Just announced today (from a report by ESPN), Vancouver (as well as Toronto) will be getting an Overwatch team for season 2 of the Overwatch League. This is a very big deal since the Vancouver franchise will be one of 20 cities that are represented in the Overwatch League. Even though Vancouver (population wise) is one of the smaller cities, it is big enough that I think it can be very profitable and have a very large fan base. I am really excited about getting an Overwatch team in Vancouver because I do love supporting my local sport teams. The Vancouver Overwatch team is owned by the Aquilini ownership group, which is the same ownership group that owns the Vancouver Canucks. Although Vancouver may not host any Overwatch games for season 2, I think there is a possibility that it might in season 3. There are reports that a 200 seat e-sport arena will be built in Richmond by 2019 (although Rodgers Arena could also be another potential place for the Overwatch games).
Not only is getting an Overwatch team a big step for e-sports in Canada but also there was the Dota 2 championship "The International 2018" (TI8) being hosted at the Rodgers Arena in Vancouver a couple weeks back. The TI8 is the largest championship e-sport tournament with a prize pool of 25 million dollars. I may have wrote about the International a few years ago and the prize pool has gone significantly up. The International is traditionally been hosted in Seattle, where the Dota 2 company is. I think one of the reasons why this International was hosted in Vancouver was that the Key Arena in Seattle is being re-fitted for a hockey arena for the new Seattle team in the NHL. In any case, Vancouver did a fantastic job of hosting the International. Even though I didn't go down to Rodgers Arena to check out the games, I did manage to watch some of the games on Twitch.tv. There was a decent crowd during the bracket stage and for the final, there was a huge crowd watching in Rodgers Arena. I think with the amount of support for e-sports in Vancouver allowed them to own a franchise in the Overwatch League.
Although nothing official has come out yet from the Overwatch League, I am very excited about cheering on the new Vancouver team. We still don't know what the Vancouver team will be called or what colour scheme they will use. I am hoping that they use the same colour scheme as the Vancouver Canucks (blue and green). Although I might be slightly biased but I hope somehow Johnny Canuck will be represented by the team. I will be definitely buying a Vancouver team jersey when it comes out (as well as the Overwatch team skins) and I hope to watch them when they play any of their games in Vancouver.
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