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DALLAS – "If you build it, they will come."
A phrase in the 1989 movie "Field of Dreams" felt good after the first homestand of the Overwatch league in Dallas. During the first year of the league's existence, all but two of the games, which took place during last year's grand finale at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, were held in the Blizzard Arena located in the Los Angeles Valley.
The two Los Angeles teams in the league, the Valiants and the Gladiators, saw their presence grow in the City of Angels, with the venue's rivalry being dubbed the Battle of Los Angeles.
For the other teams, however, they had to rely on travelers and converts to create some kind of home advantage, thousands of miles away from where they lived.
That changed everything at the Allen Event Center last weekend, however, as 4,500 spectators sold the venue for two days in a row to watch their local team, the Dallas Fuel, get on stage for the first time. After years of promises that fans around the world would see their franchises live, Blizzard has finally succeeded.
I watched esports for over ten years and I stayed on the scene almost as long. I went to China at Bird's Nest to attend the most attended esports final of all time, when Samsung Galaxy beat SK Telecom T1 to become League of Legends Champion in 2017. I went to Poland, where the most fanatic fans of esports The whole world has packed the Spodek Arena in Katowice to attend the biggest competition of Counter-Strike.
And even though the Texas crowd might not be close to the bigger ones, the closed, compact seating of the arena, as well as the low ceiling of the hall, have contributed to the loudest crowd I've ever seen. have never seen competing.
According to all the barometers, the Dallas homestand was a resounding success. Fuel fans came in droves, and American rival Houston Outlaws was not too far behind the number of his supporters, with green neon packs breaking the solid wave of navy blue in the bleachers. Families in matching uniforms walking to their seats, accompanied by a few adults without children, enjoyed the show. A 60-year-old man proudly wore his burnt orange jersey from the Chengdu Hunters.
Without any context, it was the nirvana esports. Fans of all ages enjoying a show, and Dallas, one of the first franchises in the league, have a benefit comparable to that of any traditional sports team.
But nothing is without context, and that includes the first circuit of the Overwatch league with the homestands.
The league announced that each of the 20 franchises would visit its hometown in 2020, and with that, many questions remain unanswered.
How will the teams, composed mainly of teenagers and 20 years and older, handle constant flights, including trips to cities like Paris and Hangzhou in China?
Will the quality of the game be diminished because of the foolish travel schedule?
Wait, how are the opposing teams going to have an optimal practice? Not only with travel – the gaming computers for playing at the highest level are expensive and are not the easiest objects to take to the world. Will each home arena have a designated training area for the roving team?
In a league that has already had to deal with the burnout of some of its star players, not getting away from the Blizzard Arena is not going to make matters worse?
Dallas knows better than anyone the hardships of burnout. Hyeon "EFFECT" Hwang, star actor of the franchise, retired from the competition earlier this year, in part because he felt exhausted by the scene and by all that surrounded him . Other actors expressed in interviews and share similar points of view, which led me to have conflicting feelings by 2020.
In a perfect world, every weekend is like Dallas. Although not all sites are as big or as busy, the spirit will remain the same, with occasional passers-by becoming hardcore fans overnight and parents and kids nurturing one into the world. Other, finding a new weekly activity to practice together. The league, along with the teams, will find a way to make the world trip as easy as possible. Fuel's CEO, Mike "Hastr0" Rufail, said in an interview that Dallas was already talking to domestic airlines about possible private sponsorships or charters.
If only the reality was so simple, however. While the memories of the Dallas home family fade away, the energy of the Texan crowd becoming folklore, the franchise itself will blaze a trail in the unknown . The first host family was a success, but what about the next? What happens if the weekly party becomes a wake-up when the team does not reach the expected goals for consecutive weeks? It's easy to have a large crowd in the building when the team goes up and wins the games, but the situation is completely different when a team is rebuilding and the victories are harder to find than l & # 39; gold.
The first homestand Overwatch was a resounding success. It's now up to the Overwatch league and its superiors to find a way to make every weekend a bit like their first time in Dallas. You can never repeat your first love, but for a league that has promised round-trip matches in 2020, the Overwatch League will do its best.
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