Season one Overwatch League teams were working negotiations with players for season two contracts up until Sept. 9. Now, it’s time for the new expansion teams to start building their rosters.
From now until Oct. 7, the league’s eight new expansion teams have exclusive rights over Overwatch League free agents. Any player from season one without a new contract is considered a free agent. Players who haven’t participated in season one can also be signed, meaning players from Overwatch Contenders and Overwatch World Cup could make their way onto the expansion teams.
Starting Oct. 8, the player signing period will open to all Overwatch League teams, but founding teams will be able to make trades with other Overwatch League teams throughout the entire signing window. Each squad in the league must have at least eight players signed by Dec. 1. Then, according to Overwatch League officials, teams will be able to sign up to 12 players until “a final deadline during the 2019 season” that hasn’t been announced yet.
The Overwatch League revealed eight new expansion teams last week:
- Hangzhou, China
- Chengdu, China
- Guangzhou, China
- Toronto
- Vancouver
- Atlanta
- Washington, D.C.
- Paris
None of the new teams have revealed their branding yet, but more details are expected closer to the start of the league’s 2019 season.
There have been A LOT of changes among season one’s OWL teams during the signing period up to this point, and there is only more off-season madness to come, so here’s a breakdown of what’s happened so far.
Boston Uprising
- Connor “Avast” Prince released from roster
- Mikias “Snow” Yohannes released from roster
- Shin “Kalios” Woo-yul released from roster
- Stanislav “Mistakes” Danilov released from roster
Dallas Fuel
- Brandon “Seagull” Larned retired from professional Overwatch
- Christian “Cocco” Jonsson moved to coaching position
- Sebastian “chipshajen” Widlund released from roster
Florida Mayhem
- Aleksi “Zuppeh” Kunsti released from roster
- Andreas “Logix” Berghmans released from roster
- Johan “CWoosH” Klingestedt released from roster
- Joonas “zappis” Alakurtti released from roster
- Sebastian “Zebbosai” Olsson released from roster
- Tim “Manneten” Bylund released from roster
Houston Outlaws
- Lucas “Mendokusaii” Hakansson moved to streaming position, inactive roster
- Matthew “clockwork” Dias moved to staff position
- Russell “FCTFCTN” Campbell released from roster
Los Angeles Gladiators
- Baek “Fissure” Chan-hyung traded to Seoul Dynasty
- Choi “Asher” Jun-sung released from roster
- Luis “iRemiix” Figueroa released from roster
- Ted “silkthread” Wang released from roster
Los Angeles Valiant
- Finnbjorn “Finnsi” Jonasson released from roster
- Seb “numlocked” Barton released from roster
- Stefano “Verbo” Disalvo released from roster
New York Excelsior
- Song “Janus” Jun-hwa released from roster
- NYXL also released coach Kim “WizardHyeong” Hyeong-seok from the organization
Philadelphia Fusion
- Georgii “ShaDowBurn” Gushcha released from roster
- Joseph “Joemeister” Gramano released from roster
- Park “DayFly” Jeong-hwan released from roster
San Francisco Shock
- Andre “iddqd” Dahlstrom released from roster
- Daniel “DhaK” Martinez Paz released from roster
- David “Nomy” Ramirez released from roster
Seoul Dynasty
- Choi “Wekeed” Seok-woo released from roster
- Gong “Miro” Jin-hyuk released from roster
- Heo “Gambler” Jin-woo moved to streaming position, inactive roster
- Moon “Gido” Gi-do released from roster
Shanghai Dragons
- Chen “Fiveking” Zhaoyu released from roster
- Cheng “Altering” Yage released from roster
- Chon “Ado” Gi-hyeon released from roster
- He “Sky” Junjian released from roster
- Jing “Roshan” Wenhao released from roster
- Kim “Daemin” Dae-min released from roster
- Liu “Xushu” Junjie released from roster
- Xu “Freefeel” Peixuan released from roster