The Overwatch League announced another six teams that will compete in its 2019 season. The newcomers join the 12 teams of the 2018 season and the two newly announced Atlanta and Guangzhou, China, teams, bringing the new team total for 2019 to 20.
The six new teams include Chengdu and Hangzhou, China, Paris, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington, D.C. The six teams also mean six new investors who own the teams. Beyond the new investors, the new teams mean the 20 teams of the 2019 season will be outside the U.S. This will likely help the league extend its global reach, especially in China which has largely embraced e-sports. It’s already seen a great deal of success during the inaugural season, which ended with a sell-out crowd at Barclays Center for its finals that had a global viewership of nearly 11 million.
“The Overwatch League’s inaugural season was a great success,” Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, said in a release. “This past season alone, fans spent 160 million hours watching the leading Overwatch players in the world compete. We are thrilled to add eight new outstanding team owners from Europe, China, and North America to our Overwatch League ownership group. We now have 20 of the very best owners in professional sports.”
