronto was initially reported by over.gg.
The expansion teams will be able to sign free agents on September 9th, and require at least eight players on their rosters before December 1st.
The franchises that will compete in the Overwatch League Season 2 are:
- Altanta
- Boston Uprising
- Chengdu
- Dallas Fuel
- Florida Mayhem
- Guangzhou
- Hangzhou
- Houston Outlaws
- London Spitfire
- Los Angeles Gladiators
- Los Angeles Valiant
- New York Excelsior
- Paris
- Philadelphia Fusion
- San Francisco Shock
- Seoul Dynasty
- Shanghai Dragons
- Toronto
- Vancouver
- Washington D.C.