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At the Allen Event Center in the Dallas suburbs, nearly 10,000 spectators attended the first OWL Dallas weekend in the first home game. This two-day extravaganza was the first of three weekend weekends of the Overwatch League season two, alongside Atlanta, Georgia, and Los Angeles, California, which will serve as a test for globalization. of season 3 of OWL.
This weekend, particularly spectacular for the Dallas Fuel fans, presented incredible moments and an entertaining game for the fans of all the teams, including a jersey exchange between the Paris Eternal DPS Terence. "Soon" Tarlier and Hangzhou Spark Tank Quilin "Guxue" Xu and a unique addition to London Spitfire Tank Hong's mill "Gesture" Jae-hee:
Outside the games, the event had a lot to offer to Overwatch League fans who wanted to make the most of their passionate support for their respective teams, as well as Overwatch competition as a whole. Dallas Fuel DPS Zachary "ZachaREEE" Lombardo emphasized the importance of focusing on the community outside the game as much as in:
"Even outside of the game, there were a lot of interactive things: fanmeets, dedications, a lot of things with Reinhardt's cosplays – that's a lot of building in the local fan base and showing people that Overwatch can to be as interesting as a regular sport."
While the event had a lot to offer the public, it was also a test of Season 3 of the Overwatch league, which will be fully globalized in 2020. Perhaps most importantly, it was a foretaste of the Overwatch league's travel schedule if the regular season was to unfold in its entirety, the teams would be located in their respective stadiums. The players weighed a lot throughout the event and shared their thoughts and reflections with Inven Global throughout the weekend.
The first home game in the history of the Overwatch League was held at the Allen Event Center. Nearly 10,000 spectators gathered in the arena of the family home for two days to watch eight of the Overwatch League's twenty teams face off during the fourth week of the second leg. The confines of the Allen Center eclipsed those of the Burbank Blizzard Arena. competition.
London Spitfire kicked off the event with a dominant sweep of Paris Eternal. Defending champions OWL have spent the entire second stage returning to form after a difficult first step. Paris was able to resist resistance from the start of the series, but the dam broke and Spitfire swept the series with ease. When asked to play in a new arena, Spitfire DPS Park "Profit" Joon-yeong explained that the Allen Center atmosphere took a little time to get used to:
"Obviously, the main difference is that we have a much wider audience here than at Burbank. I was a little nervous at first, but after taking the pace, it was like any other game. "
Despite the end of the playoff race with a 3-4 record, the Seoul dynasty flourished in the new arena, starting a 2-0 weekend with a dominant sweep of the Houston Outlaws. Rookie player Hwang "Marve1" Min-seo s' installs directly into the Allen Event Center:
"At the beginning of my career, I was very nervous, especially with the large crowd and its many fans. However, I think that today instead of being nervous, I had a lot more fun than usual. It's such a great opportunity for me to be right here."
The Seoul dynasty defeated the Los Angeles Valiant the following afternoon in an epic 3-2 to finish the weekend at 2-0. While the crowd was mainly and obviously in favor of Dallas Fuel, a surprising number of Seoul dynasty fans gathered in Texas to watch their favorite team closely and personally. While players from the Seoul Dynasty did not expect strong support from Dallas, Allen, and the surrounding areas, it was a welcoming sight for the South Korean franchise.
It was really nice to see that there were so many fans of our team here, " said Seoul Dynasty Flex Support and Captain Ryu "Ryujehong" I-hong. "It really surprised me to see that a lot of people were wearing our shirts."
The other teams took a little longer to acclimatise to the new environment. After losing 3-1 to Hangzhou Spark, Chengdu Hunters Support Park "IDK" Ho-jin commented on the difference in atmosphere. "Because the arena here is much bigger than the Blizzard Arena, the energy is very different, " iDK explained. "It creates a slightly different atmosphere compared to playing at Blizzard Arena."
The Chengdu Fighters were able to settle for the second day, triumphing over Spitfire 3-1 and stunning the audience with its innovative and explosive approach to the Overwatch competition. After the victory, Chengdu Hunters Flex Luo Tank "ElsaWenjie expressed great satisfaction for the reception of Dallas fans.
"Honestly, I like Dallas a lot," Elsa said. "I feel that all fans here are very passionate and excited." When asked if he felt an innovative and entertaining team, as The Hunters could develop a global fan base in cities outside China, Elsa thought before answering: "…I would probably say. I think it depends on ourselves. If we continue to improve, I think more people will love us. "
The only team that did not need questions about supporting their fans was the home team, Dallas Fuel. Spectators of the home team far surpassed the other bases, but the amount of energy transmitted in the arena was electric.
Dallas exploited the stadium's energy and ran with it, closing the first day of the competition with a dominating LA Valiant sweep. Dallas Fuel Dylan Dylan "AKM" Bignet, who did an excellent series on Sombra and Zarya, emphasized the importance of crowd support, even to a veteran like him:
"It's great, it's great to have a crowd that encourages and supports us, it gives us confidence and energizes our spirit, it's great for us as players to be able to play in front of our audience. is a great experience and I'm really looking forward to being in the next season and coming here a little more often.
I am a veteran, I have been doing it for years. That's why I tried to help my teammates stay confident, but I do not think anyone on our team was nervous. The crowd helped us stay focused in the match and it was an incredible match for us. "
AKM's partner in DPS, Zachary "ZachaREEE" Lombardo, despite his enthusiasm, moved away from Dallas' first victory at Fuel with an equal head.
"No matter when or where I play, you prepare everything you need to stay focused. When you are on the field, you do not try to focus on the crowd, you try to stay focused on the game. Of course, there was a little extra pressure on us because we wanted to win in front of our audience, but it was not really a big problem. "
The recruit admitted, however, that the new environment has its own challenges, however exciting they may be. "It was really good when we went on stage and everyone became very noisy. We were just going out to put our equipment on the stage and I could not hear anything. " ZachaREEE called back. "we we were preparing the microphone test and we could not even hear each other! "
The Dallas Fuel fanbase also warmly welcomed Lucas Flex Tank "Note" Meissner. NotE, who came to fuel in a trade of the Boston uprising in exchange for Robert "RCK" Kanerva before the start of the second stage. NotE has put forward his talent for the spectacular and the penchant for the changing game of D.Va. However, the Flex Tank was surprised at the ease with which it fit into the fuel range and its quick acceptance of fuel fans.
" I think I was hoping a lot, " NotE said in reference to the wave of fan support in Dallas. "But I did not really know if I had to wait for it. "
"Changes like this can be important, for example, if there are still a lot of fans who support RCK, you do not know how they will react to the arrival of a new No one in the team's place, I do not know if they would be resentful or what I expected, but I think I was expecting the worst. here and I had all that love and support, and it was really easy. "
Fuel has picked up the momentum of the 2-0 family weekend at the Blizzard Arena. In its first game in California, Fuel faced Florida Mayhem to qualify for a second-place finish. After a difficult first half, Fuel activated the afterburner systems on KING'S S ROW and Rialto, beating the Mayhem 3-1 and qualifying for the playoffs.
NotE continued his impressive level of play since the Dallas Ultimate Weekend, losing his life in the second half of the match against Florida Mayhem. In a post-match interview with Mica Burton, NotE had been asked to say he felt the team was still burning supporters' blue energy in Dallas the previous weekend. ."Oh yes, absolutely. I think this has really been postponed for us here, " said NotE. Even if we did not play in front of our audience, we still had the same energy. "
Dallas Fuel will seek to use this energy for the Phase 2 playoffs against the Vancouver Titans on Friday, May 10 at 8 pm PST.
After a week of traveling, coordinating the logistics and, of course, the matches themselves, the players
The first home game and its role as a perspective of globalization in the future of the Overwatch League have sparked various reflections.
Hangzhou Spark DPS Kim "DieuxB" Kyeong-bo had a taste of the Dallas crowd on day two as Paris Eternal won the Spark on five cards. After the victory, GodsB's eyes were wide open: "When I think of playing home games and think of the same energy that fans will give us as they gave Dallas Fuel as a local team, it makes me look forward to seeing the game. future."
Despite a 0-2 week, Los Angeles Valiant supports Scott "Custa" Kennedy was indifferent to the changing environment, claiming that the team's struggles were independent of the place.
"The crowd is bigger than the Blizzard Arena, so it does not really affect me, and at the end of the day, you always play live on the air where everybody's watching, so it does not have that much We fight as much in the Blizzard Arena as on our stage, so hopefully we can solve our problems. "
The Valiants fought for the Seoul Dynasty to score five in their second match of the national circuit, but they failed in the end, while Seoul took Oasis and the series. Custa commented on the unique aspects of the event that could contribute to player fatigue due to the complexity of travel and logistics coordination of home and away matches of the Overwatch League:
"Obviously, this has been an extraordinary event. It's really cool to go see new fans, and there are all these different teams in which everyone can come and play. I'm tired, so it will be interesting to see how it works in a global season format. Only time will do say."
Paris Eternal Support Harrison "Kruise" Pond had a different point of view, stating that no matter what the situation, it was up to the players to play in any circumstance. "I think all players are at the same level and have all had the same time to prepare," Kruise explained after Eternal's defeat against the Spark in Dallas. "People have to stop complaining, everyone has exactly the same problem, and the one who manages it the best is the best professional."
Press Conference of the Battle for Losers of Texas, Houston Outlaws DPS Jacob "JAKE" Lyon emphasized the importance of Dallas Ultimate Weekend from a business perspective and its importance for the longevity of the Overwatch League:
"If you consider esports as a business, we aim to stimulate the growth of the number of viewers and the fundamental base." Esports is already incredibly successful at attracting fans, but the only thing that is missing from the business perspective is the sources of revenues on which traditional sports support: receipts tickets, concessions, bring people into a physical space and make the experience much richer in person than it could be online or on television.
Many people wonder if esports can make this transition and become a traditional sport, but traditional sports have never had to do it. Sports were first and foremost an event reserved for spectators, and that is always what happened.
If someone is looking for a decisive test, look at any other live event of Overwatch League that has already occurred. At all stops of the Overwatch World Cup, the fans were completely crazy. They love it and eat it because these events really make sense to people. Ask all the fans of tonight's building if they have fun and if they will bring their friends next time. I think that's all you need to know about the future of esport.
After winning the battle for Texas, ZachaREEE said at the Dallas Fuel press conference how he felt that the event as a whole, not just the matches, showed the long-term capabilities of the Overwatch League and its goal of globalization:
"I think it 's really important – there' s never been a" home game "in the Overwatch League before – it 's the first time that' s in the game. a fanbase at home becomes a factor of competition.Even outside the game, there was a lot of There are many things to do in the local fanbase and show people that Overwatch can be as interesting as a regular sport .
Part of that is selling that to the mainstream media. For example, Washington justice does things in Washington; we do things with other media here; etc. This could make the esport bigger than it already is. This weekend shows that Season 3 of Overwatch League will not be a flop. "
The next Homestand weekend of the Overwatch League will be organized by the reign of Atlanta, which will take place during the third stage during week 5 from July 6th to 7th. Florida Mayhem, New York Excelsior, Toronto Defiant, Guangzhou Charge, Washington Justice, Philadelphia Fusion and Shanghai Dragons join Atlanta's reign at Cobb Energy Center on their respective first homestands.
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