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Blizzard previously reported wanting to bring six new teams to the Overwatch League in the second season. We now know where two of them will be
The teams from Paris, France and Guangzhou, China are expected to join the Overwatch League in season two, according to ESPN.
The teams will be on the 13th and 14th to join the league and bring the number of teams outside the United States to five. Blizzard has already stated that he wants to bring six new teams into the league next season. In an interview with German site Handelsblatt, CEO of Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues, Pete Vlastelica, specifically described Paris as an interested European city.
The Guangzhou team will be owned by Nenking Group, Chinese real estate development company Zhong Naixong. The company also owns the Guangzhou Long Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association.
This will be the second team Overwatch League in China. The first was the Shanghai Dragons, owned by Chinese Internet company NetEase. The Dragons finished 0-40 in the first season, the longest losing streak in the history of professional sports in North America.
The Paris team will be owned by McCourt Global, the holding company of real estate developer Frank McCourt. McCourt currently owns the French Ligue 1 football club Marseille Olympique and owned the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2004-2012. McCourt Global also holds the operating rights of the Los Angeles Marathon.
Five French players are currently on the teams of Overwatch League . Some of the best teams in the Contenders and Open divisions are also from the country. Gaël "Poko" Gouzerch, a native of Nîmes, will play for the Philadelphia Fusion in the Overwatch League this weekend and France will also host one of the group stages of the upcoming 2018 Overwatch World Cup.
Gael "Poko" Gouzerch / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
These two teams will not be the end of the expansion of the Overwatch League . Vlastelica said the league hopes to add six teams in total: two from the Americas, two from Europe and two from the Asia Pacific region. Now that there is a niche in Europe and Asia-Pacific, it remains to be seen where the Overwatch League will follow.
With regard to Europe, Vlastelica said that discussions took place with investors in Spain and Sweden; he also called Berlin as a city Overwatch League is determined to place a team, citing his "rich history of esports … and the cultural significance of the city" in the interview from Handelsblatt. According to the Australian Financial Review, Melbourne, Australia, was also mentioned as a candidate in the Asia-Pacific region.
The niches of the Overwatch League range from $ 30 million to $ 60 million, according to ESPN. The fees for the first season of the league were about $ 20 million.
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