Overwatch League Tournaments | Where to Place Bets

Realistically speaking, Overwatch League tournaments are definitely among the
most popular esports tournaments these days. In fact, Overwatch itself has been
rapidly growing in popularity as well. But which benefited from which? If we are
to draw conclusions after looking at the raw stats of the inaugural season of
the Overwatch League, our answer would be quite obvious!

With close to 320,000 peak viewership for the Grand Finals match, there’s no
doubt the Overwatch League Inaugural Season was a massive success. Its success
brought the Overwatch League to the next level and made its presence known all
over the globe. Thanks to these huge numbers, the biggest international
tournament in Overwatch has stirred a lot of dust in the community. And there is
still potential for growth, especially with the second Overwatch League
tournament already announced.

The thing we are interested in the most, of course, is the viability of
Overwatch League in terms of esports betting. The biggest factor here lies in
esports betting sites and their willingness to make betting markets for
Overwatch League. Even though all the major esports betting sites offered proper
Inaugural Season coverage, much more could’ve been done for the playoff matches.
With the hope that this will change in the upcoming OWL (short for Overwatch
League), let’s turn our focus to our first topic for the day – where to bet on
Overwatch League tournaments!

Where to Bet on Overwatch League Tournaments

Overwatch League has already found its way onto the mainstream betting stage.
With the most popular bookies pushing its esports presence, things are looking
quite good for Blizzard’s most popular esports title. Plus, this mixture of FPS
and MOBA genres has proven to be as entertaining to watch as it is entertaining
to bet on.

So, driven by those words, let’s check out our short list of the best esports
bookies for Overwatch League betting.

Rank	Gambling Site	Deposit Bonus	Get Started
#1	Bovada Sports	50% Up To $250	Visit Site
#2	BetOnline Sports	50% Up To $1,000	Visit Site
#3	MyBookie	50% Up To $1,000	Visit Site
#4	BetNow	50% Up To $1,000	Visit Site
#5	Intertops	100% Up To $500	Visit Site

A Brief History of Overwatch League Tournaments

Overwatch League Inaugural Season was a proper spectacle for everyone
involved. And we are not just talking about the teams and the organizations
behind them, but everyone from the Blizzard Entertainment staff to live
audiences, commentators, hosts, analysts, and viewers from all around the world.
OWL IS was a true gaming festival, with London Spitfire taking the $1,000,000
grand prize.

The grand finals match between London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion had
around 319,000 peak concurrent viewers on Twitch.tv, with over 22,000 people
watching the spectacle live from the gorgeous Barclays Center in New York. So,
needless to say, the history of Overwatch League tournaments might be brief, but
it has paved the way for a future esports wonder!

All 20 Currently Competing Teams

Here is the list of all 20 teams that are going to compete in upcoming
Overwatch League seasons:

Tournament Format

Considering the fact that Overwatch League took the franchising model from
popular American major leagues, it’s not surprising to see it taking their
format, too. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at each stage of this
competition so that you can prepare yourself for your betting endeavors once the
next Overwatch League tournament kicks off!

Preseason

Each iteration of OWL is set to kick off with the preseason matches. The OWL
preseason usually lasts for just a couple of days during which all OWL teams
play a series of exhibition matches. The purpose of the preseason stage is not
just to create some entertainment for the fans before the actual season kicks
off but to see how teams stack up against each other before the final training
sessions.

Regular Season

The main part of Overwatch League is the regular season. It is further
divided into four stages which usually last for a month or so. All matches count
towards the end-season records even though there are team rewards (pretty hefty
ones, if we are to be completely honest here) for each particular stage. This
makes the regular season even more thrilling during its entirety and not just
the last stage in which the post-season scenarios usually unfold.

Playoffs

You can consider playoffs as the business end of Overwatch League. We are
talking about a huge esports event with $1,700,000 in total prize pool money.
$1,000,000 goes to straight to the winner, which is what both teams and staff of
each franchise strive for. Live crowds are cheering for their teams at every
step of the way to becoming the Overwatch League winner. But mind you, just like
with the NBA, the playoffs in Overwatch League might be the business end of the
competition, but they aren’t the actual end!

All-Star

To put an exclamation mark on top of the finished season, Blizzard
Entertainment hosts an all-star event. All-Star Weekend lasts for two days and
brings forth a series of interesting matchups in which the biggest league
talents go up against each other for nothing but pride and recognition.

Franchising Makes a Big Difference

Franchising in sports has been made popular by the American major sports
leagues such as the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL. They remained a standard in America,
with Europe and other regions instead basing their professional sports leagues
on promotion/relegation systems. Then Overwatch and League of Legends started
experimenting with esports franchising systems.

Instead of having to perform consistently well throughout the league in order
to stay there for the next season, teams in franchising systems are becoming
partners of the league, cementing their spot in the top competition for a
certain time period.

Yes, this means they can’t fall to a lower-tier competition as long as
they’re partners with the league. Still, franchises will have to strive for
success, as their partnership contracts may not be renewed after several
terrible seasons.

Overwatch League Tournaments | FAQ

A Bright Future

All things considered, Overwatch League’s popularity is surely going to make
an impact on the entire industry. It has already (directly or indirectly) helped
League of Legends NA LCS transform its league into a franchising model as well.
EU LCS is heading in the same way, with LEC rebranding and the introduction of
franchising across the entire league. And those are just two examples of how
Overwatch League’s competition model affects other esports.

In terms of betting on Overwatch, the situation is pretty interesting, too.
Since we are talking about a relatively new game here, it’s safe to say bookies
still don’t know the ins and outs of it. While this is bound to improve for the
upcoming Overwatch League season, it will still be a persisting nuisance for the
bookmakers and a proper joy for bettors. Exploiting new markets and being one
step ahead of bookies has always been a particularly satisfying trade. And it
seems as though Overwatch will be a good place for people who are looking for
exactly that!