Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Mentioned in this article
- Overwatch League teams will each host at least two homestand weekend events in 2020, with 52 total homestands for the season.
- The current four-stage format will be removed in favor of having matches every weekend throughout the 2020 season.
- The Dallas Fuel will host five events, while the New York Excelsior has confirmed two homestand events. The Vancouver Titans will host matches at the Rogers Arena.
Activision Blizzard 
today announced first details on how Overwatch League teams will host teams in their home markets during the 2020.
Following this season’s introduction of homestand weekends, which have taken place thus far in Dallas and Atlanta (with another to come in Los Angeles), all 20 Overwatch League teams will host their own respective homestands during the 2020 season. Each homestand event will last two days and feature several competing teams playing out of a venue in one team’s home market.
There will be 52 total homestand weekends during the 2020 season, with each team hosting at least two homestands. The league will be split into two conferences and four total divisions for 2020, with the additional 12 homestands divided evenly between each division.
Related Article: Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues CEO Pete Vlastelica on Homestand Weekends, Media Rights, and OWL Sponsorships
The Dallas Fuel , for example, will host five homestand events in 2020—the two awarded to each team, along with the three additional homestands for the Pacific Conference’s West Division. The New York Excelsior has confirmed two homestand events for its home market, plus the Vancouver Titans also announced that its matches will be hosted at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.
Each team will play 28 matches during the season, and the league will drop the current four-stage format in favor of having matches every weekend. However, teams will have regular bye weeks over the course of the season. The season will still feature a midseason All-Stars event, along with the season-ending Grand Finals.
Pete Vlastelica, Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues CEO and Overwatch League commissioner, told ESPN that this format is only planned for the 2020 season at present, and that the league will make adjustments thereafter. He described the move, which includes fewer home matches in each market than anticipated, as “a step we’re taking to make sure we get to the long-term vision.”
