Activision Blizzard has "finally provided some details" on what its city-based model for the OWL will "look like," according to Andrew Webster of THE VERGE. The league will "become something of a roadshow," with every team hosting a "series of matches in their respective cities." Each team will "host at least two of these two-day homestands, and some, such as the Dallas Fuel, will host as many as five." While Activision Blizzard will "handle the broadcasting responsibilities, the teams will be selecting and operating the venues themselves." Every game will be "played out of a team's home venue," for a total of 52 homestand events over the course of the season. The city-based model is something Activision Blizzard "began experimenting with this year." The Fuel hosted a homestand weekend in April, while the Atlanta Reign hosted one in July. The L.A. Valiant will "host the final homestand weekend" starting Aug. 24. While this marks a "major shift for the OWL, many other aspects of the league will remain the same." Teams will still "play 28 regular-season games," and the league "won't be expanding beyond its current line-up of 20 teams next year." But the existing teams will be "reorganized with a focus on geographic proximity" (THEVERGE.com, 7/16).
TRIAL RUN: ESPN.com's Jacob Wolf noted the new format is "strictly" for the '20 season. Activision Blizzard said that it "intends to make tweaks in future seasons based off next year's experience." Activision Blizzard Esports President and OWL Commissioner Pete Vlastelica said, "We're announcing fewer events in most markets than we had discussed in the past. Part of the reason for that is to ensure that we get as many people into these venues. We were optimizing for big, sold-out crowds. Because it's our first year, we don't know how many big, sold-out crowds a market can support yet." He added, "We're pretty sure that it's at least a couple, but we don't know if it's 10 or eight, or what" (ESPN.com, 7/15). Vlastelica: "As long as we continue to over-deliver on revenue, viewership and stay on or ahead of schedule for our plan to roll out into home markets and create revenue opportunities for the teams, then the values of the franchises are going to continue to climb." He added, "The model has created a safe and attractive on-ramp into the industry on the part of serious investors -- not financial only but the Wilfs, Kroenkes, Wilpons and Krafts. These are serious operators that invest in sports teams and, without franchising, that talent and those resources wouldn’t be part of this industry (SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/15 issue).
BREAKING IT DOWN: DOTESPORTS.com's Liz Richardson notes since the OWL has "multiple teams from Eastern Asia, the Pacific Conference had to account for those travel concerns." The Pacific Conference's Eastern Division "includes all of the Asia-based teams," and the smaller division will "reduce the amount of time and money teams spend on traveling from their home bases" (DOTESPORTS.com, 7/16). In Dallas, Chase Carter notes the Fuel are in the Pacific Conference's Western Division, but Texas' other OWL team, the Houston Outlaws, are in the Atlantic Conference's Southern Division. The "friendly friction between them and the Fuel was a highlight" of the April homestand weekend, so it is "disappointing to see that budding rivalry nipped" by the league's new structure (DALLASOBSERVER.com, 7/16).
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