The Vancouver Titans Enter the Overwatch League
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The twentieth team in the Overwatch League was announced this past weekend as the city of Vancouver will have a team competing in the coming season. The Vancouver Titans will be contending and representing a city that has held a growing influence in the esports world as of late. The group is also owned by a prominent firm that has a significant stake in activities and business functions around Vancouver.
The Vancouver Titans were announced at the Rogers Arena, the home of the Vancouver Canucks professional hockey team. The arena is the same venue that recently hosted the International Dota 2 Championship, one of the world’s most valuable esports tournaments.
The Aquilini Investment Group and Luminosity Gaming will run the team. Aquilini is also the owner of the Canucks and the Rogers Arena. The group also operates real estate developments in British Columbia as well as in parts of the United States and Italy.
The roster for the Titans was announced for its inaugural season. The team features a full roster of players from South Korea. These include players from RunAway, a team that won the Overwatch Contenders 2018 Season 2: Korea event. The team has been on the rise since defeating the South Korean Overwatch World Cup team in an exhibition match recently. The team features nine players with four of them being Damage players and three working as Support stars.
The Titans will compete in the Pacific Division. The division includes both teams from Los Angeles plus teams in Dallas, San Francisco, and Seoul. Four Chinese teams are also in the same division. There are hopes that Overwatch League teams will have their own home venues and that they will travel to contend with other clubs around the world.
The Titans are also the second Canadian team in the Overwatch League. The Toronto Defiant is the other one of these teams.
The Titans have a Sasquatch-like logo and feature a green, blue, and white color scheme. The colors are reflective of the scenery of the Pacific Northwest. These colors are also around the same as what the Vancouver Canucks utilize on their uniforms. Accordingly enough, the team’s introduction took place during a Canucks game over the weekend and had a special Canucks jersey printed for the team members.
2019 is expected to be a major year of expansion for the Overwatch League. The league is growing from twelve teams to twenty and will also plan traveling events that go outside the Los Angeles area. Among the teams entering the league in 2019 include the Atlanta Reign, Paris Eternal, Washington Justice, and Guangzhou Charge.
Overwatch League will begin its second season in February. The events will start in Los Angeles with more being held at various home arenas around the world as the season moves along. Disney has a full television contract for broadcast in the United States with events airing on ESPN and Disney XD. Statista reports that the league is growing substantially and that it will be worth around $1.5 billion before the end of 2020.
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