Overwatch League Adds Teams: Vancouver And Chengdu

Sources at ESPN are reporting Activision Blizzard has added Vancouver, Canada and Chengdu, China to Overwatch League (OWL) for Season 2. This news comes a day after a report surfaced that Washington, DC and Hangzou, China expansion teams are joining OWL.

The Vancouver, Canada team is said to be owned by the Aquilini Investment Group, the owner of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. They also own Rogers Arena, which is where The International 8 was just played with great success and local support.

The Chengdu, China franchise is said to be owned by the streaming platform Huya which has investments from esports investor Tencent. Huya is China's version of Twitch.

It is estimated that the franchise fees for Overwatch League Season 2 are between $30,000,000 to $60,000,000 USD. Inaugural season OWL franchise fees were $20,000,000 USD.

There will now be 20 teams for OWL Season 2. The 8 reported new teams are: Atlanta, Washington, Toronto, Vancouver, Paris, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu.

OWL Season 2 will be broadcast via ESPN, Disney XD, and here on ESTNN Live Streams via Twitch.

The Overwatch World Cup Los Angeles Group Stage runs this weekend from September 7-9.

Source: ESPN