The Overwatch League is still riding high off of their successful Grand Finals in Brooklyn. The sold out, 2-day finals showed massive success in viewership numbers both online and on network television. The venue packed to the brim with fans from all over the world representing more than just the London Spitfire and the Philadelphia Fusion. ABC, Disney, and ESPN took full advantage of the viewership and helped promote the Overwatch League to new viewers of all demographics. The Overwatch League was speculated to be adding new teams and it seems they are being confirmed one after another.

The first team to be confirmed was the Atlanta, Georgia team which was bought by the Cox conglomerate. The company has a strong foot in the communications industry and is a company that Blizzard trusts with the creation and growth of a team. Guangzhou takes the second slot and it was purchased by the Nenking Group. Nenking Group is a finance/entertainment company owned by Zhong Naixoing a Chinese billionaire. There were no reports regarding the price of the slot, but each team is estimated to be worth around 30 million dollars.

The Overwatch League’s Pete Vlastelica stated that they want a more balanced league for season 2. Currently, 9 out of the 12 teams are from the US and this statement only helps our assumption of more international teams. The Guangzhou pick up makes sense as China is a huge market for esports, but the Shanghai Dragons aren’t performing well enough to attract the players. With the addition of a new team and Free Agency happening next month, we will hopefully learn the locations and owners of the new teams soon.