After canceling in-person matches in 2020 due to Covid-19, Blizzard's Overwatch League is restarting live North American events in Texas this May.
The Houston Outlaws and Dallas Fuel will begin their seasons with an in-person event in San Antonio on May 6. The fifth installment of the "Battle for Texas" rivalry will be held at the new Tech Port Center + Arena at Port San Antonio. Ticket sales began in conjunction with the March 17 announcement.
The May 6 event will be the Overwatch League's first public event in North America since having to cancel its "homestand" matchups during the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020. The league hosted live events in China last year as it actively monitored the progress of the pandemic.
In February 2020, the Outlaws drew thousands of fans to the Revention Music Center downtown for their first live matches in Houston. Since the pandemic shifted Overwatch League plays primarily online, Naples, Florida-based Beasley Broadcast Group (Nasdaq: BBGI), owner of the Houston Outlaws, has gotten creative to keep fans engaged. The Outlaws held a small watch party with vaccinated guests in The Woodlands for a match last summer. But Beasley and the Outlaws have looked forward to resuming larger events.
"To go through what the entirety of esports has since the beginning of the pandemic has really only strengthened our resolve in coming out strong this season for the beginning of the Overwatch League," Lori Burgess, COO of Beasley Esports, said in a statement. "Playing our first match of the season at a place as state of the art as the Tech Port Arena against an opponent like the Dallas Fuel honestly is the rallying cry of a newly invigorated generation of esports. The Outlaws are ‘All In’ to win this season."
After the match, the Outlaws will hold a meet-and-greet with fans with San Antonio-based grocery giant and team sponsor H-E-B.
The May 6 event will also be the first public Overwatch League match debuting on an early version of Blizzard's highly anticipated sequel, Overwatch 2, the teams said. After years of delays, internal scandals, investigations and lawsuits at parent company Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and a dearth of new content, Overwatch fans are ready for more glimpses of the long-awaited sequel.
The Outlaws worked to retool a big portion of their roster during the latest offseason, including acquiring Overwatch League Rookie of the Year Seyhun “Pelican” Oh in a trade with the Atlanta Reign. The local team has a player training facility and team offices in The Woodlands, but the Outlaws' coverage area also includes the San Antonio and Austin markets.
The Dallas Fuel are among the Overwatch League's most notable franchises and are owned by Dallas-based esports organization Envy Gaming, which fields competitive teams in several other popular titles.
"Dallas and Houston have the best rivalry in the Overwatch League, and this is a great way to start the season," said Mike Rufail, owner and chief gaming officer at Envy. "We look forward to seeing the Dallas Fuel fans join our players as we come to San Antonio for the opening weekend match."
In January, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) announced plans to acquire California-based Activision Blizzard Inc. in a nearly $69 billion megadeal. The combination is expected to form the world's third-largest video gaming company by revenue, behind Chinese firm Tencent and Japanese giant Sony, Microsoft said.
Meanwhile, the new 3,100-seat venue at Port San Antonio's Tech Port Center + Arena is slated to open in May. The entertainment venue is already drawing global attention from promoters and acts and could help fill a void that costs the Alamo City plenty of concert business, sister publication the San Antonio Business Journal reports.
Port San Antonio is located on the former site of the Kelly Air Force Base southwest of downtown San Antonio and is home to dozens of tenants. Last month, a resurrected DeLorean Motor Co. announced plans to establish the automaker's new global headquarters at Port San Antonio.
