OWL Commits To '20 Home Games; No Expansion Coming In '19
Overwatch League confirmed it will launch a full home-and-away schedule in '20, greatly enhancing both the operational challenges and the team-level revenue potential for the global esports property. Teams have been preparing for a '20 move from the central Blizzard Arena in L.A. back to their markets since launch, but league execs had been reluctant to commit to it officially. "We had to get to level of comfort obviously before we got to this step,” said Commissioner Nate Nanzer. A full schedule, venues and ticket information will not be released until later this year, but Nanzer said the schedule will resemble traditional sports leagues’ usual procedures.
Each team will play half its games at home and half on the road, with more games against teams in their own division, and road games stacked up in nearby markets to create efficient road trips -- especially important given that OWL features teams in Asia, Europe and North America. The season will run from mid-February through August.
Some teams are still working out venue agreements, and all must quickly expand their front-office capabilities to host regular events. But team owners are eager for the move, expecting it will open up revenue streams that most esports teams lack -- ticketing, local sponsorships, merchandising -- and allow them to gather better data on fans. Nanzer said, "It obviously opens ups a ton of economics for the team, beyond just the traditional ones like ticketing, parking and concessions.” He also said it will help develop esports business talent. "Think about how many executives in sports today starting working in local ticket sales,” Nanzer said. The league will not expand before the '20 season, he said, freeing up the current 20 teams to commit to a firm schedule without newcomers. OWL wants to eventually field 28 teams globally, and grew from 12 to 20 in a flurry of expansion in '18.
