Question: What season is Overwatch in?

2019 Overwatch League season


The 2019 Overwatch League season is the second season of the Overwatch League (OWL), an esport based on the video game Overwatch. The season is set to begin on February 14, 2019, with postseason play beginning in August. Compared to the inaugural season, the league expanded from 12 teams to 20 teams. Of the eight new teams, two are from the United States, two are from Canada, one is from France, and three are from China.
Expansion from 2018
The Overwatch League initially launched with twelve teams in the 2018 season. During this season, Blizzard stated it planned to expand out the league to add six teams, ideally gaining more teams in European and Asian regions, and started meeting with potential owners in March 2018.[1] By September 2018, Blizzard confirmed it had signed eight additional teams based in Atlanta, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Toronto, Paris, Washington D.C., Vancouver, and Chengdu, bringing the total team count to twenty.[2] Whereas the franchising fee was estimated to be US$20 million in the inaugial season, the fee was estimated by observers to have gone as high as US$50 million for these new teams.[1] The eight teams were distributed evenly between the two Divisions, with the North American East Coast and European teams joining the Atlantic Division, and the Chinese and North American West Coast teams added to the Pacific Division.
Schedule and changes
The 2019 season's revised schedule format was announced on December 12, 2018. The season will keep the four-stage format that was used in the 2018 season, though only the first three stages will have playoffs, while the fourth stage's playoffs will be replaced by an eight-team tournament to determine the final two postseason teams.[3] The top six season playoff teams will be determined by the same way they were in 2018; the top two teams from each division and the next four teams, regardless of division. The season playoffs will be contested in a double-elimination tournament. Teams will play 28 regular season games instead of 40, with the league citing players' mental health and additional chances to interact with their home cities as reasons for the reduction. Each stage will still last five weeks, though the break between stages has been increased from one week to two weeks (except for the break between stages 2 and 3, which is four weeks due to the league's All-Star Weekend). Each week features four games each day from Thursday to Sunday, totaling sixteen games per week, up from twelve in 2018. Teams will play zero, one, or two matches per week. The stage playoffs will double in size from 2018, expanding to eight teams, up from the four team system introduced in 2018's second stage. The top team from each division will hold the first and second seed, followed by the next six teams, regardless of division.[4]
The prize pool was increased from US$3,500,000 to $5,000,000. All eight teams who qualify for the Stage Playoffs will earn at least $25,000. The stage champion will earn $200,000 (up from $100,000 in 2018), while the amount earned by the runners-up will quadruple to $100,000. Third and fourth place teams will earn $50,000 while fifth through eighth place teams will earn $25,000. For the postseason earnings, the Grand Champion team will earn $1.1 million (up from $1 million), second place will earn $600,000, third place will earn $450,000, fourth place will earn $350,000, fifth and sixth place will earn $300,000, and seventh and eighth place will earn $200,000.[5]
The season's free agency signing window opened to expansion teams on September 10, 2018 and closed on October 7, the day before the window for all teams opened. Each teams had to sign at least 12 players by December 1.[6]
The 2019 season is also the first in which two-way contracts will be in effect. Players signed to these contracts will primarily play for their OWL team's academy team that plays in Overwatch Contenders. They cannot play in more than two OWL matches in a stage, nor can they play in an OWL match and a Contenders match in the same week. These players count towards the OWL team's 12-player limit.[7]
Though most matches will still be played at the 350-seat Blizzard Arena,[8] the 2019 season introduces three "Homestand Weeks," which will take place in three Overwatch League cities. The fourth week of Stage 2 will be held at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas and will be hosted by the Dallas Fuel. The fifth week of Stage 3 will be held at an undetermined venue in Atlanta, Georgia and will be hosted by the Atlanta Reign. The fifth week of Stage 4 will be held at The Novo by Microsoft in Los Angeles, California and will be hosted by the Los Angeles Valiant.[3]
Broadcasting
All matches will be broadcast on the Overwatch League's website and through Major League Gaming (owned by Blizzard), and by third-party broadcaster Twitch.tv. On the first day of the 2018 season playoffs, Disney and Blizzard announced a multi-year partnership that would bring the League and other organized Overwatch competitive events to ESPN, Disney XD, and ABC, starting with the playoffs and continuing through the 2019 season.[9] On January 28, 2019, Blizzard announced that new dedicated esports channel Esports1, owned by German sports channel Sport1, would be broadcasting Overwatch League events in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.[10]
Regular season
A team's standing is based on both their overall match win/loss record, with ties broken by their overall round record. Teams' overall standings are used for placement in the post-season playoffs.
Overall standings
As of December12,2018