The Overwatch League has presented its franchise ownership groups with proposed format changes for the 2021 season, according to a report from GGRecon.
Full details aren’t available, but the reported key points of change will push the start of the next season to April, pushing three Asian Contenders teams into the Asian OWL tournaments, and a working plan to host offline events with a mid-season tournament. That mid-season tournament would allegedly have regions playing against each other.
All of the reported changes are suggestions the OWL team is reportedly talking to the owners about ahead of the next season, which is something that happens in every competitive sports league. The owners will likely talk it over and come to a vote on the bigger changes, though it appears the April start date is likely, according to GGRecon’s sources.
Season four will reportedly run from April to September 2021, with regional play remaining the focus for at least most of the competitive year. The mid-season tournament would be the one breakpoint, which would bring together teams from both regions to play against each other.
That mid-season tournament would reportedly be scheduled alongside three tournaments in each region, leading into the playoffs. This would bring the total number of larger, in-season events to five.
The regular season would again conclude in August, with the playoffs running into September. It appears OWL management wants LAN competition in NA with no audience, while there is a greater potential of live audiences in Asia for the playoffs, depending on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time.
The OWL front office also wants to bring Asian Contenders teams up to play against the Asia-based OWL rosters since. Those slots would reportedly be divided up between one Korean Contenders team, a Chinese Contenders team, and one Wild Card for both regions.
