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Blizzard is bringing a Toronto franchise to the Overwatch League for $35 million

Blizzard is bringing a Toronto franchise to the Overwatch League for $35 million

An esports organisation has reportedly made a deal with Blizzard to add a Toronto-based Overwatch League team.

According to SportsBusiness Daily, Splyce is currently finalising a deal to bring an Overwatch League Franchise to the Canadian city.

The company is partnering with OverActive Media Group as owners. Further investment will come from entrepreneur Michael Kimel and Westdale Construction (owned by Kimel’s uncle, Ron Kimel). Splyce already runs teams across multiple competitive games, including Blizzard’s Hearthstone and World of Warcraft.

The deal is reported to cost $35 million - almost half of the assumed $60 million franchise fee for OWL season two. Franchise fees in season one cost team owners $20 million.

This follows the announcement of two more teams to the League. Though team names and branding has yet to be revealed, Atlanta and Guangzhou will take to the field in the next season of competitive Overwatch.

In total, Blizzard is looking to add a total of six new teams to the Overwatch League. With Toronto’s addition, we’re still waiting on three more reveals.


Staff Writer

Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.