Overwatch League adding new teams in Atlanta and Guangzhou

Player contracts are up for grabs, and two new teams in Atlanta and Guangzhou are filling their rosters

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Overwatch League adding new teams in Atlanta and Guangzhou

Esther Pang

Published: 9:51pm, 3 Aug 2018Updated: 8:35am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

We’ve only just crowned our first Overwatch League inaugural season champions, and we’re already moving on to changes for the next season! This time, it’s new teams and potentially new rosters.

Of all the esports leagues out there, Overwatch League resembles US professional sports like the NBA in style and structure. That means it has a set number of franchises based around cities. So just like the NBA has the Los Angeles Lakers, Overwatch League has the Los Angeles Valiant. And OWL’s teams aren’t just in the US: There’s also London Spitfire, Seoul Dynasty and Shanghai Dragons.

Now they’re adding two new teams: One each in Atlanta and Guangzhou. (Their names and colors will be unveiled at a later date.)

New teams joining? New t-shirts coming! (Picture: Blizzard Entertainment)

The Atlanta team is owned by American company Cox Enterprises. Cox is partnering with Atlanta Esports Ventures to operate the franchise.

Guangzhou -- the second Chinese team to join the OWL -- is owned and operated by Nenking Group. The company also owns the Guangzhou Long-Lions, a professional team in the Chinese Basketball Association.