The First Two Overwatch League Expansion Teams Are Nearly Confirmed
Robert Paul for Blizzard EntertainmentThe first two expansion teams for Season Two of the Overwatch League have been reported.
According to a report by ESPN, Blizzard is close to finalizing deals for franchises based in Paris, France, and Guangzhou, China.
The Paris spot will apparently be sold to McCourt Global, owners of the Olympique de Marseille soccer team, while the Nenking Group, the ownership group of the Guangzhou Long-Lions Chinese Basketball Association team, is set to buy the Guangzhou spot.
Both teams would be the second in their respective regions, with Season One of the league featuring the London Spitfire as the only European representatives, and the Shanghai Dragons as the only Chinese team.
Though these are the first details of specific expansion teams, it has previously been reported that Blizzard will look to add up to six new teams for Season Two of the league. These teams will join the twelve that competed in the inaugural season, which concludes with the grand finals between London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion on July 27-28.
To buy-in for Season One of the Overwatch League reportedly cost up to $20 million, but after an opening season that exceeded expectations in every metric Blizzard will apparently seek $30-60 million for Season Two, depending on a number of factors. These include competition for the spot, Overwatch player density and general population in the location.
Season Two of the Overwatch is expected to kick off in early 2019, but all new expansion teams will need to be confirmed by September 9 2018 at the latest, as that is the date on which the free agent signing window for new teams opens.