Atlanta And Guangzhou Teams Joining The Overwatch League
Blizzard has revealed that two new teams are joining the Overwatch League for the 2019 season. Blizzard and OWL breaks down teams by cities, meaning that the new teams are Atlanta, Georgia and Guangzhou, China, joining the Atlantic and Pacific divisions respectively.
The Atlanta team is funded by Cox Enterprises, a Georgia-based conglomerate that does everything from communications to automotive services. The company is planning to get into esports in a big way starting with this foray into the Overwatch League.
The Guangzhou team is being fielded by Nenking Group in China, which owns Chinese Basketball Association team the Guangzhou Long Lions. The new team is only the second Chinese team in the Overwatch League, which is fairly low considering the Chinese viewership for the 2018 season.
Rumors are that Blizzard is going to want to aim for six more slots over last seasons, bringing the total to 18 teams. Further rumors suggest that international conglomerate McCourt Global is looking to field a team to represent a city in France, though it's unknown how that has progressed.
ESPN recently reported that getting a slot in the Overwatch League for the slots beyond this year's 12 teams can cost upwards of $60 million, so this is no small fee these companies are paying to get in.
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