Last year it was announced that the Overwatch League would see eight new teams added to its line-up in the first ever expansion. At $20 million per team entry, the city-based Esports competition almost doubled in size from OWL Season 1. Now it would appear Blizzard is expanding home and away games in the future of Overwatch League.

Sure, it’s only season 2 of Blizzard Entertainment’s Esports outing, but there is an obvious air about them that expresses an interest in moving and growing very quickly. Over the offseason, the league went from 12 teams to 20, and it was announced that some teams might be getting home games as early as 2020 (season 3), while a select few would get some sooner.

Today, Nate Nanzer, the Commissioner of the Overwatch League tweeted that ALL teams would be getting to play both home and road games in next year’s regular season. This comes as a huge surprise, as teams like the extremely impressive Vancouver Titans made mention that they probably wouldn’t get to play home games until at least the 2021 OWL Season.

The @overwatchleague is coming home - and away! Starting in 2020, all Overwatch League teams will be playing in their home cities. We’re super excited to see our original vision brought to life. Thanks to all of our fans for your amazing support!

— Nate Nanzer (@natenanzer) March 15, 2019

Homefield Advantage

Season 2 consists of a few home trips for some teams, as the Overwatch League is hitting the road to coincide with a couple of major events. The Dallas Fuel will be hosting the first Ultimate Weekend as eight of the teams travel to the Allen Event Center in North Texas on April 27th, and 28th. Other homestands include Atlanta Reign’s in Stage 3 and the Los Angeles Valiant's in Stage 4.

We spoke recently about the importance of having home teams to root for, and what that does for a young and growing audience. The addition of traveling seasons, with home and away games, only adds to that ability to grow a solid ferver behind your brand. Overwatch fans all over the globe have already dedicated their fandom to one team or another (for the most part) and giving them the opportunity to not only see their own team in person but opposing talents as well, is a massive move.

As of right now, there is little to no information on what these homestands will look like, and we advise against expecting your home city from erecting gigantic Esports arenas in preparation. In the rare case where the team may have access to a large Esports arena, say an OWL team shows up in Las Vegas, then arrangements will probably be made to kit it out. Season 1 of OWL, and most of Season 2's matches, are played in the Blizzard Arena in Southern California.

There’s a lot of work ahead for Blizzard and the Overwatch Events team. Preparing for a full travel league has a lot of boxes to fill. But if anyone can do it, it’s Blizzard. There’s polish in almost every product Blizzard puts out into the world, so we are sure to avoid winding up with something like Snoop’s Gangster Gaming League  and its unfortunate start.

Who do you root for during the Overwatch League matches? Are you excited to hear that home and away games will be played for every team next season?