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Overwatch League Gets Sellout For Second "Homestand" Weekend

The Overwatch League held its second “homestand” weekend of the ’19 season at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, where local organizers reported a sellout of the 2,750-seat theatre for both yesterday and Saturday. Sponsors activating around the event included Bud Light and Coca-Cola, which is based in Atlanta. Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues President & CEO Pete Vlastelica was in attendance Saturday and called the atmosphere "awesome." He said, "It’s showing us the model can work. If these were just fun events that fans were attending because they love the Overwatch game, it would be less exciting. But what we saw in Dallas (in April) and are seeing here is these are home events. At the Dallas event, when the Dallas team took the stage, the whole crowd of 4,500 people started screaming, ‘Let’s go Dallas.’ … That gives us a lot of optimism going into next season to see the demand for these events to fill pretty nice sized arenas.” The OWL is having the local team run the event for the homestands, so it was the Atlanta Reign -- owned by a group that includes Cox Communications -- that put on this weekend’s event, which saw eight teams, including the Reign, take part.

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