The next great sports league.
Los Angeles brings two teams to the Overwatch League
One minute and a successful attack on a control point would send an upstart United States team up 2–1 against the favored South Korea team in the 2017 Overwatch Cup. In Overwatch, teams battle to either capture or defend objective points. Whoever has captured the most control points at the end of the match will win the game.
The round starts as the United States starts to push onto the objective while South Korea sets up its defenses. The United States eliminates one of the South Korean defenders before the US start to converge on the point. The remaining South Korean players rush back to defend the point before a team fight breaks out between the two teams. By eliminating opponents, teams can gain an advantage and it becomes easier to take objective points. The United States start to smell blood in the water as they are able to eliminate more of the South Korean team. However, South Korea starts to push back as teammates get back to the control point from the spawn room. Soon enough South Korea started to turn the tables on the United States. Chaos starts to reign as overtime starts up. If both teams are on the point as time expires, players go into overtime.
If the United States capture the point, they would win the match, and go up 2–1 on South Korea. If South Korea holds onto the point, the match would be a draw. The United States just could not hold on any longer, the round was over, and both teams came to a draw. South Korea would eventually go on to win 4–2 over the United States, the closest any team would come to stopping South Korea’s path to a second consecutive Overwatch World Cup victory.
This was the defining moment of the match between the United States and South Korea during the 2017 Overwatch World Cup. Pairing up talent in countries around the world, and having them compete for a chance to go to Blizzcon in Anaheim California, and play for in the championship round. The 2017 Overwatch World Cup was just setting the stage to introduce everyone to the Overwatch League, an esports league set to kick off in 2018.
Esports is becoming more mainstream as the years go on. The most popular esport, League of Legends, had 36 million people tune into their world championship tournament in 2016. The 2016 NBA finals drew 31 million people to watch Lebron James bring home a championship for Cleveland. Other video games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Heroes of the Storm have also been featured on television channels like ESPN 2, Disney XD, and TBS. Even sports teams are starting to invest in Esports teams. The Miami Heat, Memphis Grizzlies, New England Patriots, and Golden State Warriors have invested into various Esport teams around the world.
The Overwatch League is an ambitious project not just for Blizzard, but for the entire esport landscape. In other esport leagues or tournaments, teams from around the world would convene in one spot to compete for money, trophies, and glory. The Overwatch League is trying to follow a more traditional sports league. They want teams based in cities around the world and having home and away games like people would find in the NFL or the NBA. The inaugural season of the Overwatch League will have twelve teams total, with two of them representing Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Valiant was one of the first seven teams announced to compete in the Overwatch League. The Valiant is owned by their parent team, Immortals. Immortals started in another popular esport called League of Legends. They quickly expanded into other games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Super Smash Brothers, and Dota 2. They are financially backed by people from AEG, the Memphis Grizzlies, and Lionsgate Entertainment.
The Los Angeles Gladiators were one of the later teams to be announced for the league. The team is owned by people from the Los Angeles Rams. While the Rams haven’t been involved in esports in the past, the Rams entering the space is a sign that more traditional sports teams are paying attention to the esports boom.
The major problem that Overwatch esports has been facing is attracting people to watch actual matches. There are over 35 million Overwatch players, only a few hundred thousand of them will actually tune in to watch a match. This is a problem that both Los Angeles clubs will have to face. How would these two teams attract fans to come support them in person, and over the internet?
The divide between the people who play Overwatch and the people who pay attention to Overwatch esports is big. The subreddit for the Overwatch video game has over 1 million subscribers. It is rare to see esport discussions on that subreddit. The sister subreddit, R/CompetitiveOverwatch, only has over 124,000 subscribers. They are dedicated to the competitive side of Overwatch and have frequent discussions on esports and the Overwatch League. “I’m partially interested,” said Max Hribar, someone who plays Overwatch. “I’d be curious to see a game and how the league games go.”
Another problem is that esports fans pick teams based on different factors than traditional sports fans. Erik Tasaka, a longtime League of Legends fan and Seattle native said he plans on supporting a team who plays on a different continent. “I’m planning on supporting London Spitfire because they are owned by Cloud 9,” said Tasaka. “Because I do not have any dedication to a city or players in the Overwatch league, I chose to support the organization who owns the League of Legends team I support.”
The potential for this league is endless. The teams are based in cities which will have the ability to bring in more traditional sports fans and people who live in the cities themselves. Andrew Salmi, a Los Angeles native and a writer for Clutch Sports is one of those potential new fans. “ I am already interested in giving an Overwatch League team support,” said Salmi, “Especially with the fact that I’m in Los Angeles for the foreseeable future. Count me in. LA all day, every day.”
At the end of the day, there are multiple reasons for fans in Los Angeles to jump on either the Valiant or the Gladiators. It could come down to which players that people like, or the color variations, or brand promotion. “I’ll watch both and see who puts on the better play,” said Hribar. “ I have loyalty to my region, but in the case of two separate teams, I’m going to root for the obviously better team.”
The Overwatch League is set to kick off on January 10th, 2018